Chapter 3 - The Descent.They sprinted blindly into the smoke-filled hallway.
Ethan took the lead, his weapon raised, serving as a human shield for the woman and child behind him.
The mansion, once a monument to wealth, was now a designated kill zone.
An operator lunged from the kitchen doorway, swinging a combat knife aimed at Ethan's throat.
Ethan ducked under the blade, driving his knee into the man’s abdomen.
As the attacker doubled over, Ethan struck him across the temple with the heavy butt of the Glock.
The man crumbled to the marble floor, unconscious.
"Keep moving!" Ethan barked.
They reached the top of the basement stairs just as the mansion's front doors were blown violently off their hinges.
A secondary assault team was breaching the perimeter.
Ethan slammed the heavy steel cellar door shut behind them and engaged the deadbolts.
"It will hold them for sixty seconds," he told Rosa breathlessly.
They descended into the cavernous, dimly lit wine cellar.
Rows of vintage bottles cast long, eerie shadows against the stone walls.
Lily was crying quietly now, the shock wearing off to leave pure terror.
Rosa hushed her softly, kissing the crown of her daughter's head.
"It's okay, baby," Rosa whispered.
"Mama's right here."
Ethan moved to a massive oak wine rack at the far end of the room.
He pulled a specific bottle of 1982 Bordeaux.
The entire wall hissed, unlocking with a mechanical groan before swinging inward.
Beyond the rack lay a heavily reinforced steel vault door.
Ethan pressed his hand to a scanner and typed in a twelve-digit passcode.
The vault door unsealed, revealing a brightly lit, sterile room packed with communication monitors, weapons, and medical supplies.
"Get inside," Ethan ordered.
Rosa rushed in, settling Lily onto a small cot in the corner of the room.
Ethan followed, sealing the vault door shut and spinning the massive locking wheel.
The heavy thud of the locks engaging felt like the lid of a coffin slamming down.
"We are safe for now," Ethan said, leaning back against the steel door.
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Rosa stood up, her brown eyes blazing with a mixture of fury and betrayal.
"Who exactly are you, Ethan?" she demanded.
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