Chapter 5 - The Vault
We entered the third-floor study. The room was soundproof, lined with mahogany books and expensive art. Behind the desk was a massive steel wall safe.
"Open it," I commanded.
"You're a dead man, Richard," Eleanor hissed, her hands trembling as she approached the vault. "Marcus will kill you. The cartel will kill you."
"Open the vault."
She pressed her thumb against the biometric scanner. The machine beeped, green light flashing, and the heavy steel door clicked open.
Suddenly, my earpiece crackled. It was Maria. "Mr. Vance! Marcus is on his way up. You have thirty seconds!"
I shoved Eleanor aside and plugged a small extraction cable into the vault's internal hard drive, connecting it to my phone. A progress bar appeared on my screen.
20%... 40%...
Footsteps pounded down the hallway.
80%... 100%. Download complete.
I yanked the cable out just as the study doors burst open. Marcus stood there, pulling a silenced pistol from his tuxedo jacket.
"Richard," Marcus snarled, aiming the gun directly at my chest. "I always knew you were too stubborn to die quietly."
Before he could pull the trigger, the lights in the entire mansion violently shut off. Plunged into total darkness, the house erupted into screams. Maria had cut the main breaker.
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I tackled Marcus in the dark. The gun went off, the bullet shattering a glass vase near my head. I drove my fist into his jaw, feeling the satisfying crunch of bone. He collapsed to the floor, groaning in pain.
I grabbed Eleanor’s phone from her clutch on the desk—the final piece of the puzzle—and sprinted toward the service stairs, disappearing into the chaos of the pitch-black mansion.
