Chapter 17 - The Vault
The first explosion hit the stairwell, not the vault.
Hale wasn't trying to kill us instantly.
He was sealing the exits.
Smoke began creeping under the vault door.
Vanessa stared at Martin. "You said the device was a bomb."
"It is. It just isn't the only one."
"That's comforting."
Adrian checked his phone. "No signal."
Eleanor tapped her cane against the floor. "There used to be a service tunnel."
Everyone turned.
"You were going to mention that when?" I asked.
"When I remembered where it was."
We found the tunnel hatch beneath a rolling archive shelf.
Locked from the other side.
Martin examined the hinges. "Two minutes."
A second blast shook dust from the ceiling.
"You have thirty seconds," Vanessa said.
"Helpful."
I pulled boxes from shelves while he worked.
"What are you doing?" Adrian asked.
"Saving evidence."
I opened random cartons and stuffed original ledgers into a fireproof document bag.
Eleanor joined me.
"Take box H-12."
"Why?"
"Because it contains the account Hale used before he changed his name."
Vanessa grabbed it.
The vault device began beeping.
Martin got the hatch open.
"Go!"
We climbed into a concrete tunnel one at a time.
Eleanor moved slowly.
Smoke thickened.
The beeping accelerated.
Vanessa looked back.
"Grandmother!"
Eleanor stumbled.
I went back for her.
"Leave me," she coughed.
"Not a chance."
I pulled her arm over my shoulder.
We reached the hatch as the vault exploded.
The blast threw us into the tunnel.
My ears rang.
For a few seconds, I saw nothing.
Then Adrian's flashlight found us.
"Naomi!"
"I'm fine."
I wasn't, but I could move.
We crawled forty yards and emerged through a storm drain behind the building.
Federal agents rushed toward us.
Vanessa still had box H-12.
She was laughing and crying at the same time.
"Tell me this was worth ruining my shoes."
Adrian opened the box.
Inside was not a ledger.
It was a stack of photographs.
One showed Senator Hale shaking hands with a federal judge.
Another showed a police commissioner.
Another showed Martin.
The last one showed my father meeting Hale three months ago.
On the back was a date and one sentence:
DANIEL CARTER AGREES TO FINAL EXCHANGE.
I looked at my father, who had just arrived with the backup team.
"What exchange?"
May you like
He didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
