Chapter 7 - The Four-Minute Countdown
The red numbers on the smartphone screen pulsed in the dim light of the vault, counting down the seconds with ruthless efficiency: 04:11... 04:10...
Marcus stared at the device, his professional composure cracking for the first time as a bead of sweat formed on his forehead. He held the phone out toward Arthur, displaying the glowing red digits.
“It’s encrypted,” Marcus said quickly. “Routing through an external satellite relay. If we try to force-shutdown the operating system, it will automatically trigger the data dump.”
Arthur stood up from his desk, the casual amusement completely vanishing from his face. He walked around the mahogany wood, closing the distance between himself and Chloe with long, purposeful strides. The older man grabbed Chloe by the upper arm, his fingers digging into her flesh with bruising force.
“Where is the decryption key, Chloe?” Arthur demanded, his voice losing its polished veneer and dropping into a harsh, desperate snarl. “Who did you send the package to?”
Chloe winced in pain, but she forced herself to meet his furious gaze without flinching. She let out a sharp, bitter laugh that echoed off the cold stone walls.
“You really thought you owned this city, didn't you, Arthur?” Chloe hissed through gritted teeth. “You thought you could buy out my father, frame my brother, and bury every inconvenient truth in this subterranean tomb. But some things can't be bought off with dirty money.”
David seized the momentary distraction. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, he threw his weight forward, slamming his cuffed hands directly into the chest of the nearest tactical guard. The man stumbled backward, crashing into a glass display cabinet. Priceless crystal artifacts shattered across the floor in a deafening cascade of tinkling glass.
“Run, Chloe!” David shouted, dodging a wild punch from the second guard.
Marcus dropped the phone, lunging toward David to subdue him, but Chloe acted on pure instinct. She slammed her elbow backward into Marcus’s solar plexus. The security chief grunted, doubling over as the air left his lungs in a sudden rush.
Chloe didn't hesitate. She grabbed the heavy bronze lion paperweight from the shattered display case, spun around, and hurled it with all her might directly at the vault’s massive electrical control panel on the far wall.
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The heavy bronze object struck the glass cover of the main breaker box with a deafening CRASH. Sparks showered across the stone floor as the LED strip lights flickered violently once, twice, and then died completely, plunging the entire vault into pitch blackness just as the phone’s countdown hit zero.
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