Chapter 7
The silence inside the panic room was agonizing. The small, reinforced bunker was lit by harsh fluorescent lights, equipped with a bank of security monitors, emergency rations, and a few cots. Tessa sat on the cold concrete floor, holding Rosie in her lap, her clear, expressive eyes locked onto the glowing screens.
The external cameras showed a nightmare unfolding in the luxurious mansion above. The beautifully decorated Christmas tree had been toppled, its red ribbons and glass ornaments crushed under the heavy boots of fighting men. Smoke filled the grand hallways. The Shaw mercenaries were ruthless, but Julian’s men fought with the desperate ferocity of an army defending its king.
"Mommy, loud noises," Rosie whimpered, burying her face in Tessa’s neck despite the soundproofing of the vault.
"It's okay, baby. Papa is going to stop the storm," Tessa whispered, rocking the toddler gently.
On the central monitor, Tessa saw him. Julian emerged from the smoke in the grand foyer, moving like a demon forged in violence. He was a force of nature, his heavy pistol flashing as he dropped two Shaw enforcers with lethal precision. He didn't take cover; he advanced, driving the invaders back with sheer, terrifying intimidation.
Suddenly, the encrypted radio on the bunker's console crackled to life.
"Julian Mercer," a cold, aristocratic voice echoed through the small room. It was Victor Shaw, broadcasting on a stolen frequency. "I hope you are watching your empire burn."
Tessa froze. She reached out and pressed the transmit button on the console, unable to stop herself. "Mr. Shaw... please, stop this. People are dying."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Ah. The little maid. The whore who cost my daughter her crown."
"Don't you talk to her!" Julian’s voice suddenly roared over the shared frequency, breathless and furious. "Victor, you are a dead man walking."
"Am I?" Victor laughed, a cruel, rasping sound. "My men just breached the lower levels, Julian. They are in the subterranean corridor. They have thermite charges. They are going to melt through that vault door and slaughter your bastard child and your pathetic maid."
Tessa’s blood ran ice-cold. She looked at the monitor displaying the hallway right outside their panic room. Four heavily armed Shaw mercenaries were sprinting down the corridor, carrying heavy equipment.
"Tessa!" Julian’s voice panicked over the radio. "Lock down the secondary blast shields! Do it now!"
Tessa scrambled to the console, punching the emergency buttons. Heavy steel plates slammed down over the ventilation shafts, completely sealing the room. But she could hear the muffled, sizzling roar of the thermite beginning to eat through the main door. The steel began to glow a terrifying, angry orange.
"Julian, they are cutting through!" Tessa cried into the radio, backing away from the door and pulling Rosie behind a metal supply cabinet.
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"I am coming, Tessa. Hold on!" Julian shouted, the sound of heavy gunfire erupting on his end of the radio.
The orange glow on the steel door expanded, the metal groaning and warping under the extreme heat. The Shaw mercenaries were seconds away from breaking through. Tessa desperately looked around the room for a weapon. She found a heavy metal fire extinguisher. She pulled the pin, gripping it tightly, her delicate features hardening into fierce, maternal resolve. She would not let them touch the child.
