The heavy magnetic locks engaged with a series of sharp, metallic thuds that echoed through the marble lobby of Graves Tower. The giant glass revolving doors froze mid-spin, trapping two executives in expensive suits half-in and half-out. A silent crimson light flickered along the frame of the entrance, signaling an absolute security lockdown.

Nathaniel pressed the detonator. High-voltage EMP charges installed along the cavern walls exploded simultaneously. A blinding wave of blue light surged through the chamber, short-circuiting the mercenaries' electronic rifle sights, destroying the floodlights, and plunging the entire vault into chaotic, sparking darkness.

"RUN, RUBY!" Nathaniel yelled, charging straight toward the catwalk stairs to draw the gunfire away from us.

Muzzle flashes strobed in the dark like terrifying flashes of lightning. Bullets whistled through the air, clinking violently against the steel walls.

Sarah grabbed my shoulder, pushing me toward the heavy round blast door of the Vault core. "Go, Ruby! Use the watch!"

I ran. My heart pounded in my ears like a war drum. I reached the thick steel door of the Vault. In the dim, sparking emergency lights, I saw the small digital slot next to the biometric scanner.

I popped open Nathaniel's silver pocket watch. With trembling fingers, I pulled out the tiny, glowing silver micro-chip hidden behind the photo of baby me.

I jammed the chip into the slot.

A mechanical voice echoed from the door: [OVERRIDE CODE DETECTED. BIOMETRIC CONFIRMATION REQUIRED. PLACE HAND ON SCANNER.]

I slapped my right hand onto the glass scanner. The green light swept over my palm, stopping directly over the dark half-moon birthmark on my wrist.

[GENETIC MATCH CONFIRMED: RUBY VANCE GRAVES. AGE: 11 YEARS, 364 DAYS, 23 HOURS, 59 MINUTES.]

[PRIMARY HEIR IDENTIFIED. INITIATING COMPLETE SYSTEM REPOSSESSION.]

"STOP HER!" Knox screamed from the shadows.

I turned around just in time to see Knox breaking through the smoke, his face bloodied, holding a heavy pistol aimed directly at my chest.

"End of the line, kid," Knox snarled, pulling the trigger.

CLICK.

The gun jammed—the EMP pulse had fried the electronic firing pin in his high-tech weapon.

Before Knox could clear the chamber, a shadow dropped from the upper catwalk. Nathaniel slammed into Knox with the force of a freight train, driving both of them over the concrete edge into the deep, dark drainage pit fifty feet below.

"NATHANIEL!" Sarah screamed.

At that exact second, the heavy steel Vault door hissed loudly and slid open, pulling Sarah and me inside the automated sanctuary, while the external security blast doors slammed shut behind us, locking Julian and his remaining mercenaries outside in the dark.

Inside the glass control room, the master screens flared to life in brilliant gold text:

GRAVES ENERGY GLOBAL NETWORK: LOCKED. VANCE TRUST ASSETS: SEIZED. AUTHORITY TRANSFERRED FULLY TO: RUBY VANCE GRAVES. POLICE AND FEDERAL FORCES DISPATCHED TO LOCATION.