Chapter 7 - The Flashbang in the Vault
The blinding glare of tactical flashlights turned the dark interior of the subterranean vault into a stark, overexposed nightmare. Arthur froze, the manila envelope still clutched tightly in his right hand, as heavy combat boots thudded loudly down the concrete stairs. He glanced back toward the rusted access panel; the darkness of the utility tunnel swallowed Sarah and Lily completely, offering them a slim chance at escape. But as he turned to face the intruders, a cylindrical metal canister bounced violently off the concrete floor near his feet, hissing and spinning erratically.
“Flashbang! Get down!” a gruff voice roared from the stairs.
Arthur didn’t hesitate. He dropped flat onto his stomach, burying his face in his arms just as a blinding white flash of light detonated with a concussive boom that rattled his teeth and filled the vault with thick, acrid smoke. His ears rang with a high-pitched whine, and spots danced frantically across his vision as he scrambled blindly on all fours toward the open utility tunnel.
Through the roaring in his ears, heavy hands grabbed the collar of his white button-down shirt, yanking him backward with brutal force. Arthur kicked out wildly, his boot connecting solidly with a shin, and the grip momentarily loosened. Coughing violently from the smoke, he lunged forward, plunging headfirst into the dark, narrow confines of the drainage pipe just as a pair of heavy tactical boots slammed down onto the spot where he had been crawling a second prior.
The pipe was cramped, slick with condensation, and smelled strongly of rust and old soil. Arthur wriggled forward on his stomach, scraping his elbows against the rough corrugated metal walls until he emerged into the cool evening air of the overgrown dry creek bed behind his house.
The sun was dipping below the horizon, casting long, bruised purples and oranges across the suburban sky. A few yards ahead, Sarah was kneeling in the tall grass, holding Lily tightly as they both gasped for breath, their faces smeared with dirt and tear tracks.
“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” Arthur asked breathlessly, crawling out of the pipe and stumbling to his feet, holding his bruised arm.
Sarah looked up, her eyes blazing with an intensity that burned right through him. She didn’t answer his question. Instead, she pointed trembling fingers back toward the house.
A thick plume of dark grey smoke was beginning to billow out from the broken living room window of their suburban home, illuminated by the flashing red and blue lights of multiple unmarked police cruisers that had just swarmed the driveway.
“You lied to me about everything, David,” Sarah whispered, her voice dangerously calm as she pulled Lily closer to her body. “And now our home is burning.”
“We have to keep moving, Sarah. They won’t stop until they have the core drive,” Arthur urged, taking a step toward them, but Sarah backed away, her face hardening into an unyielding resolve.
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“I’m not running with you anymore,” Sarah said, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out a small, heavy metal flash drive that she had secretly grabbed from the vault desk during the chaos. “I downloaded the primary database while you were arguing with your old mentor, and I know exactly who to send it to.”
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