The air was thick with the smell of old stone and dry rot.

I used the flashlight on my phone, keeping the beam pointed at the ground so it wouldn’t cast a glow behind us.

Behind us, in the main room, I heard the steady click of Marco’s keyboard.

Then, a sharp metallic crack echoed from the top of the basement stairs.

They had breached the inner security door.

“They’re on the stairs,” Marco’s voice was tense but steady.

“Watch the corner,” Ryker replied.

I pulled the twins deeper into the passage, my heart hammering against my ribs.

We reached the small iron grate that separated the passage from the old wine cellar.

The lock was rusty, and my fingers slipped on the cold metal.

“It’s stuck,” I whispered to myself.

“Let me help,” Lily said.

She reached her small fingers into the gap, trying to pull the latch.

A sudden burst of gunfire erupted from the room behind us.

The sound was deafening in the enclosed concrete space, a rapid succession of sharp pops.

Owen whimpered, dropping his bear.