Chapter 9 - The Siege
The heavy footsteps of heavily armed mercenaries echoed loudly up the stairwell.
Thomas barricaded the door with his heavy oak desk, cocking his shotgun with trembling hands.
Arthur stood beside him, his muscles tense and ready for the impending violence.
The loading bar on the screen slowly crawled to twenty-five percent.
A massive explosion shattered the reinforced door, sending wood and concrete flying across the room.
Through the smoke, Evelyn’s men poured into the apartment, firing blindly.
Thomas returned fire, his shotgun blasting loudly and forcing the attackers to take cover in the hallway.
Arthur used the chaos to flank the door, swinging his heavy wrench at the first man who rushed inside.
He fought with the desperate, ferocious strength of a father protecting his only child.
He disarmed one of the mercenaries, grabbing his tactical rifle and providing cover fire for Thomas.
The loading bar reached sixty percent.
The gunfire was deafening, tearing the apartment to absolute shreds.
Suddenly, the shooting from the hallway completely stopped.
An eerie, unnatural silence fell over the smoking, ruined apartment.
Evelyn walked slowly through the destroyed doorway, holding a terrified Max at gunpoint.
She had caught him trying to sneak out of the panic room to help Arthur.
She pressed the barrel of her gun to the boy’s temple, her eyes locked onto Arthur’s.
She demanded that Thomas cancel the upload immediately, or the boy would die.
Arthur froze, his finger hovering over the trigger of his stolen rifle.
He could not let an innocent child die for his family’s mistakes.
The loading bar reached eighty-five percent.
Thomas looked at Arthur, his face pale with agonizing indecision.
Arthur slowly lowered his weapon, preparing to surrender to save Max’s life.
But before he could speak, Lily suddenly stepped out from the shadows of the panic room.
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She held Thomas’s emergency flare gun, her hands perfectly steady as she aimed it directly at the server rack behind Evelyn.
She looked her mother dead in the eyes with absolute, unbreakable courage.
