Chapter 7 - THE STORM AT THE GATES
"Get the children to the subterranean vault!" Victor ordered, racking the slide of his pistol.
"Uncle Victor!" Clara screamed as the sound of automatic gunfire echoed from the front gardens, followed by the deep THUD of an explosive breaching charge blowing open the front gates.
"Go with the captain, Clara! Take Nora!" Victor commanded, grabbing both girls by their shoulders and shoving them toward the security captain. "Nora, listen to me. The Syndicate kept you in Sector 4 to control the Vance estate succession. They cannot let the council know you are alive!"
Nora’s heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird. The hunger was gone, replaced by a cold, familiar adrenaline. The street had taught her how to run, but this wasn't an alley fight—this was a war.
"I'm not leaving without you!" Clara yelled, tears streaming down her face as smoke began pouring under the heavy oak dining room doors.
"I will hold the foyer," Victor declared, his voice iron-clad as four Vance security guards stacked up behind him with assault rifles. "Captain, seal the vault door behind them. If I do not return in twenty minutes, initiate Protocol Zero and contact the High Council."
The heavy oak doors of the dining room exploded inward in a shower of wood splinters and shattered glass.
Tactical soldiers in black armor, bearing the crimson snake emblem of the Syndicate, poured through the smoke.
"Clear the room! Secure the girl!" a harsh voice yelled over the gunfire.
"Run!" Victor roared, stepping into the line of fire and discharging his weapon into the lead attacker as the security captain grabbed Clara and Nora, dragging them down a hidden stone staircase beneath the fireplace wall.
As the stone door slid shut, sealing the girls in the darkness below, the sound of battle raged above them.
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Nora stood on the cold stone steps, holding Clara’s shaking hand in the dark. In her other hand, she clutched the half-eaten piece of bread Clara had given her on the street—the simple act of kindness that had just ignited a war for her existence.
And in the pitch black of the tunnel, Nora realized her fight for survival had only just begun.
