A Ragged Little Boy Whispered, "My Dad Is Still Alive"—What the Billionaire Uncle Discovered Destroyed His Family Forever / Chapter 14 / 20

Chapter 14 - Storming the Citadel"The air vents," Anna said immediately, her instincts kicking in despite her tears. She pointed up at the industrial ventilation duct near the ceiling of the vault. "They use that shaft to recycle oxygen when the vault is sealed!"

"It’s reinforced steel," Adrian said, eyeing the narrow grill. "We need something stronger."

Outside, Krasnov motioned to his men. "Pump the neurotoxin into the chamber. Lord Sterling wants the impostor dead and the woman preserved for re-auction."

A hiss echoed through the vault as pale gray gas began venting into the room from the ceiling ducts.

"Scott!" Adrian roared into his mic, pulling his tie off and wrapping it around Anna’s mouth and nose. "I need an override on Deck One Vault security! Now!"

"I'm on it!" Scott screamed from the cabin, his fingers hammering his keyboard like machine-gun fire. "The Aethelgard uses an automated fire-suppression protocol connected to their engine cooling system. If I trigger a simulated core meltdown in the main engine bay, the computer will automatically dump all vault locks to prevent structural pressure explosions!"

"Do it! We have thirty seconds before this gas takes us down!" Adrian spat, feeling a cold numbness spreading in his fingers as he breathed in the faint vapors.

In the mountain cabin, Scott slammed his palm onto the execution key.

Fifty miles away at sea, the Aethelgard’s engine room flared with false warnings. Thousands of red error codes flooded the ship's mainframe.

WARNING: CRITICAL THERMAL EVENT IN ENGINE BAY THREE. AUTOMATIC PRESSURE RELEASE INITIATED.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

The massive magnetic bolts holding the vault door shut instantly retracted. The blast door swung open.

The sudden drop in pressure blew the toxic gas outward directly into the faces of Krasnov’s mercenaries. The guards coughed and sputtered, blinded and disoriented by the thick chemical haze.

Adrian didn't miss his opening. He surged out of the vault like a lightning bolt.

He grabbed the nearest guard by his tactical vest, drove his elbow into the man’s throat, snatched his suppressed MP5 submachine gun, and fired a rapid three-round burst. Two guards dropped instantly.

Krasnov scrambled backward down the corridor, yelling for reinforcements as bullet sparks danced off the steel bulkhead.

Adrian grabbed Anna’s hand, pulling her out of the vault. "Move! To the stern!"

"They’ll have the gangways blocked!" Anna shouted over the deafening alarms as they sprinted down the narrow corridors.

"We aren't taking the gangway!" Adrian barked. He raised the MP5 and fired a burst into the glass partition of the ship’s lower deck display lounge. The heavy glass shattered into thousands of harmless fragments, exposing the dark, stormy night air outside.

Rain hit their faces as fifty-foot ocean waves crashed violently against the ship’s black hull below.

"Adrian!" Scott’s voice crackled. "Marcus is in position! Look down!"

Through the black water below, a matte-black military assault boat bounced across the waves, its powerful twin engines roaring. Standing at the stern, holding a high-powered rope-launcher rifle aimed up at their deck, was Marcus.

"Jump?" Anna looked down at the freezing ocean in terror. "Adrian, that's a sixty-foot drop!"

"We don't jump!" Adrian grinned grimly.

Marcus pulled the trigger of his launcher. THWACK! A heavy carbon-fiber grappling hook shot upward, catching firmly onto the steel railing of the display deck right beside Adrian.

"Attach the carabiner to your belt!" Adrian shouted, fastening a tactical clip from his rig onto Anna’s waist harness. "Hold onto me!"