Chapter 16 - Enemies in the Dark
The steady, ominous hiss of air being sucked out of the chamber filled the silence.
Grace sank to her knees against the steel door, hyperventilating in pure panic, tears streaking through the dirt and soot on her cheeks. "I killed your driver... I tried to poison you... and it was all for him... all for a lie..."
I walked over to her, grabbed her by her shoulders, and shook her forcefully. "Pull yourself together, Grace! Panic burns oxygen twice as fast. Look at me!"
She lifted her tear-filled blue eyes to mine, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
"I built this vault fifteen years ago with your father," I said, pulling an industrial laser torch and a diamond-tipped wedge from my tactical vest. "Vincent insisted on a secret emergency runoff channel leading directly into the harbor sewer line in case the federal authorities ever raided the building. Where is the secondary drainage valve?"
Grace stared at me, her sharp mind rapidly fighting through the fog of betrayal. She gasped, pointing toward a heavy iron grate hidden behind a stack of rusted steel pallets. "Under the main drainage pump! But it's sealed with six-inch steel bolts!"
"Then we cut it together," I said, handing her the laser cutter.
For the next ten minutes, two sworn enemies worked in absolute, frantic sync. My ribs burned with unbearable pain, and Grace’s lungs wheezed as the oxygen levels in the vault plummeted to lethal levels.
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With a final, desperate burst of strength, we slammed a heavy crowbar into the weakened steel plate. The grate gave way with a deafening screech of rending metal, revealing a dark, rushing underground water tunnel below.
"Jump!" I yelled, pulling Grace with me as we plunged into the ice-cold dark water below, seconds before the vault's atmosphere collapsed completely.
