Chapter 3 - The Traitor's Price
I stared at the barrel of the gun, my mind struggling to process this ultimate betrayal.
The night manager had been a trusted friend of my family for over two decades.
He calmly explained that my mother had offered him ten million dollars to lock us inside this airtight vault forever.
Elias did not waste a single second trying to reason with the corrupt banker.
He lunged forward with explosive power and disarmed the manager before the man could even pull the trigger.
Elias struck the man viciously across the jaw, sending him collapsing heavily onto the polished marble floor.
We rushed toward the massive steel vault door, but the mechanical gears were already sealing us inside.
The heavy metal slammed shut with a deafening thud, plunging the room into absolute darkness.
Emergency red lights flickered on, casting a terrifying glow over Sophie's pale, frightened face.
She cried out in agony as the timer on the implant dropped to exactly five minutes.
The burning sensation in her spine was growing stronger, and her small legs began to violently twitch.
I pounded my fists against the two-foot-thick steel door, screaming for someone to help us.
Elias pulled a specialized thermal cutting torch from his heavy tactical coat and ignited the bright blue flame.
He warned me that cutting through this vault door would take at least twenty minutes.
We did not have twenty minutes, and my daughter was going to be permanently paralyzed in less than five.
I fell to my knees beside Sophie, tears streaming down my face as I held her trembling hands.
I apologized to her for failing to protect her from the dark secrets of our twisted family.
Sophie looked up at me with tears in her eyes and whispered something that made my blood run cold.
She told me that Mommy had not left the will in the bank vault at all.
I asked her what she meant, desperately hoping the mind of a nine-year-old held the key to our survival.
Sophie explained that right before the car crash, Rebecca had hidden a folded piece of paper inside Sophie's favorite stuffed bear.
That old teddy bear was currently sitting in the attic of our remote summer cabin in the mountains.
My mother had completely fallen for a decoy, and the real will was still safely hidden away.
But this incredible revelation was entirely useless if we died suffocating inside this underground prison.
Elias suddenly stopped cutting the door and stared intently at the main ventilation duct above our heads.
He told me to lift him up so he could access the electronic wiring of the air circulation system.
I hoisted him onto my shoulders, and he quickly ripped the metal grate off the wall.
He used his hacking tablet to send a massive electrical surge directly back through the bank's main server.
The entire building's power grid short-circuited, causing the magnetic locks on the vault door to violently disengage.
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We pushed the heavy door open and ran up the stairs, leaving the unconscious manager behind.
But as we reached the main lobby, we saw a dozen armed mercenaries blocking the front exit.
