Chapter 26 - The Blast Doors Slam Shut
The echoing boom of the six locking pins slamming into the reinforced steel frame sounded like the detonation of a bunker-buster bomb, shaking the concrete walls and sending flakes of dust raining down onto the candlelit vault floor. Julian spun around instantly, raising his weapon toward the small, four-inch bulletproof observation window set into the reinforced door.
Standing on the outer side of the blast door, holding the emergency quarantine control panel, was Evelyn. Her clothes were torn, her hair was plastered to her skull by the freezing rain, and her eyes were wide with a manic, unhinged glee that bordered on absolute madness.
"Surprise, family!" Evelyn screamed through the vault’s two-way intercom speaker, her voice tinny and distorted by the high-grade industrial audio system. "Did you really think the feds could hold me at Montauk? Did you think I wouldn't follow you back to the palace, Julian?"
Charles St. Claire’s arrogant composure cracked instantly, his face draining of color as he lunged toward the reinforced observation window, slamming his silver cane against the impenetrable glass with desperate, furious blows. "You insolent street rat!" Charles bellowed into the emergency mic. "Open this door immediately! I am the one who funded your escape! I am the one who gave you the keys to this estate!"
Evelyn threw her head back and laughed, a shrill, hysterical sound that sent shivers racing down Julian’s spine. "You used me, old man! You told me Eleanor was the villain! You told me Julian had my family’s money! But my sister is lying in a federal trauma ward with a bullet through her lung because of your sniper!"
Evelyn reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a heavy industrial cylinder containing a yellow emergency release lever, labeled *HALON SUPPRESSION SYSTEM — LEVEL 4 QUARANTINE*. Julian knew what that meant: the vault was equipped with an oxygen-depletion fire suppression system designed to extinguish chemical fires by displacing all breathable air within three minutes.
"You took everything from the Blackwood sisters," Evelyn hissed into the speaker, her bloody fingers wrapping around the yellow lever. "Now both of the great St. Claire men can suffocate in the dark together, surrounded by the gold you destroyed our lives to steal."
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With a savage downward pull, Evelyn yanked the lever, and the ceiling vents above Julian and Charles began to hiss with the deafening roar of pressurized, invisible death.
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