Chapter 10
The hallway was a nightmare of flashing red lights and suffocating smoke. The acrid smell of C4 explosives and burning drywall burned Harper's lungs. Silas moved with lethal precision, pushing Harper behind him, his rifle raised, scanning every shadowed corner. Bane flanked them on the left, moving with a predatory grace that entirely belied his previous limp. The dog was no longer a grieving pet; he was a weapon forged for war.
Gunfire echoed from the lower levels, a chaotic symphony of violence. Silas’s men were fighting and dying to hold the line.
"The safe room is in the basement," Silas shouted over the din, pulling Harper toward the servant's stairwell. "It’s reinforced concrete. You and Bane will lock yourselves inside until my reinforcements arrive."
"I'm not leaving you!" Harper screamed back, terrified of losing him just as she had found him.
"You will do exactly as I say!" Silas ordered, turning to look at her with eyes that brokered no argument. "They want to destroy everything I love. I will not let them take you, Harper. Do you understand me?"
He loved her. The confession hung in the smoke-filled air, heavy and absolute.
Before Harper could respond, the stairwell door burst open. Two mercenaries dressed in black tactical gear leveled submachine guns at them.
Silas fired first. His rifle roared, dropping the first man instantly. But the second mercenary returned fire, a spray of bullets chewing up the drywall around them. Silas shoved Harper hard to the ground, diving on top of her to shield her body with his own.
With a terrifying, demonic roar, Bane launched himself over them. One hundred and sixty pounds of pure muscle and rage hit the remaining mercenary square in the chest. The man screamed as the massive hound locked his jaws around his throat, driving him backward down the stairs. The sickening crunch of bone was audible even over the gunfire.
Silas pulled Harper to her feet, his eyes wild. "Go! Now!"
They rushed down the stairs, stepping over the bodies. Bane fell into step beside them, his black coat slick with blood, his jaws red, but his eyes fiercely intelligent and completely focused on Harper.
They reached the basement level. The heavy steel door of the panic room stood open. Silas shoved Harper and Bane inside.
"Lock it from the inside," Silas commanded, standing in the doorway. He reached out, his bloody hand cupping her cheek for one desperate second. "If I don't come back, there is a ledger in the safe. It will give you enough money to disappear forever."
"Silas, please," Harper sobbed, grabbing his tactical vest.
May you like
"I love you, Harper," he said softly, a stark contrast to the violence surrounding them.
He stepped back, pulling the heavy steel door shut. The deadbolts slammed into place with a deafening thud, sealing Harper and Bane in utter darkness, leaving the man she loved to fight a war alone.
