Chapter 3 - The Hidden Vault
I stood in my ruined kitchen, staring at the terrifying ransom note in absolute disbelief.
My parents had been kidnapped over a piece of paper I thought was a harmless birthday prank.
I knew I could not go to the police because the bank manager was clearly involved in this massive conspiracy.
I had to find my grandfather Salvador and force him to explain this nightmare.
I ran to my car and drove recklessly toward the dusty retirement community on the edge of town.
I bypassed the front desk and sprinted directly to Salvador's small, ground-floor apartment.
The door was unlocked, but the small room was completely empty and covered in a thick layer of dust.
It looked like nobody had actually lived in this apartment for several months.
I began tearing the room apart, searching desperately for any clue to his real whereabouts.
Behind a framed photograph of us at a fishing lake, I found a loose section of drywall.
I punched through the brittle plaster and pulled out a heavy, fireproof metal lockbox.
I smashed the lockbox open using a heavy brass lamp from his bedside table.
Inside rested a stack of fake passports, a loaded silver pistol, and a detailed blueprint of the city.
There was also a handwritten journal filled with complex mathematical codes and banking algorithms.
I flipped to the very last page of the journal and gasped in pure shock.
My goofy, broke grandfather was actually the most notorious, uncatchable bank robber in American history.
The check he gave me was not a withdrawal slip at all.
It was a perfectly coded map designed to open a legendary, undiscovered vault hidden beneath the city.
May you like
Before I could even process this insane revelation, the cold barrel of a gun pressed firmly against the back of my head.
"Put your hands in the air, Daniel," a sharp, feminine voice commanded from the shadows.
