Chapter 15 - The Countdown
The heavy vault door sealed shut with an explosive thud, instantly engaging the internal deadbolts. Through the thick bulletproof glass window of the door, I could see Julian Vance screaming in absolute fury, his fists pounding violently against the impenetrable steel.
The bank's silent alarm had been triggered. According to Marcus, I had exactly three minutes before the Geneva tactical police swarmed the building.
I spun around, scanning the rows of enormous deposit boxes. I found number 704. I inserted the silver key and turned it sharply.
The box slid open smoothly. Inside rested a small, heavy titanium hard drive—the cipher that held the keys to Julian’s entire corrupt empire. I grabbed it, shoving it deep into the internal pocket of my trench coat.
Outside the glass, Julian had pulled a suppressed pistol from his jacket and fired three rapid shots at the window. The bullets flattened against the high-grade ballistic glass, leaving spiderweb cracks but failing to penetrate.
"You are a dead woman!" Julian screamed, his voice muffled by the thick steel.
I ignored him, my eyes darting around the vault. The police were coming, but if I was arrested inside a fraudulent account vault with a stolen hard drive, the Swiss authorities would lock me away for decades before the FBI could ever intervene. I needed an exit.
I looked up at the ceiling. The vault was a sealed environment, but there was a large, industrial ventilation grate required for emergency oxygen circulation.
I dragged a heavy steel stepping stool over, climbed up, and used the edge of the silver key to rapidly unscrew the bolts holding the grate in place. I had just managed to kick the heavy metal covering aside when the sound of heavy boots and shouting echoed in the hallway outside.
The Geneva police had arrived.
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I watched through the glass as heavily armed tactical officers swarmed Julian and his bodyguard, forcing them to the marble floor at gunpoint. Julian locked eyes with me through the cracked glass, his face twisted in a mask of homicidal rage as handcuffs were slapped onto his wrists.
I didn't wait to watch the rest. I pulled myself up into the dark, dusty ventilation shaft, crawling desperately into the unknown labyrinth beneath the city of Geneva.
