Chapter 9 - The Annex Vault
The elevator climbed smoothly, leaving the chaos of the atrium behind. When the doors slid open on the tenth floor, the girls stepped into the quiet gloom of Vance Legal Archives. The floor was dark, shuttered behind frosted glass partitions and endless rows of metal filing cabinets.
Lily ran toward the corner office marked with Julian’s name. Clara secured the frosted door with a security bar Julian had installed years prior. Inside the office, the air was cool and smelled of parchment and leather.
In the center of the room sat a heavy iron safe built directly into the load-bearing pillar. Beneath its digital keypad was an analog keyhole no larger than a match head. Clara reached into her pocket, retrieving the miniature brass key from Julian’s watch.
She inserted the key and turned it. A mechanical click resonated through the safe's heavy chassis, followed by a blue light flickering on the digital interface. The screen prompted: Insert External Storage.
Lily handed the micro memory card to Clara, who slotted it into the port. The screen flashed bright green, illuminating the girls' pale faces. Files began to decrypt, displaying banking transfers, maritime shipping manifests, and names of city officials.
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A red alert suddenly flared across the top of the monitor: LOCATION BROADCAST ACTIVE. OVERRIDE CODE REQUIRED WITHIN 60 SECONDS.
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