Chapter 57 - Inside the Sanctuary
The interior of the safehouse was unrecognizable. The walls were scarred with bullet holes, family heirlooms were smashed across the hardwood floors, and the cozy living room where my father and I had shared quiet evenings was now a staging ground for enemy combatants.
"They haven't found the primary vault yet," Elena whispered, pointing toward the heavy steel bookcase in the corner of the study. "The locking mechanism requires biometric authentication and the physical key David gave you."
"Good thing I brought both," I said, stepping cautiously toward the concealed entrance.
Suddenly, heavy combat boots echoed down the second-floor hallway above us. Voices rasped through tactical communicators in Russian, followed by the metallic click of a heavy breaching charge being primed on the master bedroom door overhead.
"They're trying to blow the upper reinforcement bulkhead," Ethan said, raising his carbine toward the ceiling. "If they breach that, they drop right into the secondary server room."
"Let them try," I said, stepping up to the steel bookcase and pressing my palm against the biometric scanner while inserting David’s microchip into the secondary slot.
The heavy steel mechanism hissed, unlocking with a deep, hydraulic groan as the bookcase swung inward to reveal the illuminated vault stairs descending into the bedrock below.
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"Ethan, hold the ground floor stairwell," I ordered, turning to Elena. "With me. We secure the core data before they blow the roof."
As we descended into the subterranean bunker, a massive explosion rocked the house above us. Dust, plaster, and splinters rained down through the stairwell as the ceiling of the study partially collapsed. The battle for Lake Tahoe had officially entered its endgame.
