Chapter 6 - The Sabotage
The air inside the vault already felt heavy and stale.
Margaret's face vanished from the screen, replaced by a merciless red countdown timer.
Ten minutes.
I slammed my fists against the massive titanium door, screaming for help until my throat ached.
Richard remained terrifyingly calm.
He pulled a small metallic tube from his tactical belt and unscrewed the cap.
He explained that he never walked into a secure facility without a contingency plan.
The tube contained a highly concentrated, military-grade thermal acid.
He ordered me to step back and cover my mouth with my jacket.
He carefully applied the glowing green liquid directly to the electronic locking mechanism of the vault door.
The acid hissed and smoked, rapidly eating through the hardened steel and complex circuitry.
The countdown timer on the wall ticked down to four minutes.
My lungs began to burn, and my vision blurred at the edges from the lack of oxygen.
I fell to my knees, gasping for air that was no longer there.
Richard grabbed a heavy metal fire extinguisher from the wall and slammed it against the weakened lock.
The melted locking pins shattered under the immense impact.
He shoved the heavy vault door open, and a rush of fresh, beautiful air flooded the room.
I crawled out into the hallway, coughing violently and taking deep, desperate breaths.
Richard helped me to my feet and shoved the manila envelope full of evidence into my jacket pocket.
We ran toward the main lobby, hoping to slip out before Margaret realized her trap had failed.
We burst through the stairwell doors and sprinted into the grand marble lobby of the bank.
We froze dead in our tracks.
The bank staff were completely gone.
Instead, a dozen heavily armed men dressed in tactical gear stood waiting for us.
Standing right in the center of the kill squad was the local Chief of Police.
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He smiled, pulled out his golden badge, and pointed his service weapon directly at my head.
He told me I was under arrest for the brutal kidnapping of my own daughters.
