Chapter 3 - The Tunnel Beneath the FloorCaleb led them into the master bedroom closet. He pushed aside a row of heavy coats, pressed his hand against an invisible biometric scanner hidden in the wall, and stepped back as the back panel clicked open.
Behind it lay a steep, narrow concrete staircase descending straight down into the bedrock of the cliff.
“Where does this go?” Victoria breathed, stumbling as she followed him inside.
“To the ocean cove at the base of the cliff,” Caleb replied, pulling the secret door shut and securing the mechanical locks from the inside. “Two years of digging. I kept a modified rigid-hull inflatable boat hidden in the cave.”
As they descended into the dark, damp tunnel, a heavy detonation shook the earth above them. The mercenaries had breached the main structure with explosive charges.
“They’re going to realize we’re gone in two minutes,” Caleb warned, helping Victoria down the slick steps while carrying Emma.
“Why are you doing this?” Victoria asked, her voice cracking with pain and exhaustion. “You could have thrown me out to them. You don't know me.”
Caleb paused on the landing, looking at her in the dim emergency light. “You brought trouble to my door, Ms. Hail. But I don't let people get murdered on my driveway. And right now, staying with me is the only chance any of us have of surviving the night.”
Ten minutes later, they reached the bottom of the cavern. The roaring Pacific crashed against the rocks inside the hidden sea cave.
Caleb strapped Emma into a life jacket, helped the weakened Victoria into the passenger seat of the high-powered tactical boat, and hit the ignition. The twin engines roared to life, drowning out the storm.
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As the boat shot out of the cave into the churning black ocean, Caleb glanced back up at the cliffside. Bright flames were pouring out of the windows of his home. Everything he had built to keep the world away was burning to ash.
Yet, as he looked at his daughter safe in the back, and the courage in Victoria’s eyes, Caleb realized his fortress had never really been made of concrete.
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