Chapter 10 - FIVE MINUTES TO ESCAPE
The bank alarm screamed.
Employees ran toward the exits.
Reyes ordered everyone out of the building.
Marcus examined the security system.
“The countdown is connected to the vault.”
The bank manager shook his head.
“There are no explosives in the vault.”
“It may not be an explosive.”
“What else could it be?”
“Fire suppression.”
The manager went pale.
“Our old archive vault uses a chemical system.”
“If it releases while people are inside, they could suffocate.”
Brooke was still trapped behind the steel barrier.
She pounded on the glass.
“Get me out!”
Dylan stared at her.
She had humiliated him for years.
Used him.
Encouraged him to hurt Ethan.
Still, he ran toward the emergency controls.
“Dylan!” I shouted.
“She’ll die!”
The timer reached four minutes.
Marcus worked beside the manager to override the system.
Margaret gave both keys to Reyes.
“Take these outside.”
Reyes refused.
“We all leave together.”
Brooke continued screaming behind the barrier.
“Dylan, help me!”
He found the manual release wheel and pulled.
It did not move.
Ethan stepped beside him.
Dylan looked at him in disbelief.
“Why are you helping me?”
“I’m not helping you.”
“I’m helping her.”
Together, they forced the wheel around.
The barrier rose six inches.
Brooke dropped to the floor and crawled beneath it.
The timer reached two minutes.
Marcus shouted from the control panel.
“I can stop the gas release.”
“But shutting it down will lock every vault door.”
Margaret pointed toward the evidence room.
“Claire’s original files are inside.”
I looked at Ethan.
The files could convict everyone.
But retrieving them might trap us.
“Leave them,” Ethan said.
“The video was uploaded.”
Dylan checked his phone.
His face changed.
“No.”
“What?”
“The upload failed.”
The hotel Wi-Fi cut out before the file finished.
Nolan’s recording was still on Margaret’s flash drive.
But the financial records were inside the vault.
Without them, Amanda might escape the larger fraud case.
One minute remained.
I ran into the evidence room.
“Dad!” Ethan shouted.
Boxes lined the walls.
I found one marked HAVEN FOUNDATION — ORIGINAL LEDGERS.
I lifted it.
Too heavy.
Thirty seconds.
Marcus screamed for me to move.
I dragged the box across the floor.
The chemical system hissed overhead.
Ethan and Dylan grabbed the other side.
Together, we pulled the box through the doorway.
Marcus struck the shutdown control.
The vault doors began closing.
Brooke ran first.
Margaret followed.
Dylan slipped.
The box pinned his ankle.
Ethan looked at the narrowing gap.
He could escape alone.
Instead, he turned back.
He lifted the box enough for Dylan to pull free.
The steel door slammed shut behind them.
We ran out of the building as the final alarm sounded.
Outside, Ethan collapsed against me.
Dylan stood several feet away.
He could not meet Ethan’s eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Ethan said nothing.
Detective Reyes opened the evidence box.
Inside were hundreds of original contracts.
Bank transfers.
Medical records.
And photographs of every victim.
But one folder sat on top.
May you like
It was labeled with my name.
JACK CARTER — NEXT TARGET.
