Page 81 of Dublin Charmer

This tunnel was built to survive invasions.

Let’s hope it does its job.

The noise grows louder as I climb, the air carrying the metallic scent of gunpowder from above. For years, I’ve been the Quinn behind the screen, the one who never got his hands dirty. The smart one. The careful one.

But today, I killed men.

I rescued hostages.

I fell in love with a woman who’s as dangerous as she is brilliant.

Maybe I’ve been a real Quinn all along.

When I reach the upper section of the tunnel, I pause at the final security door, check my weapon, and take a deep breath.On the other side is the war room—and beyond that, my family fighting for their lives.

I press my palm against the scanner and enter the code.

The door slides open, revealing the war room in disarray. Chairs lay overturned, shelves tipped and spilling across the stone floors, monitors shattered. Through the open door to the hallway, I can hear the battle raging upstairs.

I tap my earpiece to speak. “I’m inside. Coming up from the war room.”

“Finny boy,” Tag’s voice crackles through. “About fucking time. We’ve got the majority of them pinned between the east wing and the billiards room, but Gravely’s on the loose somewhere.”

“Got it. On my way.”

I move through the familiar halls of our home, now transformed into a war zone. Bullet holes pepper the walls where family photos once hung. The Christmas tree in the great room lies toppled, heirloom ornaments shattered across the stone floor.

This is what Gravely thinks is a show of strength; the destruction of everything beautiful and meaningful.

Not anymore.

I reach the main staircase and spot Kieran crouched behind an overturned harvest table, exchanging fire with someone down the hall.

“And we meet again,” I say, taking up a defensive position beside him.

“Glad to see you, kid.” He flashes me a genuine smile. “There are two pinned down in the library.”

“Tag said he’s got a bunch pinned down between the billiards room and the east wing.”

Kieran nods. “And Sean and Bryan are upstairs.”

I lean my head out a little to peek around the corner and see where these two are in the library. “Okay, I’ll double back through the dining room, and flank from the other side.”

Kieran glances down the hall the way I indicated, working out the layout I know by heart. “All right. I’ll draw fire when you’re in position.”

“I don’t think you’ll need to. If my plan works, they’ll abandon their hiding spot and come running out into the hall.”

“Why would they do that?”

I grin. “Wait and see.”

I rush back the way I came, dash across the hall to the servers’ pantry, then through the dining room and out the other door. That puts me right down the hall from the library.

From my new position, I have access to the service panel, and with the generator working, I should have system control. I pry the door open and program my commands.

In seconds, I’ve overridden the safety features on the sprinkler system in the library, and instructed it to release the chemical fire suppressant.

“The library is about to get smoky. Nobody panic when the alarm goes off. I’m flushing out the enemy.”