Chapter 6
The heavy exterior keypad beeped in a rapid sequence, signaling that Marcus and Clara were moments away from overriding the security room's deadbolts. Elena did not waste another second. She dragged a heavy rolling utility chair across the checkered tile floor, positioning it directly beneath the high ventilation shaft. Climbing onto the seat with her red dress restricting her movement, she reached up and twisted the corner latches of the steel grate. The screws were rusted and stiff, resisting her frantic efforts. Behind her, the heavy steel door of the security room groaned as the automated locking bolts began to retract with a loud, mechanical snap. With a final desperate twist of her wrists, the metal grate gave way, clattering noisily onto the floor below. Elena hoisted herself upward, hooking her arms into the narrow opening just as the security room door swung wide open. The beam of a high-powered flashlight cut through the darkness, illuminating the empty space where Elena had been standing only seconds prior. Marcus’s voice rang out, sharp and demanding, echoing off the server racks as he realized she had slipped through his fingers. Clara’s footsteps clicked nervously against the floor as she surveyed the room, urging Marcus to check the ventilation exhaust. Elena pulled her legs up into the cramped, metallic ductwork just as a hand grazed the hem of her red dress. She kicked backward blindly, connecting with something solid, followed by a muffled curse from Marcus. Scrambling on her hands and knees through the narrow, dust-filled passage, Elena propelled herself forward into the darkness. The air inside the shaft was thick and stale, smelling of old metal and fiberglass insulation, but it offered her a vital pathway away from her pursuers. She crawled as fast as she could, the sharp edges of the sheet metal scraping against her bare arms and snagging the delicate fabric of her sleeves. Behind her, the sound of pursuit faded as the duct split into multiple intersecting paths, creating a labyrinth of shadows beneath the estate. Elena paused at the first major junction, gasping for breath in the confined space. She pulled the encrypted drive from her pocket, verifying by touch that the tiny device was still safe. She had the proof, but she was trapped inside the very fortress her husband controlled. She needed to reach the exterior perimeter fence before the security systems were fully alerted to her digital theft. Choosing the left-hand branch of the duct, she resumed her desperate crawl through the dark underbelly of the mansion.
