Chapter 7 - The Clock is Ticking
The massive revolver looked incredibly steady in Victor’s unbroken hand.
"You always were too clever for your own good, Maya," he whispered, cocking the hammer.
"The EMP might stop the signal, but it cannot stop a bullet from tearing through your skull."
I kept my eyes locked on his, calculating the distance between us in a fraction of a second.
"If you shoot me, you will never get out of this vault," I stated with absolute certainty.
"I am the only one who knows the manual override sequence for the blast doors."
Victor chuckled darkly, keeping the weapon perfectly leveled at my eyes.
"Daniel knows the code; this is his house, after all," Victor sneered, glancing sideways at him.
Daniel swallowed hard, wiping a smear of blood from his bruised neck.
"The system reset during the lockdown, and only the chief of security has the new master cipher," Daniel lied brilliantly.
I felt a surge of pride for Daniel; he was finally learning how to play the game.
Victor’s frustration boiled over, and he fired a warning shot into the ceiling.
The deafening blast echoed endlessly in the confined space, making my ears ring in agony.
"Open the door, or the next bullet goes into his kneecap!" Victor shouted, pointing the gun at Daniel.
I slowly walked over to the heavy keypad next to the vault door.
I punched in a random sequence of numbers, deliberately triggering an error beep.
"The system is rebooting; it needs a minute to process the command," I lied smoothly.
I used my body to block Victor's view of the keypad as I subtly pressed the emergency ventilation override.
A soft humming sound began to vibrate through the thick steel walls of the room.
The massive overhead vent above Victor began to slowly rotate open to cycle the stale air.
I caught Daniel’s eye and gave him a nearly imperceptible nod.
Daniel suddenly threw his heavy jacket directly into Victor’s face.
Victor fired blindly, the bullet grazing Daniel’s shoulder as he dove to the floor.
I used the distraction to leap onto a storage crate and jump toward the open ventilation shaft.
I grabbed the metal grate, pulling my entire body up into the tight, dark space just as Victor tore the jacket away.
He fired two shots into the vent, the bullets sparking off the metal inches from my boots.
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I crawled desperately through the narrow, dusty shaft, moving blindly in the pitch-black darkness.
Suddenly, a pair of strong hands grabbed my ankles from the opposite direction and began dragging me backward.
