Chapter 8 - Breaching the DeepThe floatplane—a heavy-duty militarized Twin Otter retrofitted with reinforced pontoons—touched down on the icy swells of Lake Geneva with a violent, roaring splash that sent plumes of white spray against the reinforced glass windows.
Damon Castellano didn't wait for the pontoons to dock against the private Consortium pier. The moment the aircraft slowed, he kicked open the cabin door, the freezing Alpine wind howling into the fuselage like a banshee.
He stepped out onto the pontoon first, his charcoal suit snapping in the gale, his Sig Sauer drawn and held at a low ready. Behind him came Salvo and Diego, followed closely by a terrifying sight: Maya stepping out into the freezing spray with the massive Rottweiler striding right beside her, its amber eyes locked onto the reinforced concrete bunker entrance carved into the cliffside fifty yards away.
"Perimeter cameras are active," Diego shouted over the roar of the wind, tapping his wrist-mounted tactical pad. "Three heavy security doors between us and the sub-levels. Standard biometric locks with cryptographic overrides."
Damon didn't look at the keypad. He looked down at the little girl.
Maya reached into her cardigan pocket, pulled out the heavy, tarnished silver key ring, and held up the small brass token stamped with the Castellano family insignia.
"The grandfather vault key," Maya said, her voice cutting through the gale. "It's not just for downtown New York. Mom designed the master architecture for all Consortium black sites built after 2010. She left a backdoor in the hardware."
She walked right up to the heavy steel blast door of the bunker entrance, inserted the smallest of the three keys into a recessed maintenance port hidden beneath a rusted utility panel, and gave it a sharp, firm turn.
Click-whir.
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The massive steel door groaned, its heavy magnetic locks disengaging with a deep, echoing thud as emergency red backup lights flickered to life along the damp concrete corridor inside.
"After me," Damon said softly, stepping past the child and leading his small, lethal army into the belly of the beast.
