Chapter 13 - The Kill Box"How did they find us so fast?" Evelyn panicked, clutching the heavy briefcase to her chest.
"Thermal drones," Elias gritted his teeth, racking the charging handle of his rifle. "They didn't need to track the car. They just scanned the woods for body heat. We’re sitting ducks down here."
Three sweeping beams of tactical flashlights pierced the darkness at the far end of the tunnel, near the stairs. Muffled, professional voices echoed off the concrete.
"Sweep the corridor! Shoot to kill, secure the package!" a voice barked.
Elias shoved Evelyn and Noah back into the vault. "There's no secondary exit. We have to fight our way to the stairs. Evelyn, keep the boy behind the steel door. Do not come out until I say so."
Elias stepped into the corridor, raising his rifle. He didn't wait for them to approach. He opened fire.
The deafening roar of automatic gunfire filled the enclosed space, turning the concrete tunnel into a chaotic kill box. Sparks rained down from the ceiling as bullets ricocheted wildly off the stone walls. Elias moved with lethal precision, dropping the first two mercenaries before they even knew what hit them.
But there were more. A lot more.
"Suppressing fire!" a mercenary screamed.
A hail of bullets tore down the hallway, pinning Elias behind a thick concrete support pillar. He returned fire, but he was heavily outnumbered.
Inside the vault, Evelyn crouched over Noah, shielding his body with hers. The noise was unbearable, a chaotic symphony of violence.
Suddenly, a metallic clatter bounced into the vault, stopping inches from Evelyn’s feet.
It was a flashbang grenade.
"Close your eyes! Cover your ears!" Evelyn screamed, throwing her body entirely over Noah.
BANG.
The explosion was blinding, followed by a concussive wave that sucked the air from the room and left a high-pitched ringing in Evelyn’s ears. Disoriented and dizzy, she tried to stand, but her legs wouldn't obey.
Through the ringing, she heard the heavy thud of boots entering the vault.
Rough hands grabbed her by the hair, dragging her violently to her feet. She blinked through the blinding spots in her vision, finding herself staring down the barrel of an assault rifle.
Standing in the doorway of the vault, flanked by four heavily armed mercenaries, was Victoria Whitmore.
She was dressed in a pristine, tailored black trench coat, entirely untouched by the rain or the mud. She looked like a queen surveying a conquered kingdom.
"Elias is down, ma'am," one of the mercenaries reported, securing zip-ties around the bleeding ex-security guard in the corridor. Elias was alive, but barely conscious, a dark stain spreading across his tactical vest.
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Victoria stepped into the vault. She looked at Evelyn, battered and bruised, and then down at Noah, who was trembling on the floor.
"You really are a persistent cockroach, Evelyn," Victoria said, her voice dripping with venomous elegance. "I almost admire it. But this is where the fairytale ends."
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