Chapter 10 - The Price of Redemption
"Step away from the box, Marcus!" Ethan yelled, his voice raw from the smoke. "You’ve done enough damage today!"
"You have twenty seconds, Ethan!" Marcus shouted back, tears streaming through the grime on his cheeks. "I didn't know he was going to blow the estate! He told me this was just a signal jammer to buy time for the money transfer! I swear to God, Ethan, I didn't know Lily was going to be in that chapel!"
The timer beeped steadily: 00:18... 00:17... 00:16...
The ceiling above them groaned violently, a flaming cedar beam crashing down between the two men, sending a shower of blinding sparks into the air. Through the wall of fire, Ethan saw the secondary trigger switch. It required two keys turned simultaneously from opposite sides of the vault console—a security protocol Ethan and Marcus had engineered together a decade ago.
"The dual fail-safe!" Ethan realized, shouting through the roar of flames. "You have the secondary key on your dog tags!"
"I have it!" Marcus shouted back.
Ethan lunged through the flames, ignoring the searing pain as a falling timber brushed his forearm. He reached the master console, sliding his master key into the primary cylinder. Across the burning table, Marcus shoved his key into the secondary lock.
00:08... 00:07... 00:06...
"On three!" Ethan roared. "One... two... three!"
Both men twisted their keys inward simultaneously. The digital display blinked rapidly: OVERRIDE ACCEPTED. The harsh beeping stopped, replaced by the mechanical hiss of the disarmed pressurization valves.
Ethan exhaled a ragged breath, slumping against the scorched steel console. But before he could celebrate, the central structural pillar above the vault cracked like a rifle shot.
"Ethan, watch out!" Marcus screamed.
Marcus hurled himself across the console, slamming his body into Ethan and knocking him backward into the reinforced open safe. A massive slab of burning limestone and steel beams collapsed precisely where Ethan had been standing, pinning Marcus instantly beneath hundreds of pounds of debris.
"Marcus!" Ethan coughed, scrambling to lift the flaming beam, but the weight was impossible for human hands.
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Marcus coughed up dark blood, looking at Ethan with dimming eyes. "Tell Lily... Uncle Marcus was sorry about her dress... Run, Ethan... the gas line is rupturing!"
A secondary explosion from the boiler room blasted through the far corridor, tearing the basement apart and throwing Ethan into total darkness.
