Chapter 5 - The Master Architect
Daniel fired two quick shots and neutralized the mercenary before he could pull the trigger.
The echoing gunshots guaranteed that the rest of the squad would converge on us instantly.
We ran blindly down the tunnel toward the old subterranean vault room.
I was completely overwhelmed by the revelation that my father was still alive.
I asked Annie why she had gasped so loudly when she heard his name.
She stopped running and leaned heavily against the heavy steel door of the vault.
She confessed that Arthur Graves was the exact man who had murdered her father.
Her father was a master architect who specialized in building impenetrable underground vaults.
He had designed this exact subterranean bunker for Arthur many years ago.
Arthur had killed him to ensure the secrets of the vault remained completely hidden.
Annie had taken the job as a maid to secretly search for her father's missing blueprints.
She believed the blueprints contained evidence that could expose my father's vast criminal empire.
I looked at the brilliant young woman and felt a deep wave of protective fury.
I promised her that Arthur would answer for every single crime he had committed.
Daniel pushed the heavy steel door open and we rushed inside the vault.
The room was massive and lined with empty safe deposit boxes from floor to ceiling.
Annie walked directly to the center of the room where a large metal pillar stood.
She knelt down and rolled up her pant leg to access her new prosthetic limb.
She opened a small hidden compartment she had secretly modified into the carbon fiber frame.
She pulled out a tiny encrypted microchip and held it up to the dim light.
She revealed that her father had mailed this chip to her the day before he died.
It contained the master override codes for every single criminal vault in the city.
She had hidden it inside her broken leg for years because nobody ever looks closely at a disability.
Suddenly the heavy steel door of the vault slammed shut with a deafening crash.
The electronic locking mechanism engaged and sealed us inside the airtight room.
A hidden speaker crackled to life in the corner of the ceiling.
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Arthur spoke through the intercom with a chillingly calm and familiar tone.
He welcomed me home and politely asked Annie to hand over the microchip immediately.
