Chapter 6 - Steel and Flour
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Plaster, shattered wood, and flying stuffing from plush toys filled the air of the nursery. The heavy changing table shuddered as bullets embedded themselves in the thick oak panels.
Claire lay curled on her side in the dust, her arms wrapped like iron bands around Eli, shielding the infant with her torso. Eli was crying wildly, terrified by the deafening thunder of the gunfire.
"Shh... I'm here, baby, I'm here," Claire sobbed into Eli’s soft flannel blanket, her eyes squeezed shut, praying that the hardwood table would hold.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A different weapon sounded—the heavy, un-suppressed roar of Victor’s .45 caliber handgun.
"CLEAR THE DOOR!" Victor roared from the hallway.
The two mercenaries collapsed into the doorway. Julianna let out a sharp shriek of panic, dropping her pistol as Victor tackled her to the floor, pinning her hands behind her back with plastic zip-ties.
Victor scrambled into the destroyed nursery on his knees, his tactical vest covered in drywall dust and blood from a graze on his arm.
"Ms. Bennett! Are you hit?!" Victor shouted, sweeping his flashlight across the dust-filled room.
Claire pushed herself up from behind the shattered changing table, coughing wildly through the plaster smoke. She checked Eli frantically—his arms, his legs, his tiny head. He was shaking and screaming, but he was completely uninjured.
"We're okay! We're okay!" Claire cried out, holding the baby against her face, tears streaming down her dusty cheeks.
"The rear staircase is compromised," Victor said urgently, helping her to her feet. "Moretti’s team cut the main power lines. The electronic panic room doors are locked down, but three more shooters are coming up the service stairs!"
Claire looked around the ruined nursery. The main hallway was blocked by heavy smoke and gunfire. The only other exit was the small service door leading down into the estate’s industrial kitchen.
"The kitchen," Claire said, her baker instincts instantly taking over. "The service door leads directly to the subterranean pantry and the underground wine cellar. It has an iron storm door that leads out to the beach road!"
"Lead the way," Victor commanded, drawing his backup weapon and covering the service doorway.
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Claire clutched Eli securely against her chest, draped her heavy green silk train over her arm, and sprinted down the narrow wooden service stairs toward the kitchen.
Behind them, heavy boots thundered down the main hallway as the remaining Moretti mercenaries pursued them into the dark house.
