Chapter 6
Z
The silence inside the bank vault was suffocating, broken only by the hum of the air filtration system and the rhythmic clicking of my own pulse in my ears.
"Step away from the box, Claire," DA Vance ordered, gesturing with a heavy-barreled pistol equipped with a suppressor. "You too, Captain Vance. Unbuckle your sidearm with two fingers and drop it to the floor. Slowly."
Ethan didn't flinch. His posture remained perfectly still, his body subtly positioning itself in front of me to block their line of fire. "You're committing high treason, Vance. Your father’s career is over the second this ledger hits federal court."
"My father built that network," she sneered, stepping closer. "And I’m the one protecting it. You think local law enforcement or the military police are coming to save you? I am the law in this district, Captain. Last night was just a theater show to get Darren and your mother out of the way so they wouldn't compromise the real objective."
"You used my brother and mother to get to this vault," I said, keeping my hands visible as I slipped my thumb beneath the edge of the flash drive inside the box.
"They were useful idiots," Vance said dismissively. "Your mother thought she was saving her son. Darren thought he was becoming a millionaire. In reality, they were just setting up the legal pretense for us to seize this house and search your father's remaining property. But you saved us weeks of searching by leading us straight to Box 408."
She pointed the gun directly at my forehead. "Hand over the ledger and the drive, Claire."
"Take it," I said quietly.
I picked up the heavy leather ledger with my left hand, holding it out toward her. Vance took a half-step forward, her eyes fixated on the prize her family had sought for three years.
That microsecond of distraction was all Ethan needed.
In a lightning-fast motion, Ethan grabbed the barrel of Vance's gun, twisting her wrist violently upward as a suppressed gunshot cracked into the concrete ceiling. Simultaneously, I slammed the heavy steel safety deposit box directly into the face of the guard nearest to me.
The guard stumbled back, his nose shattering with a loud crack. Ethan swept Vance’s legs out from under her, slamming her into the tiled floor, and stripped the weapon from her grip before her two guards could react.
"Move and she dies!" Ethan roared, driving his knee into Vance’s back and aiming her own suppressed weapon directly at the remaining two gunmen.
The two guards froze, their weapons raised, eyes darting between Vance and Ethan’s steady hand.
"Do it, you fools! Kill them!" Vance screamed from the floor.
"Shoot, and your boss takes the first round," Ethan growled. "Claire! The back emergency exit!"
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I didn't hesitate. I grabbed the leather ledger and the flash drive, shoved them into my coat pocket, and lunged toward the heavy metal service door at the rear of the vault room. I slammed my body against the emergency crash bar, setting off a deafening security alarm that echoed through the bank.
Ethan kicked Vance’s pistol across the floor, grabbed my arm, and pulled me through the door into the dimly lit rear corridor just as the guards opened fire, bullets spattering against the steel door frame behind us.
