Chapter 7
The floor above us vibrated violently as the transport helicopters landed on the upper resort lawn.
Heavy, rhythmic footsteps began echoing down the concrete tunnel behind us.
“They’re inside the shaft, Amelia!” Marcus shouted, taking cover behind the steel frame of Vault 9.
“How many?” I asked, carefully placing my father’s ledger into my leather bag.
“At least eight men, armed with automatic carbines!” Marcus reported, flicking off his sidearm’s safety.
I walked over to the vault’s primary control panel on the wall, lifting a protective plastic cover.
Inside was a red manual override lever marked SEA WATER FLOOD VALVE - EMERGENCY USE ONLY.
“Marcus, get inside the vault!” I commanded.
“What are you going to do?” Marcus yelled over the growing sound of approaching boots.
“I’m going to remind Senator Sterling’s men that they are standing below sea level,” I said.
I grabbed the red lever, pulling it down with all my weight.
A deafening siren echoed through the tunnel as heavy iron gates at the far end began to rise.
Thousands of gallons of freezing Atlantic ocean water began roaring into the concrete hallway like a tidal wave.
Marcus grabbed my arm, dragging me inside Vault 9 just as the heavy steel door began to automatically seal shut.
Through the narrowing gap of the door, I saw the tactical team turn and run in absolute terror as the water hit them.
The six-ton blast door slammed shut with an airtight seal, locking us inside the dry, nitrogen-chilled vault.
The sound of roaring water outside was muffled instantly, replaced by absolute, heavy silence.
I sat down on one of the wooden crates, my breathing heavy, my chest rising and falling in the dim emergency light.
“Well,” Marcus panted, shining his light around the enclosed room. “That bought us some time.”
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“It bought us twenty minutes,” I corrected, opening my father’s ledger again.
“Because there’s a secondary escape tunnel built behind this wall that leads directly to the public marina.”
