Chapter 12 - The Bank Beneath the Bank
At eight forty-five that morning, federal agents quietly surrounded First Continental Bank.
The public was evacuated under the excuse of a gas leak.
Calder’s cameras were still active, so Nathaniel, Victor, my mother, and I entered through the front doors exactly as ordered.
Dante followed disguised as a bank employee.
The main elevator took us underground.
Then another hidden elevator carried us deeper.
The walls changed from polished marble to bare stone.
Finally, we reached a massive steel door.
A black raven was carved into its center.
Victor placed his hand against a scanner.
Nothing happened.
Nathaniel did the same.
A green light appeared.
Then Victor looked at me.
My mother held my shoulders.
“You do not have to do this.”
“Yes, I do.”
I placed my palm against the final scanner.
The machine beeped.
A needle pricked my finger.
I jumped.
Nathaniel immediately grabbed my hand.
“Sorry.”
The door unlocked.
Inside was not a room full of gold like I had imagined.
It was worse.
Rows of servers.
Boxes of financial records.
Cash.
Jewelry.
Passports.
Art.
Evidence.
Nathaniel stared in horror.
“My father kept records of everything.”
Victor nodded.
“Insurance.”
“Blackmail.”
“Both.”
Dante quietly activated a hidden transmitter.
Federal agents began copying the data remotely.
Calder’s voice suddenly came through a speaker.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Nathaniel searched the ceiling.
“You wanted the money.”
Calder laughed.
“No.”
“I wanted the archive.”
Victor stiffened.
Calder continued.
“The Graves family kept evidence on senators, judges, executives, police commissioners.”
“With that archive, you don’t own an organization.”
“You own people.”
Nathaniel looked at the servers.
Then at Dante.
“Destroy it.”
Victor spun toward him.
“Do you understand what this is worth?”
“Yes.”
Nathaniel’s answer was immediate.
“That’s why it cannot exist.”
Calder’s voice became furious.
“Don’t.”
Nathaniel pulled a fire axe from the emergency wall cabinet.
Victor grabbed his arm.
“Think.”
“I have.”
“You could use this to protect Ruby.”
Nathaniel looked at me.
“No.”
“This is exactly what I refuse to leave her.”
He raised the axe.
Then gunfire exploded outside.
Calder’s men had entered the sub-basement through an old service tunnel.
Dante pulled his weapon.
“Move.”
My mother dragged me behind the steel archive cabinets.
Nathaniel smashed the first server.
Victor stared.
Then something unexpected happened.
Victor grabbed another axe.
He destroyed the second server.
Nathaniel looked at him.
Victor shrugged.
“Your father always hated when we agreed.”
The gunfire grew closer.
Calder’s voice thundered through the room.
“Stop destroying my property.”
Nathaniel shouted back.
“It was never yours.”
Then the vault door exploded inward.
Smoke filled the chamber.
May you like
Marcus Calder walked through it.
And he was holding the detonator connected to every explosive beneath the bank.
