Chapter 6 - The Escape
The heavy brass weight struck the operative's temple with a sickening crunch.
The man groaned, his eyes rolling back as he collapsed sideways onto the concrete floor, his suppressed weapon clattering across the stones.
"Movement!" the second operative yelled, bringing his rifle up, but Adrian was already moving.
Leveraging the distraction, Adrian drove his shoulder into the second guard's gut, slamming him against the iron vault door. He grabbed the operative's wrist, twisted it sharply until the bone popped, snatched the rifle from his failing grip, and swept the weapon around.
TAK-TAK-TAK!
Three muffled shots echoed through the chamber. The remaining two guards standing near the staircase dropped to the floor, their body armor failing against the close-range bursts.
"Julian!" Adrian roared, turning the rifle toward the spiral stairs, but Julian had already sprinted up the steps, slamming the heavy iron access hatch shut behind him.
A heavy mechanical bolt clicked into place from the outside.
"He locked the hatch!" Adrian yelled, charging up the stairs and slamming his body against the reinforced iron door. It didn't budge an inch.
Below in the chamber, Maya dropped to her knees beside Eleanor, pulling the frail old woman into her arms.
"Grandmother," Maya whispered, her hands trembling as she checked Eleanor's pulse. "Are you okay? Talk to me!"
Eleanor winced, her face pale, holding her bruised side, but her eyes were remarkably clear. "I'm... I'm fine, child. Just an old woman's bruised pride. Did he... did he take the box?"
"He took it," Maya said, her heart sinking as she looked at the empty desk. "He has everything. The ledger, the flash drives... everything my mother died to protect."
"No," Eleanor whispered, a small, terrifyingly sharp smile forming on her lips. "He doesn't."
Maya blinked. "What?"
Eleanor reached into the deep pocket of her heavy wool coat and pulled out a sleek, black metallic object the size of a deck of cards.
"That box was a decoy," Eleanor revealed softly, her voice raspy. "Arthur built this vault, but Clara modified it before she fled twenty years ago. She knew Julian would eventually find this room."
Adrian hurried back down the spiral stairs, his rifle held low, his chest heaving. "The hatch is solid iron, three inches thick. We're locked in."
"Adrian," Eleanor called out, holding up the black metallic object. "Look at this."
Adrian walked over, his eyes widening as he recognized the device. "A encrypted solid-state drive. Military grade."
"Clara swapped the drives twenty years ago," Eleanor explained, placing the drive into Maya’s hands. "The box contained dummy files filled with corrupt data designed to fry whatever system Julian plugs them into. The real ledger—every bank account, every offshore shell company, every murder contract Arthur and Julian signed—is right here in Maya’s hands."
Maya looked down at the cold black square in her palm. "My mother... she outsmarted them."
"She was a Vale," Eleanor said proudly, reaching up to stroke Maya's cheek. "And so are you."
"That's great news," Adrian said, looking up at the closed hatch above them, "but if we can't get out of this vault, Julian will burn this manor to the ground with us inside it."
Maya looked around the stone chamber, her eyes sweeping over the ancient granite blocks, the iron door, and the massive wooden desk.
"There has to be another way out," Maya said, standing up. "My mother wouldn't build a decoy box without giving herself an escape route. She knew Julian would lock her in."
She walked to the granite wall behind the desk, running her fingers along the damp stone seams.
"Look at the mortar," Maya pointed out, her light flashlight beam catching the edge of the stone blocks. "Every wall in this chamber uses dark gray cement mortar. But this section right here..."
She tapped a six-foot-tall section of blocks behind the desk.
"It's sealed with silicone caulk," Maya said, her eyes lighting up. "It was put in much later."
Adrian rushed over, pulling a tactical knife from a fallen guard's vest. He jammed the blade into the seam. The soft silicone gave way instantly, revealing a hollow void behind the thin stone fascia.
"It's a fake wall," Adrian said, his face breaking into a grim grin. "It leads into the old wine cellar drainage system."
"Stand back," Adrian ordered, stepping back and raising his rifle.
May you like
He fired a sustained ten-round burst into the center of the fake wall. The thin stone panels shattered into dust, revealing a dark, concrete drainage tunnel leading out into the hills.
"Let's go," Adrian said, helping Eleanor to her feet. "Before Julian realizes his prize is a Trojan horse."
