Chapter 11
The elevator doors slid shut, sealing Emma, Carla, the twins, and two federal marshals in a brushed-steel box. Emma clutched Noah and Lily against her chest, her tearing surgical incisions burning with every shallow, ragged breath she took. "What did Ethan mean?" Carla whispered, her eyes wide with lingering terror as the elevator began to descend. "Who is landing on the roof right now?" "The people who actually sabotaged the plane," Emma replied, her voice an icy blade. "Richard was just a disposable pawn. He thought he was paying off loan sharks, but he was working for a syndicate." Suddenly, the elevator jerked with skull-rattling violence. The bright fluorescent panels snapped off, replaced instantly by the blood-red glow of the emergency backup lighting. The digital floor indicator froze dead between the fourth and third levels. "Status!" the lead marshal barked into his lapel microphone. Static hissed back in a continuous, deafening wave. "Comms are jammed. We've lost the Vanguard perimeter feed completely." "They cut the main data cables," Emma said, her grip tightening instinctively on her newborns. "They're trapping us in the shaft." "Get behind us, Mrs. Walker," the second marshal ordered, drawing his heavy service weapon and aiming it directly at the center seam of the steel doors. "Nobody breaches this car. We hold this position until the local SWAT units arrive." A heavy, metallic thud echoed from the roof of the elevator. The terrifying sound of heavy tactical boots walking across the thin metal ceiling made Carla whimper, shrinking back against the handrail. "They aren't stopping on our floor to pry the doors," Emma realized, staring up at the escape hatch. "They're coming straight down the drop shaft." "Stay down!" the marshal yelled, raising his barrel. Before the agents could fire, the emergency hatch was ripped open with a screaming tear of stressed steel. Two black, cylindrical stun-grenades dropped through the opening, clattering onto the floor directly between the marshals' feet. "Close your eyes!" Emma screamed, burying her face over the twins as the enclosed space erupted into blinding white fire.
