“It’s a fail-safe,” Marcus explained, touching a blue wire with the tip of his knife. “If it loses external power, it assumes someone is trying to dismantle it.”

“Then we can’t let them cut the power,” Daniel said.

Another sound echoed from above, closer this time.

It was the heavy, synchronized thud of combat boots on the hardwood floors of the foyer.

There were at least four of them, moving with tactical precision.

“They’re searching the ground floor,” I whispered.

“They’ll find the cellar door in less than two minutes,” Daniel said.

He drew his sidearm, the slide clicking back into place.

The smell of gun oil drifted through the dark passage.

“We need to block the stairs,” I said.

“There’s a steel security grate at the top of the cellar steps,” Daniel said. “But the release lever is on the outside.”

“Then one of us has to go up,” Marcus said.

“No,” I said. “We stay together. If we split up, they take us out one by one.”

I looked around the small stone room, searching for another way out.