Chapter 17 - Severed Ties
A blinding flash illuminated the vault as Maya tackled Arthur sideways, her shoulder slamming into his chest.
The crack of Victoria’s revolver splintered the air, the bullet ricocheting off the titanium frame of the server rack.
Arthur hit the floor, drew his sidearm in a single heartbeat, and fired three rapid rounds at the console controls.
Sparks erupted from the primary terminal, showering Victoria and the patriarch in a cascade of blinding fire and electrical smoke.
The automated halon fire-suppression system activated instantly, filling the vault with a deafening siren and dense white fog.
"Get Julian out!" Victoria screamed through the blinding haze, her silhouette retreating toward a secondary exit.
"Maya, the exit!" Arthur yelled, coughing against the chemical fog as he scrambled to his feet.
Maya was already moving, her suppressed weapon spitting lead toward the shadows near the escape elevator.
Two of Julian's private security guards collapsed before they could clear their holsters, their armor useless at close range.
Arthur surged forward through the white mist, his eyes watering, locked onto the retreating form of his half-sister.
Victoria had dragged Julian's wheelchair into a reinforced blast lift at the far end of the underground bunker.
"Arthur, don't!" Maya warned, but he was already too close to stop.
Arthur lunged across the gap, catching the heavy steel grate of the closing elevator door with both hands.
Victoria stood inside, the ancient ledger clutched tightly under one arm, her revolver aimed at his face.
"You never understood what it means to be a Hawthorne," Victoria spat, pressing the elevator override button.
Arthur wrenched the iron door sideways with every ounce of strength in his body, forcing his arm through the opening.
His fingers locked around the spine of the Eighth Ledger, tearing it violently from Victoria’s grasp.
Victoria shrieked in rage, firing wildly through the gap.
A bullet grazed Arthur’s forearm, searing his skin like a branding iron, but he refused to release his grip on the book.
He ripped the ledger completely out of the elevator just as the hydraulic doors snapped shut with bone-crushing force.
The lift ascended with a violent whir of motors, leaving Arthur kneeling on the concrete, clutching the leather-bound book to his chest.
Maya ran to his side, assessing his bleeding arm with swift, professional hands.
"You're hit," she said, pulling a pressure bandage from her tactical pouch.
"Just a graze," Arthur gasped, adrenaline masking the sharp, burning agony in his flesh. "I have the ledger."
"We need to move now," Maya urged, wrapping the wound tightly. "The suppression gas will suffocate us in three minutes."
Arthur stood up, tucking the heavy book inside his tactical jacket, his eyes burning with vengeful focus.
They sprinted back toward the spiral staircase, bursting through the mausoleum into the freezing night air.
In the distance, the throbbing beat of helicopter blades echoed across the mountain peaks as Julian and Victoria made their escape.
"Where are they heading?" Arthur asked, watching the red beacon lights of the chopper disappear into the blizzard.
May you like
Maya looked down at her encrypted tracker, which was synced to the transponder she had slapped onto Julian's wheelchair during the firefight.
"The Mediterranean," Maya replied grimly. "They’re heading for the private yacht in international waters."
