Chapter 9 - The Red Dot on the Wall
Daniel reached for the leather journal.
Claire suddenly shoved him sideways.
A sharp crack echoed through the chamber.
Stone exploded from the wall where his head had been only a second earlier.
“Down!” Claire shouted.
Daniel dropped behind an old wooden crate as another shot struck the iron safe. The red laser dot swept across the floor, searching for movement.
The gunfire was coming from somewhere inside the tunnel.
Claire crawled toward a rusted control box mounted beside the safe.
“Keep your head down.”
“What are you doing?”
“Turning off the lights.”
She pulled a lever.
The chamber went completely dark.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Daniel heard only his own breathing and the faint countdown alarm still echoing from the vault above.
Then a man’s footsteps entered the chamber.
Slow.
Careful.
Unhurried.
Claire whispered, “He has night-vision equipment.”
Daniel gripped the leather journal against his chest.
The stranger’s voice came from the darkness.
“Put the book on the floor, Daniel.”
It was not Victor.
The voice was younger.
Daniel tried to determine its direction, but the chamber distorted every sound.
“Who are you?”
“Someone trying to prevent you from making the same mistake as your father.”
Claire reached through the darkness and pressed a small metal object into Daniel’s palm.
It was a key.
“If I tell you to run,” she whispered, “use this on the narrow door behind the shelves.”
The stranger laughed softly.
“You still think there is a way out, Claire?”
A blue light suddenly flashed.
For an instant, Daniel saw the man standing near the safe. He wore a black tactical mask and held a suppressed rifle.
Claire threw a glass bottle.
It shattered against the opposite wall.
The gunman fired toward the sound.
Daniel moved.
He crawled behind the shelves, found the narrow iron door, and pushed the key into its lock.
Before he could turn it, a hand grabbed his coat and dragged him backward.
Daniel twisted and struck blindly.
His fist connected with the side of the mask.
The gunman stumbled.
Claire attacked from behind, slamming a metal bar across his shoulder. The rifle fell and skidded beneath the safe.
The two struggled in the darkness.
Daniel turned on his flashlight.
The beam caught the gunman’s face as Claire tore away the mask.
Daniel froze.
The man was young, perhaps thirty, with the same dark eyes and narrow jaw Daniel had seen in photographs of his father.
Claire stepped backward.
“No,” she whispered.
The gunman looked directly at Daniel.
“My name is Samuel Mercer.”
Daniel stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
Samuel wiped blood from his lip.
“Thomas Mercer had two sons.”
Before Daniel could respond, the chamber speakers activated.
Victor’s voice filled the room again.
“Samuel, you were ordered to retrieve the journal, not introduce yourself.”
Samuel’s expression changed.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
Then the safe door slammed shut by itself.
The leather journal in Daniel’s hands began vibrating.
May you like
A hidden phone inside its cover had started ringing.
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