Chapter 7 - The Master Key
"She is not going to open it," I panicked, tears blinding my vision.
"She wants all of us dead."
Dante put his phone away and pulled a small explosive charge from his tactical vest.
"Step back, Elena," he commanded calmly.
I scrambled backward down the hallway as Dante attached the putty-like explosive to the gate's locking mechanism.
He pressed a small detonator, and a localized blast shattered the heavy steel lock.
The gate swung open with a screech of bent metal.
We ran down the stairs and sprinted toward the basement door.
Dante kicked it open, and we descended into the cold, damp underground corridors.
My father had built these vaults to hide illegal weapons shipments decades ago.
The main vault door was made of solid titanium and sealed with a biometric scanner.
"The code is randomized every hour," Dante said, examining the glowing keypad.
"We cannot blow this door, it is too thick."
"There has to be another way," I cried, pounding my fists against the cold titanium.
Dante stepped back and looked around the dusty basement.
"Your father designed this vault," Dante thought aloud.
"He never trusted electronics, he always built a mechanical override."
I remembered a summer when I was a little girl, watching my father tinker with the pipes in the wine cellar.
"The wine cellar," I gasped, pointing down the adjacent hallway.
We ran into the dark cellar, surrounded by racks of ancient, dusty bottles.
I searched the back wall, running my hands over the cold bricks until I found a slight indentation.
I pressed the brick hard, and a hidden panel popped open.
Inside the panel was a heavy, rusted lever.
I pulled it with all my strength.
A loud mechanical clanking sound echoed from the main vault.
We ran back into the corridor just as the massive titanium door slowly hissed open.
I sprinted into the vault, desperate to hold my son.
The vault was completely empty.
Sitting on a stack of gold bars in the center of the room was a single white envelope.
May you like
Dante opened it and read the messy handwriting aloud.
"If you want to see your son alive, bring the rest of the Carter family diamonds to the shipping docks in one hour."
