Chapter 20 - The Midnight Threat
The silence inside the subterranean chamber grew suffocating. Lily buried her face in Emma’s shoulder, trembling softly, while Daniel quietly checked the magazine of his sidearm.
“There are six of them outside,” Daniel whispered, keeping his eyes on the tactical monitors. “The titanium grilles can hold high-grade explosives for maybe twenty minutes. But we have no secondary exit down here.”
“There is an exit,” Henri de Montfort interjected, his voice trembling with quiet urgency. “Arthur Vance was not a fool, Daniel. When he renovated this repository thirty years ago, he commissioned a private drainage tunnel that leads directly to the subterranean docks beneath the lake promenade. But the hydraulic release requires manual override from the terminal.”
“How long to cycle the system?” Emma asked, her mind racing at lightning speed.
“Five minutes,” de Montfort answered, his fingers flying across the keyboard. “But once the water gates open, the structural pressure will trigger an automated emergency flood sequence in this chamber. Anyone left behind will be trapped beneath thirty feet of Alpine runoff.”
Emma looked down at the pedestal. The two data drives sat illuminated beneath the glass—thirty years of hidden truth, the names of every politician, oligarch, and cartel figure tied to the St. Clair Syndicate.
If those drives were destroyed or captured, Julian’s death would go unpunished. Lily would spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, hunted by ghosts she never asked to inherit.
Outside the grille, the sound of industrial drills began shrieking against the titanium frame. Sparks showered into the corridor as the tactical team set thermite charges along the door’s locking pins.
“Emma,” Daniel said, his voice dropping into a solemn, unwavering tone. “You take Lily. You take de Montfort and get to that dock. There’s a launch moored at the end of the channel.”
Emma seized Daniel’s arm. “I am not leaving you behind, Daniel! You’re the only family I have left!”
“I promised Arthur I would protect you with my life,” Daniel said, placing a warm, calloused hand against her cheek. “Arthur died knowing he couldn't finish this war. But you can, Emma. Take those drives to the international press. Dismantle them from the roots. Don't let Julian’s sacrifice mean nothing.”
The thermite charges on the outer grille detonated with a concussive blast, blowing through the outer hinges. Smoke and acrid chemical fumes poured into the corridor.
“The drainage gates are open!” de Montfort shouted as a heavy iron bulkhead slid upward in the rear wall of the vault, revealing a narrow stone stairway descending into roaring darkness. “Emma, now!”
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Emma grabbed the two data drives, sliding them into her jacket. She kissed Lily’s forehead, whispered a prayer into her daughter’s ear, and stepped toward the bulkhead as Daniel raised his weapon and aimed it directly at the breach.
***
