Chapter 6 - Whispers in the Dark
"Move! Behind the furnace!" Daniel yelled, shoving Mark toward the back alcove while shielding Emily and Lily with his body.
Smoke filled the cold air of the basement, smelling of burnt wood and cordite. Through the haze, the silhouette of Vance's chief gunman appeared at the bottom of the stairs, a heavy tactical flashlight cutting through the obscurity.
"Give up the book, Whitaker!" the gunman barked, sweeping his weapon across the room. "Clara is willing to let the kid and your sister walk if you hand over the ledger and the vault codes!"
Daniel crouched behind the massive iron furnace, his brain working at breakneck speed. He held the thick leather ledger tightly under his arm. Beside him, Margaret was shivering hysterically, while Emily squeezed Lily close, whispering desperate lullabies to keep the toddler quiet.
"Mark," Daniel whispered in a cold, deadly voice. "Is there another way out of this cellar?"
"The old coal chute..." Mark stammered, pointing to a rusted iron hatch near the ceiling near the back wall. "It leads out to the side garden behind the rose bushes. But it's bolted from the outside!"
"Not if we kick it open," Daniel said. He looked at Emily. "When I give the signal, take Lily and Margaret and head for the chute. Mark, you help them up."
"What are you going to do?" Emily whispered, her eyes wide with terror.
"I'm going to turn off the power," Daniel said.
He glanced across the wall to where the main circuit breaker box was mounted next to the water heater. It was ten feet away, completely exposed to the gunman's line of sight.
"On three," Daniel whispered. "One... two..."
Daniel lunged from behind the furnace, diving flat across the cold concrete floor.
*Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!* Bullets snapped through the air overhead, striking the brick wall behind him and sending chips of stone flying into his hair.
Daniel slammed his hand into the heavy lever of the main circuit breaker and yanked it down with all his body weight.
*CLACK!*
The entire estate was instantly plunged into pitch-black darkness. The hum of the water heater died, leaving only the sound of heavy breathing and echoing gunshots.
"Dammit! Flashlights on!" Vance screamed from the stairs.
In the total blackness, Daniel scrambled along the cold floor, relying on his childhood memory of the house. He reached out and grabbed a heavy iron wrench off his father's workbench, swinging it in a wide arc toward where he had last seen the gunman's light.
The wrench struck the gunman's wrist with a sickening *CRACK!* The weapon clattered to the concrete floor, followed by a roar of pain.
"Go! Go to the coal chute!" Daniel yelled.
Mark hauled the iron coal hatch open with a metallic wrenching sound, kicking the rusted outer latch free. Cold night air rushed into the basement. Mark pulled Emily up through the narrow chute, then reached back down to haul Margaret up by her coat.
"Daniel! Come on!" Mark shouted from above.
Daniel dodged through the darkness as another tactical light flickered on near the stairwell. Vance stepped into the room, holding his handgun with deadly focus.
"You're fast, kid," Vance growled, aiming directly at Daniel's chest. "But you can't outrun a bullet."
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Daniel grabbed the velvet-lined wooden box he had pulled from the safe earlier and hurled it straight at Vance's face. Vance dodged reflexively, and in that split second, Daniel leapt onto the rim of the coal chute, hauling himself up and out into the rainy garden air just as a gunshot blasted through the iron opening behind him.
They burst out into the stormy night, wet mud clinging to their shoes as they ran into the dark tree line bordering the estate. But as Daniel looked back at the grand house, he saw Clara standing on the balcony above, her silhouette illuminated by the lightning overhead, holding a small mobile device to her ear with a triumphant, terrifying smile.
