Chapter 11 - The Sub-Basement Vault
Thick white smoke began pouring into the fourth-floor corridor from the stairwell.
The loud shouting of tactical officers echoed from the floors below, growing louder with every passing second.
"SWAT is inside the building!" Sarah yelled, ducking down as smoke filled the hallway.
"We don't have time to go down to the basement!" Sarah warned, pulling Mark's arm.
"We have to go to the roof for emergency extraction!" she urged frantically.
"I am not leaving my wife to suffocate down there!" Mark screamed back, pulling away from Sarah's grip.
"Mark, look at me!" Jax yelled, slamming Evelyn down onto the floor and pinning her wrist behind her back.
"I will go down to the sub-basement and get Clara," Jax declared, looking Mark dead in the eye.
"You take Lily and Sarah and get to the roof right now!" Jax ordered with absolute authority.
"No, Jax, I'm coming with you!" Mark insisted, his face pale with desperation.
"You need to protect your daughter, Mark!" Jax roared over the sound of approaching footsteps and tear gas sirens.
"If you get caught by SWAT, Lily ends up in an orphanage!" Jax reminded him harshly.
"Take Lily to the roof and hold off the police until I bring Clara up!" Jax commanded.
Mark looked down at Lily, who was clutching his coat in complete terror.
Mark knew Jax was right; he couldn't risk Lily being taken back into state custody.
"Bring my wife back, Jax," Mark said, his voice choked with emotion.
"On my life, brother," Jax promised, grabbing a flashbang grenade off the unconscious guard's vest.
Jax hauled Evelyn up off the floor by her collar, using her as a human shield as he exited the room into the smoke.
"Move!" Jax shoved Evelyn forward into the white gas cloud, heading down toward the secret basement levels.
Sarah grabbed Mark and Lily, guiding them in the opposite direction toward the fire escape stairs leading up to the roof.
Mark carried Lily in his arms, covering her face with his damp jacket to shield her from the stinging tear gas.
They scrambled up the final flight of narrow metal steps until they reached the heavy red roof access door.
Sarah slammed her shoulder against the emergency push-bar, breaking out onto the dark, rain-swept rooftop.
Cold rain lashed across Mark's face, washing away the sting of the tear gas from his eyes.
The wind howled fiercely around the rooftop air vents and high brick chimneys.
In the distance, red and blue police lights illuminated the dark forest canopy surrounding the entire asylum complex.
At least twenty police cruisers and two tactical armory vehicles had completely surrounded the building perimeter.
"There's no way off this roof, Sarah!" Mark yelled over the roaring wind and rain.
"We are completely trapped up here!" Mark screamed, looking down over the edge at the sea of flashing police lights.
"The extraction chopper should be here in two minutes!" Sarah shouted back, scanning the dark stormy sky.
"What chopper?!" Mark asked in total confusion.
"Jax arranged a escape flight with his old motorcycle club network!" Sarah explained, keeping her gun aimed at the roof door.
Suddenly, the heavy metal roof door burst open behind them with a loud, metallic bang.
Detective Miller stepped out onto the roof, flanked by three heavily armed SWAT officers with laser sights on their rifles.
Red laser dots immediately targeted Mark's chest and Sarah's forehead.
"Drop your weapon, Sarah!" Detective Miller commanded through a bullhorn, stepping forward into the rain.
"It's over, Vance!" Miller sneered, looking directly at Mark with a cold, triumphant grin.
"Put the girl down and get on your knees with your hands behind your head!" Miller ordered.
Sarah slowly lowered her handgun toward the wet roof surface, looking at Mark with a desperate, defeated expression.
Mark held Lily tightly in his arms, backing up slowly toward the very edge of the roof drop-off.
"Don't do anything stupid, Mark," Miller warned, taking another step closer with his weapon raised.
"You have nowhere left to run," Miller added coldly.
Down below, deep within the dark sub-basement vault of the building, Jax dragged Evelyn down a flooded corridor.
The water level in the basement had reached up to Jax's knees.
Jax reached the heavy reinforced steel vault door at the end of the dark hall.
A digital countdown timer on the vault door read: 01:15... 01:14... 01:13...
The oxygen inside the sealed chamber was almost completely exhausted.
"Open the door, Evelyn!" Jax roared, pressing his gun directly against her temple.
Evelyn spat water out of her mouth and grinned sinisterly through the darkness.
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"I lost the master key card in the struggle upstairs, Jax," Evelyn whispered softly.
"She's going to die in there, and there is nothing you can do to save her."
