Chapter 12 - The Trap on Floor Forty-Eight
The emergency alarm began to wail—a shrill, pulsing klaxon that echoed down the dark elevator shaft. Sparks showered from the service panel above our heads as the cable system locked into its mechanical safety brakes.
'System override,' Christian cursed, pulling a multi-tool from his pocket and snapping off the lower control panel cover with practiced speed. 'They didn't just lock the elevator. They tracked our RFID badges the second we scanned in downstairs.'
'It wasn't a random glitch,' I said, my heart pounding as I unzipped my laptop bag and pulled out my tablet. 'Julian knew we were coming. The access cards were flagged the moment we cleared the lobby turnstiles.'
Before Christian could override the manual hatch in the ceiling, the external steel doors of the elevator shaft groaned as hydraulic pry bars forced them apart from the outside. A flood of harsh white hallway light cut through the gap, revealing four armed private security guards wearing tactical body armor and bearing automatic carbines.
'Mr. Sterling sends his regards,' a cold voice barked from behind the lead guard. 'Step out of the car with your hands on your head, or we ventilate the compartment.'
Christian looked at me, his jaw set in grim resolve. Instead of raising his hands, his hand slipped smoothly beneath his tailored jacket toward his shoulder holster.
'Don't do it, Christian!' I hissed, grabbing his arm. 'There are four of them with automatic weapons in a confined space. We’ll be Swiss cheese in two seconds.'
'We don't have a choice,' Christian whispered back, his blue eyes flashing with cold tactical calculation. 'If Julian gets our encrypted drives, Aunt Ruth and Magnolia Hall are finished.'
Before the lead guard could raise his rifle to fire into the compartment, I reached into my bag, pulled out a high-intensity tactical strobe grenade, pulled the pin with my teeth, and hurled it directly through the open elevator door gap.
The blinding flash-bang detonated instantly with a concussive roar that shook the entire shaft. A searing wall of white light and thunderous sound filled the hallway, accompanied by the desperate shouts and swearing of blinded guards stumbling backward against the marble walls.
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'Now! Move!' I yelled, grabbing Christian’s jacket and hauling him upward through the open ceiling hatch onto the top of the stalled elevator car.
We scrambled across the slick metal roof of the car just as wild, blind automatic gunfire chewed through the lower walls of the elevator cab where we had been standing a second earlier.
