Chapter 12 - THE VAULT
Emergency lights blinked red.
Nora pulled her gun.
“Everybody down.”
A crash echoed from the lobby.
Then another.
Rachel whispered, “Is that gunfire?”
Nora grabbed Elena.
“Back exit. Now.”
They moved through a hallway behind the tellers’ stations.
An alarm screamed.
Elena clutched the brass key.
Two men appeared at the far end.
Nora fired.
They ducked.
“Run!”
Elena and Rachel sprinted through the records room.
Bullets punched through drywall behind them.
Rachel kicked open a fire door.
Cold rain hit their faces.
A black sedan waited in the alley.
The rear door opened.
Elena stopped.
Raymond Cole stepped out.
Gray hair.
Expensive coat.
Calm smile.
“You look much better than the last time I saw you.”
Elena stared.
“We’ve met?”
Raymond smiled wider.
“Your wedding.”
Her stomach dropped.
A memory surfaced.
An older man shaking Daniel’s hand.
Congratulations.
Raymond opened his coat slightly.
Gun.
“Get in.”
Rachel whispered, “Go to hell.”
Raymond sighed.
“I admire sisters.”
Nora burst through the door behind them.
“Drop it!”
Raymond fired.
Nora went down.
“Elena!” Rachel screamed.
Raymond grabbed Elena and dragged her into the sedan.
Rachel lunged.
Another man struck her and threw her backward.
The car sped away.
Elena fought.
Raymond slapped her hard enough to split her lip.
“Stop.”
She stared at him.
“You tried to kill me.”
“No.”
“You paid Daniel.”
“I paid Daniel to solve a problem.”
“That means kill me.”
“Daniel chose the method.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“You’re really splitting hairs?”
Raymond looked out the window.
“I wanted the trust.”
“You can’t have it.”
“I can if you authorize the transfer.”
“I won’t.”
“Everybody says that.”
They drove to an abandoned office building outside the city.
Inside, Raymond led Elena underground.
A steel door waited at the end of a hallway.
On it:
MERCER PRIVATE RECORDS.
Elena stared.
“This is the vault?”
Raymond nodded.
“Your grandfather was paranoid.”
“You knew the whole time.”
“I knew where it was. I didn’t have the key.”
Elena looked at the brass key in her hand.
Raymond smiled.
“Now I do.”
He forced her to unlock the door.
Inside were filing cabinets.
Old servers.
Safe-deposit drawers.
And one large safe.
Raymond pointed.
“Open it.”
“I don’t know the combination.”
“Your mother did.”
“She never told me.”
Raymond’s smile disappeared.
“Then think.”
Elena looked around.
Her grandfather had always used one date for everything.
Her birthday.
She entered it.
Nothing.
Raymond lifted his gun.
“Again.”
Elena remembered the photograph.
Age eight.
The summer her grandfather opened the first trust account.
She entered the date written on the back.
The lock clicked.
Inside were financial records.
Bonds.
Account numbers.
And a small digital recorder.
Elena picked it up.
A label read:
IF RAYMOND COLE EVER COMES FOR THIS MONEY.
Raymond’s face changed.
May you like
For the first time, he looked afraid.
Elena pressed PLAY.
