Chapter 8: Vault 317
Chapter 8: Vault 317
The explosion shook the building like an earthquake.
The walls groaned.
Glass burst inward.
The hallway lights died.
Emma screamed and buried her face against my shoulder.
For one terrifying second...
I thought the entire apartment complex was collapsing.
Marcus was already moving.
"Everyone down!"
A second explosion erupted somewhere below us.
Closer.
The floor tilted just enough to send picture frames crashing from the walls.
Smoke began pouring beneath the apartment door.
Not thick.
Controlled.
Someone wanted us to leave.
Fast.
Too fast.
Alessandro looked toward Marcus.
"Gas?"
Marcus knelt.
Touched the floor.
Shook his head.
"No."
He sniffed the air.
"Military smoke."
His expression darkened.
"They're flushing us out."
Outside...
Car alarms screamed.
People flooded into the street.
Parents carrying children.
Neighbors coughing through the smoke.
Sirens echoed somewhere in the distance.
Chaos.
Exactly the kind of chaos professional killers loved.
Marcus immediately understood.
"They're waiting outside."
Alessandro nodded.
"If we leave with everyone else..."
"...they'll disappear into the crowd."
Emma tugged gently on Alessandro's sleeve.
"Mister Alessandro..."
He knelt without hesitation.
"What is it?"
She pointed toward the ceiling.
"They're walking."
Everyone froze.
Marcus raised one finger.
Silence.
At first...
Nothing.
Then...
Footsteps.
Soft.
Measured.
Not firefighters.
Not panicked residents.
Someone was moving across the apartment directly above us.
One...
Two...
Three...
Then they stopped.
Exactly over Emma's bedroom.
Marcus whispered,
"They know where we are."
A sharp metallic click echoed from the hallway.
Marcus's eyes widened.
"Flashbang!"
He threw himself toward us.
A blinding white light exploded outside the apartment.
The concussion slammed the front door off its hinges.
Black-clad figures poured through the smoke.
Night-vision goggles.
Silenced rifles.
No insignias.
No hesitation.
The Raven Syndicate had finally shown itself.
Marcus fired first.
One attacker dropped before crossing the doorway.
The second rolled behind the kitchen counter.
Suppressors coughed instead of roared.
Bullets punched through drywall.
Furniture exploded into splinters.
Alessandro grabbed Emma and pulled her behind an overturned dining table.
I crawled beside them, my heartbeat deafening.
Victor ducked behind the sofa.
"This wasn't an evacuation..."
Marcus reloaded.
"It was an ambush."
One attacker shouted,
"Take the child!"
Not Alessandro.
Not the USB.
Emma.
My blood froze.
Two masked men rushed directly toward us.
Marcus intercepted the first with a brutal shoulder strike.
The second raised his rifle.
Before he could fire...
A crystal vase smashed across his face.
Alessandro.
His tuxedo was torn.
Blood stained one sleeve.
But his expression never changed.
The attacker staggered.
Marcus finished him with a single punch.
Emma stared at Alessandro.
"You threw Mommy's flowers."
For the briefest moment...
He almost smiled.
"I'm buying her better ones."
Then...
Everything stopped.
A laser sight appeared on Emma's forehead.
A sniper.
Marcus shouted,
"DOWN!"
Alessandro didn't hesitate.
He wrapped his own body around Emma.
The rifle fired.
Glass exploded behind them.
The bullet tore through Alessandro's shoulder instead of Emma's head.
He grunted.
Nothing more.
Blood spread across his black jacket.
Emma looked up.
"Mister Alessandro..."
"You got hurt."
He pressed one hand over the wound.
"I'm alright."
He wasn't.
Blood dripped steadily onto the wooden floor.
Marcus grabbed Alessandro.
"We have to move!"
"No."
Alessandro looked toward the bedroom.
"The key."
I blinked.
"What?"
"The vault key."
Emma still held it.
If they escaped without it...
Everything Daniel had died protecting might disappear forever.
Marcus understood immediately.
"I'll cover you."
Gunfire erupted again.
Marcus emptied another magazine into the hallway.
Victor helped Alessandro stagger toward Emma's room.
Smoke thickened.
Visibility dropped.
Inside the bedroom...
The black teddy bear still lay on the bed.
Emma suddenly pointed beneath it.
"There."
I pulled away the blanket.
A small metal box had been taped beneath the bedframe.
Marcus shouted from outside,
"Hurry!"
Alessandro ripped the box free.
Inside...
Another envelope.
Addressed in Daniel's handwriting.
For Alessandro Moretti.
He opened it immediately.
One page.
Only one sentence.
The truth begins inside Vault 317. Trust no one wearing the Raven.
Attached beneath the note...
A folded map of lower Manhattan.
One location circled in red.
Grand Dominion Bank.
Marcus burst into the room.
"We're out of time!"
The attackers were regrouping.
More footsteps echoed up the stairwell.
Too many.
Marcus glanced out the broken window.
"There's another way."
Firefighters had extended a rescue ladder to the building's opposite side.
Residents were already climbing down.
Alessandro shook his head.
"They'll be watching."
Marcus smiled grimly.
"Exactly."
He reached into his vest.
Pulled out four smoke grenades.
"What are you doing?"
"Making them guess."
Seconds later...
Dense gray smoke flooded every room.
The attackers fired blindly.
Visibility vanished.
Marcus led us through a hole blasted into the neighboring apartment.
Then another.
And another.
We crossed three apartments before reaching the opposite stairwell.
No one followed.
Not immediately.
By the time the smoke cleared...
We were already disappearing into the maze of fire escapes.
Twenty minutes later...
An abandoned warehouse overlooked the East River.
Marcus finally allowed everyone to stop.
Alessandro leaned against a concrete pillar.
His shirt was soaked with blood.
Victor examined the wound.
"The bullet went through."
"No major artery."
"You need a hospital."
Alessandro shook his head.
"We don't have time."
Emma quietly walked over.
She placed her tiny hand over his bandaged shoulder.
"My mommy kisses my boo-boos."
Without waiting for permission...
She kissed the edge of the bandage.
The hardened billionaire closed his eyes for a second.
Not from pain.
From something else.
Something he hadn't allowed himself to feel in years.
Marcus's satellite phone vibrated.
He answered.
His face slowly lost all color.
"What happened?"
No one spoke.
Marcus lowered the phone.
"The Grand Dominion Bank..."
"...was robbed."
Victor frowned.
"Impossible."
Marcus looked at Alessandro.
"Not robbed for money."
He swallowed.
"Vault 317..."
"...was emptied."
Silence.
Then Marcus added one final sentence.
"The robbery happened..."
"...two hours before Daniel's letter told us to go there."
Everyone stared at the envelope.
Someone...
Had known about the key...
Before we did.
And that meant only one thing.
The Raven Syndicate...
May you like
Had someone standing beside us.
End of Chapter 8...
