Chapter 12
The heavy wooden double doors of the study groaned in protest as the police crowbar pried against the brass deadbolt, sending splinters flying across the Persian rug. Clara clutched the heavy steel ring of keys to her chest, her breathing shallow and ragged as the smoke in the room grew thicker, stinging her eyes and making her vision blur at the edges. Through the hole in the floor, Dr. Harrison let out a desperate, guttural scream as he heard the officers shouting instructions outside the locked door.
"Police! Drop whatever you're doing and step away from the breach!" a stern, authoritative voice boomed through the wooden panels from the hallway.
"We are coming in on three!"
Clara didn't hesitate. She dragged herself across the floor toward the gaping hole in the center of the room, holding up the ring of keys she had found in the tactical vest.
"Leo!" she screamed down into the dark cavity, ignoring the smoke filling her lungs.
"Leo, catch the keys! The basement access panel is right below you!"
A small, dirt-smudged hand reached up from the darkness of the crawlspace, catching the heavy metal ring just as it slipped from her fingers. A second later, a loud, pneumatic clack echoed from beneath the floorboards as Leo unlocked the reinforced iron door leading directly out to the garden storm cellar.
"I've got the door open, Clara!" Leo coughed harshly from below, his voice weak but clear.
"Get out of the study right now! The whole east wing is going to blow!"
Before Clara could turn her wheelchair around, the study doors burst open with a deafening crash, and three heavily armed police officers in tactical gear swarmed into the smoke-filled room, their flashlights cutting blinding white beams through the haze. An officer with graying hair and the badge of a captain pinned to his chest immediately dropped to one knee beside Clara, grabbing her gently by the shoulders to pull her away from the hole.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?" the captain asked, his voice sharp with concern as he took in the bandages on her head and the torn yellow dress.
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"Where is Dr. Harrison?"
Clara pointed a trembling finger down into the smoking pit where Dr. Harrison was frantically trying to pull himself free, but before the officers could reach him, the red countdown timer on the utility panel hit zero, and the wall behind them blew open in a blinding flash of orange fire.
