Chapter 12 - Through the Smoke
Sparks rained down from the upper stairwell as the heavy steel maintenance door began to glow a dull, cherry-red under the intense heat of a professional cutting torch.
"Hurry, Thomas!" Leo cried, squeezing his small body into the dark, narrow ventilation shaft just as Thomas hauled the grate entirely free from the wall.
Thomas shoved Leo ahead of him into the cramped metal tunnel, crawling tightly behind the boy as the smell of burning metal and ozone filled the underground vault. Behind them, the door finally gave way with a deafening screech of torn steel, followed by the heavy, angry shouts of Mr. Vance’s security guards pouring into the room.
They crawled for what felt like an eternity through the dark, dust-choked pipe, scraping their elbows and knees until a faint square of grey daylight appeared at the far end.
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Thomas kicked outward with his boot, shattering a rotting wooden louver and sending them tumbling out into an overgrown drainage ditch behind the old rail yards just as a burst of gunfire pinged off the metal pipe behind them.
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