Precipice

by J. Robert Kinney

  Ignoring his cringe, she situated her entire weight on the ladder. Then Shannon lowered herself into the shaft. “You gonna stand there all day, or are you going to follow me?” Her voice reverberated out of the darkness as she descended too far into the hole to be seen. Taking a deep breath, Dominic steeled himself and hurried down the ladder. His muscles, not surprisingly, complained the entire way down, but they were loosening.

  When he reached the bottom, he took another breath and looked around, surprised to note there was enough light to see. Searching for the light source, he pinpointed a small series of dim bulbs on the ceiling. It wasn’t bright enough to see clearly, but they managed to maneuver without immense difficulty.

  The air felt stale and damp. He breathed in a lungful of dirt with every inhale. The space they entered loomed larger than he expected to find at the base of that tiny hole in the floor of the shed, more room than tunnel. It had to be a hiding place, likely the room where escaped slaves hid during their journey north.

  There was no time to explore the room any further though. In a role reversal from their normal partnership routine, Shannon took the lead and strode across the room.

  She came to a stop in front of what appeared to be a door. It wasn’t concealed—it was unmistakable even in the dim light—but it didn’t look anything like a normal door. More like a plain piece of the dirt wall, carved into the rough outline of a door. In a scene strangely similar to the way she accessed the trap door in the shed, Dominic watched as Shannon placed both hands on the dirt panel and shoved.

  This one required more effort, but after a few seconds of pressure, the door gave way. It only shifted about an inch, but Shannon seemed content with that. Wordlessly, she examined the edge of the door. Near the top of the frame, she wedged her thumb between wall and door.

  Dominic couldn’t see what she did next, but the result was immediate. A gliding mechanism caused the panel to slide into the wall, revealing a brightly lit corridor on the other side. Shannon beckoned Dominic through and they watched the hidden door magically repair itself behind them, leaving behind no evidence it was anything other than a wall.

  “Did you say there are other places like this vault around the country?” Dominic asked. “Other secret hideouts in case of attack?”

  “Dax never elaborated, but I think so. There are other ways an enemy could strike than simply financial.” She turned to glance at Dominic and for a split second, her face betrayed a loss of focus. The idea of hidden secrets, tucked away in sleepy towns across the country, was tantalizing. But she shook her head, refusing to become distracted. There would be plenty of time to let their imagination run wild later. They still had a task at hand.

  After the secret door disappeared, Dominic surveyed his new surroundings. A short hallway extended about twenty feet in either direction before branching off again, but Shannon didn’t deliberate long before grabbing Dominic and dragging him toward the right. She gave a quick, furtive glance around the corner and smiled.

  “We’re here.” Her words were soft, but sharp and staccato. “Quick, pretend I’ve still got your wrists tied behind your back.”

  He did as she instructed and twisted both arms to hold his wrists together, wincing at the awkward position.

  She took him by the arm, rougher than he’d have preferred, and half-dragged him out from around the corner.

  Chapter 38

  Sloan and Krieger reacted precisely as Dax predicted when he broke the news about Shannon working undercover and Amadi being a twin. Krieger simply smiled, amused, as though he expected as much from a government intelligence agency. He nodded and continued to care for Amadi and the girl in the backseat of the car.

  Sloan, however, took the opposite approach and lashed out, his large jowls flapping in fury. He should’ve been told! Shannon was his agent! How could Dax expect him to do his job when side operations were being run without his knowledge? He spent the entire ride fuming, his ire punching the gas pedal harder than it needed to be as they raced across town.

  Dax didn’t blame Sloan for his frustration. Still, in the intelligence world, deception was the norm, not the exception. Sloan was a reactionary agent, a trait that had saved his life many times while working in the field, but for the office bureaucrat, it was detrimental. Sloan had never adjusted.

  The reveal about the vault was trickier. Sloan and Krieger both knew the rumors, but confirming that the largest accumulation of government wealth outside of Fort Knox was stored just down the road was a shock, to say the least.

  They arrived at the capitol building quickly, thanks to Sloan’s lead foot. Amadi vehemently insisted on coming with them, despite their objections. They didn’t have time to argue, and the stubborn agent would follow them inside anyway, so rather than attempting to force him to remain in the car, Dax made the executive decision to save time, equip him with a gun, and instruct him to be careful. The girl still lay unconscious, so they made sure she was comfortable before heading inside.

  The director led the way to the same shed Shannon and Dominic had already passed through and the four of them descended into the dark. He hoped they weren’t too late.

  ***

  Despite their setback with the soldered vent, Yemi and his team reached the vault first. The trek through the labyrinth of corridors wasn’t fun, but the digital map helped them make good time.

  Only one guard patrolled the hallway in front of the vault door.

  The Scandinavian who’d been lugging around their hostage, proved his worth by wasting little time in eliminating the guard. While Nichols kept a strong grip on the computer nerd, Anders pulled the guard’s body out of the way while Yemi approached the door. It looked like a typical bank vault…large, metal and gray. No obvious handle or hinges indicated how it opened. An elaborate, electronic security system had been installed on the wall to its right.

  After a minute, Roth joined the group from the opposite direction. She was nothing if not efficient in her work.

  “Excellent timing. I trust everything went smoothly?” His attention shifted from the sophisticated electronics for a few seconds, before he refocused on the security system.

  “It did.” She smirked in smug self-satisfaction.

  “Anyone see you?”

  “Not a chance,” she scoffed.

  “Did you see Shannon? She should be here soon.”

  “I did not.” Jillian didn’t understand Yemi’s obsession with this girl. The inside information she provided about SISA had been minimal at best, vague and unhelpful. The only semi-useful thing she’d delivered was her partner, Randal, and that was mostly accidental.

  She rolled her eyes. That was another issue. Yemi had insisted they bring the idiot agent along on the theft, despite her objections. No good could come of bringing along so much extra deadweight. When he tried to explain his reasoning, he espoused some grand scheme of setting Randal up for their crime, blah blah blah. It was all a lie. He just wanted to show off to someone utterly unable to do jack about it. It was an ego trip.

  Not that she posited her theory aloud. She got away with more than the average goon, but there was still a line she didn’t dare cross. Invoking that temper would be a mistake.

  Yemi was quiet as he studied the panel. Nichols dragged their hostage forward, but his boss raised a hand. He wanted to take his time. One mistake, even a simple missed keystroke would lock down the system and all of their plans would be for naught.

  Chapter 39

  Shannon rounded the corner with Dominic in tow. The team startled at their sudden appearance. Roth and Anders raised their weapons, but Yemi called them off.

  “Glad you could join us,” Yemi murmured before returning his attention to the electrical panel.

  Shannon nodded. Dominic stooped and kept his wrists clasped awkwardly behind his back, but he couldn’t hold that pose forever. She glanced down at him, giving a mock look of disgust. An artery in Dominic’s neck pulsed rapidly.

  “I figured you’d be
halfway inside by now. What’s the holdup?” She hadn’t counted on them still being in the hallway. The charade with Dominic would be much more difficult to pull off with everyone standing idle. One of them was bound to notice, if they had enough down time.

  “Ventilation system was a no-go. We were forced to navigate this maze ourselves.”

  “Too bad. You’d better hurry. I saw a bunch of cops running around down at the parade.” She hadn’t seen anything of the sort. They hadn’t passed the parade on the way to the capitol, but the director sent extra agents down there to thwart the kidnapping. She wouldn’t be surprised if everyone was in custody already.

  Yemi straightened at this. He didn’t show even a hint of surprise, but he frowned in disappointment.

  “Hrrmm…” he grumbled. “I guess we’d better get moving on cracking this.” He gestured to Nichols, who dragged the computer geek forward.

  The security arrangement was one of the most advanced systems available. Passkeys, a card reader, a fingerprint and eyeball scanner, as well as voice recognition software—the reason they brought the geek along rather than merely stripping him for parts—were all built into this display.

  First, he slid the security card Roth had nicked from the guard outside. That action unlocked a physical keypad. He didn’t want to risk their hostage getting any ideas of heroism and typing in the wrong code to lock them out, so he’d asked Shannon to use her connections with SISA to learn the code and she’d pulled off the feat. Stepping forward, one hand still gripping Dominic, she began to type.

  The first passkey consisted of a basic six number code, the birthdate of the current Greenlake mayor. It rotated every election, but was simple to deduce if you possessed a computer and Internet access.

  Shannon carefully typed the date, day before month: 2-0-1-1-4-3.

  The keys made no sound as she pressed each one in succession, but when she finished the series, a single beep emitted from the machine. The screen disintegrated to solid black. Yemi gave her a sharp look, but she ignored him and took a deep breath. The black screen was meant to happen, a built-in piece of the program to discourage anyone who got this far.

  The next code was more complex. A standard, ten-digit hex code, this password involved a random string of numbers and letters that rotated on a weekly basis. She’d been forced to rely on Director Dax for this one. He pulled a few strings and called in an old favor with the head of the National Security Agency, who begrudgingly supplied the code.

  m-1-5-T-8-n-J-0-0-Y

  Each letter she typed showed up as a small, green asterisk near the top of the black screen, but as soon as she hit the last letter, the blackness blinked and gave way to a small green box in the center of the screen. The fingerprint scan was next. Nichols stepped forward, the geek secured in his massive, suffocating grip.

  Yemi seized the kid’s wrist with his fist and yanked it toward the screen. The captive squirmed and fought back, but the men’s combined strength overpowered him, and he quickly relented. At his touch, the screen blinked and a loud beep echoed, causing everyone to jump, but the system quickly confirmed his fingerprint and the system allowed them to continue.

  The retina scanner was a high-tech security camera mounted within the wall next to the electronic panel. With Yemi’s hand planted on the back of the hostage’s head, he forced the poor kid’s face into the eye of the camera. He again fought them, keeping his eyes closed.

  Yemi leaned forward, whispering into his ear, “You know…we don’t need you alive for this part. We could very easily carve out what we need.” Even Roth shuddered at the spine-chilling lilt in his voice.

  They wouldn’t kill the geek until they bypassed the voice recognition software, the final step in the process. The kid surely knew this too, but he’d developed a sudden lump in his throat at the threat. Yemi was a terrifying man to challenge, especially when he gave that hideously twisted smile. A small squeak emitted from the tech, but his eyes remained shut.

  “Yes, of course…” Yemi hissed. “You’re absolutely right. We do need you for the voice software. But we don’t need to kill you to get your eye. I could ask Jillian to do a little surgery. We didn’t bring any anesthetic, but I’m sure you’re a tough boy…” He gestured toward Roth and she bent down to slide an ISAK army knife from a sheath in her boot.

  The kid stood still for a moment, considering this proposition, before deciding he didn’t want to lose an eye, and he snapped them open wide. The camera gave a soft whir and then a click as it snapped a quick photograph of his retina. After a couple seconds, a picture popped up on the screen with basic biographical information. Bradley Francis. 27 years old. And at the top of the screen in bold, green lettering: ACCEPTED.

  “Now speak!” Yemi commanded the boy.

  Bradley said nothing.

  “Now! You don’t want to know what we’ll do if you don’t….”

  Shannon felt sorry for the kid. She knew Yemi meant what he said. She decided to intervene and took a small step forward, pulling Dominic with her. “Brad…my name is Shannon. I know you think you’re being heroic, but this man here,” she gestured to Yemi, “is very skilled in making people talk. One way or another, you’re going to give in.”

  The boy’s eyes pleaded, wide and frantic. “You seem like a good kid. For your sake, it’s best you give him what he wants now, while you’re still fully intact.” She smiled.

  Brad stared at her, deliberating furiously before resigning himself to his fate and nodding. Shannon gestured to Nichols to slacken his vice grip and the boy leaned forward toward the microphone. His voice was quiet and high-pitched, squeaky and full of fear, but he spoke his name clearly enough for the computer to register. “Bradley Francis.”

  Until this point, Dominic had been skeptical of the whole secret vault legend. But not anymore. The door shuddered violently and forcibly slid apart into four equal pieces, each one spiraling outward and disappearing into the wall. Behind that stood another door, this one with four large bolt-locks which slid apart one by one, revealing one of those massive wheels seen on bank vaults in the movies.

  The final security step breached, Yemi nodded at Nichols. The big man responded with a sharp swing of his arm. The loud crack of a gun barrel connecting with Bradley Francis’s skull echoed in the bare hallway, and he went limp in the bodyguard’s arms before slowly sliding to the floor.

  Shannon and Dominic both cringed as they watched the young programmer crumple like a rag doll at their feet. Unfazed, Yemi stepped forward and placed his hands on the gigantic wheel, his fingers caressing it.

  ***

  He was here, mere inches away. He smiled and closed his eyes to savor the moment. He could almost taste it. Grasping the wheel with a firm grip, he braced himself and threw his strength to the left.

  “Get in here, you idiot,” Yemi grunted in the direction of his gorilla.

  “Dra åt helvete” Anders snarled—in a language Yemi didn’t understand—but strode forward, muttering under his breath. Yemi thought he heard “idiot” and something that sounded like “vekling”, but he didn’t care.

  Mammoth fingers wrapped around the metal wheel and a forearm larger than most men’s thighs flexed. The wheel remained frozen for a second, prompting a grunt from the behemoth, but then it lurched. First a single inch, then two. The rest of the group stood mesmerized, watching the struggle and then, with one final exertion, the wheel abruptly gave way.

  Together the two men rotated for three full revolutions before the wheel ground to a halt. Yemi beamed, rubbing his hands together. He pushed Anders out of the way, no easy task, and stepped forward.

  Yemi hesitantly reached out and placed his hand on the door handle and gave a solid tug. The door hadn’t been used in a long time, so the hinges fought the temptation to open, but Yemi wasn’t about to be denied. Mustering more strength, he braced himself and gave it one more tug.

  Under the force of that final heave, the vault door swung open.

  And then all he
ll broke loose.

  Chapter 40

  Dax led the way into the whitewashed hallway, with Krieger close on his tail and Sloan huffing and puffing a few steps behind. Amadi’s injuries hindered his paces, but he lagged only a couple seconds behind as well. Making as little noise as possible, they followed the proceedings from their vantage point at the end of the corridor, mostly by sound.

  Observation was the first step. From their position, less than 100 feet away, Dax watched in amazement as one security block after another beaten or bypassed until the incredible vault door transformation. For a few seconds, nobody moved. No one spoke. They just gaped.

  “You ready?” Dax broke the stunned silence, keeping his voice low and quiet.

  The others nodded and covered their slack-jawed reactions. He glanced at his team. They weren’t many; he’d made the call to D.C. during the car ride, requesting backup, but they were at least forty minutes away, not including parade traffic. Time had run out.

  They had to handle this alone.

  Sloan was sweating profusely from the exertion of clambering down that ladder and his frayed nerves weren’t helping. He hadn’t participated in a firefight in the field since before his promotion.

  Krieger carried himself as the professional he was. His nerves appeared calm and collected, but he was still getting up there in age. At seventy, his reaction time must have slowed and his accuracy had surely suffered a drop-off since his honorable discharge.

  The final member of the team, Amadi, was in the worst shape. He did his best to keep pace, but the torture and imprisonment had taken a toll on what used to be a very fit body. He looked ready to drop.

  Nevertheless, they’d have to do. Hopefully, Shannon and Dominic were up to the task. Dax turned his gaze down the hallway, staying hidden as he peered around the corner. The door to the vault stood open. Yemi disappeared inside, along with the large, mustached man, but the rest of the team remained in the hallway.