Chapter 13 - The Counter-Offensive and the Breach of the Vault
Outside the titanium panic room, the dull, muffled thud of a shaped explosive charge reverberated through the steel walls, rattling the reinforced hinges.
Viktor broke the kiss reluctantly, his dark eyes flashing with a sudden, lethal focus as he stepped back from Clara and pulled a tactical tablet from the console rack.
"They've armed the breaching charge," Viktor said, his voice cold and analytical once more.
"The door will hold for approximately three minutes. After that, this room becomes a tomb unless we use the emergency maintenance vent."
Clara didn't hesitate; her linguistic genius and analytical mind kicked into overdrive.
She bypassed the encrypted firewall on the auxiliary terminal using her master override key, typing furiously with both hands.
"The maintenance vent leads directly to the elevator shaft on the forty-ninth floor," Clara said rapidly, her eyes darting across the scrolling green code on the screen.
"If we use it, we can bypass the mercenaries entirely, access the auxiliary server room, and broadcast the complete financial audit of Marcus’s shadow corporation to the federal prosecutors."
Viktor looked at her with a mix of fierce pride and deep, consuming respect.
"You truly are a dangerous woman, Clara Sterling," he murmured, pulling a spare Glock pistol from the weapons locker and handing it to her handle-first.
"Can you shoot it?"
Clara took the heavy firearm, her grip firm and steady as she checked the magazine clip with practiced ease.
"My father taught me how to shoot before he taught me how to read," she replied coldly.
Boom.
The shaped charge detonated outside the vault door.
The thick titanium slab shuddered violently, screaming metal bending inward under the monumental concussive force, sending sparks showering across the floor.
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"Move!" Viktor ordered, grabbing the heavy maintenance hatch on the floor and wrenching it open just as the second explosive charge was slapped against the exterior of the vault.
They dropped into the dark, vertical maintenance shaft one after the other, pulling the heavy steel hatch shut just as the vault door blew inward with a deafening, catastrophic roar.
