Chapter 4 - Breaking the Vault
"What's the code to the keypad, Marcus?" I asked, stepping toward the cellar door.
"I don't know!" Marcus cried, clutching his head. "They change it remotely every twelve hours! It's an encrypted satellite lock!"
"Then we don't use the code," I said.
I turned to my belt and pulled out my heavy steel breach tool—a tactical crowbar designed for emergency entry. "Marcus, help me shift these shipping crates to brace the fulcrum! Silas, stand back by the kitchen doorway!"
Without hesitation, Marcus rushed forward. Years of fear seemed to melt away as he threw his weight against the heavy wooden crates, clearing a space around the iron door.
I jammed the wedge of the steel tool beneath the electronic lock housing. "On three, Marcus! Pull with everything you've got!"
"One! Two! Three!"
We hauled upward together. The sound of tearing metal and snapping bolts echoed through the dark house like a gunshot. Sparks showered from the severed electrical wiring of the keypad as the locking mechanism gave way with a violent screech.
Marcus threw open the heavy iron door.
A narrow set of concrete stairs led down into a brightly lit, climate-controlled basement laboratory. Sitting in a chair at the center of the room, tied with heavy nylon straps but breathing and alert, was an elderly woman with sharp silver hair and Silas's exact, resolute gray eyes.
"Marcus!" she called out, her voice raspy but fierce. "Silas!"
"Grandma!" Silas shouted, throwing caution to the wind as he bolted down the stairs and threw his arms around her neck.
I followed quickly, using my tactical knife to slice through the nylon restraints securing Eleanor Granger. "Mrs. Granger, I'm Officer Vance. We're getting you out of here right now."
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"Officer," Eleanor gasped, clutching my arm tightly. "The boxes upstairs—they aren't just cargo. They're scheduled for transport at 4:30 PM today. The men running this operation... they're already on the street!"
I checked my watch. It was 4:22 PM.
