My husband had me locked in a windowless subterranean holding room beneath our Chicago estate, claiming I had suffered a severe psychotic break.
Julian thrashed, his elegant suit now torn, a streak of grease staining his cheek. He looked at the hard drives scattered on the floor, then back at the message on the receiver. His framing attempt had completely collapsed.
A new, frantic energy surged through him. He saw the main bunker control panel, gleaming starkly on the wall just a few feet away.
With a desperate lunge, he broke free from my grip, scrambling towards it. His fingers, trembling, went for a large red button labeled “THERMAL PURGE – EMERGENCY OVERRIDE.”
“If I go down,” he shrieked, his voice raw with panic, “everyone goes down! Carbon monoxide! It will sterilize everything!”
He intended to fill the lower corridors with lethal gas, to kill me, the remaining mercenaries, and anyone else who had breached his sanctuary.
I didn’t hesitate. I threw my body weight forward, aiming for his knees. I wasn’t fast enough to stop his finger from touching the button, but the impact sent him sprawling onto the concrete floor with a grunt. His head cracked against the metal casing of the panel.
A high-pitched alarm began to blare, signaling the purge sequence initiated.
“No!” I gasped, scrambling to disable it. My hands fumbled with the complex interface, designed to be impenetrable.
Just then, the rattling and groaning of the main freight elevator shaft filled the corridor. The reinforced metal doors shuddered, then buckled inward with a metallic shriek.
Colonel Sarah Hendricks stepped through the wreckage, her sidearm drawn. The barrel of her pistol, sleek and dark, was trained directly on Julian’s chest.
“Don’t move,” Sarah said, her voice like steel. “One more finger on that panel, Julian, and you’ll be begging for carbon monoxide.”
Julian lay stunned, his eyes wide with terror, staring at the gun. The thermal purge alarm continued its piercing shriek, but his hand was frozen, inches from the override.
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