Chapter 7 - The Gas in the Chamber
"You really should have left town when you had the chance, Sebastián," Octavio’s voice crackled through the vault intercom.
"Now you’ve saved me the trouble of hunting you down across the border."
Luciana rushed to the heavy reinforced steel door, pounding her fists against the impenetrable glass.
"Let us out, you monster!" Luciana screamed.
Octavio adjusted his gold cufflinks, looking at them like laboratory mice caught in a trap.
"The vault system is equipped with an automated halon fire-suppression gas system," Octavio said smoothly.
"In ninety seconds, every molecule of oxygen in that room will be displaced."
"The police will find you both dead from an accidental asphyxiation while attempting to rob the family bank."
A loud, hissing roar erupted from the ceiling vents as thick, invisible halon gas began flooding the chamber.
Sebastián felt the air thin instantly, his lungs burning as he struggled to draw a full breath.
"Think about what you're doing, Octavio!" Sebastián shouted, coughing violently against the glass.
"My father's real will is on this hard drive! The federal authorities will trace the digital backups!"
"There are no federal backups, cousin," Octavio laughed coldly.
"Once you are dead, Valeria will sign over guardianship within five minutes to save her own life."
Luciana fell to her knees, gasping for air as her vision blurred into dark shadows.
Sebastián sprinted to the corner of the vault where the emergency maintenance electrical panel was housed.
He remembered an old architectural secret his father had shared with him during the bank's initial construction.
The backup telephone line for the silent robbery alarm was routed through a manual bypass switch behind the breaker box.
Sebastián ripped the metal cover off the breaker using his bare hands, tearing his fingers on the sharp edges.
He found the red copper emergency wire and crossed it directly against the main sixty-amp electrical terminal.
A blinding arc of electric fire erupted from the panel, blowing the main circuit breakers of the entire banking facility.
The magnetic seals on the vault door lost power instantly, releasing the locking pins with a heavy mechanical snap.
Sebastián kicked the heavy steel door outward, tackling Octavio onto the polished marble corridor outside.
The tablet flew from Octavio's hands, shattering into pieces against the floor.
Sebastián drove his elbow across Octavio's face, splitting his cousin's lip and knocking him flat on his back.
Sebastián grabbed the hard drive and the manila dossiers, hauling Luciana out of the suffocating vault into the corridor.
As they reached the underground parking garage, gunshots echoed from the vehicle bay.
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Tomás lay wounded on the concrete beside the SUV, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
The rear doors of the SUV were wide open, and Valeria and baby Mateo were completely gone.
