Chapter 10 - THE VENTILATION MISSIONInside the freezing vault, the temperature dropped rapidly as the power grid failed completely. Alejandro took off his heavy wool coat and wrapped it entirely around Emma, pulling her close to keep her warm.
Elena, who had been moved to a secure holding cell adjacent to the cellars earlier for protection, called out through the iron wall.
"Alejandro! Emma!" Elena’s weak voice echoed through the ventilation pipe. "Are you alright?"
"Mama!" Emma cried, running to the iron grate near the floor. "I'm here! Uncle Alejandro saved me!"
"Elena, stay quiet and conserve your strength," Alejandro called back. "The vault doors will hold for a few hours, but Lucas has heavy explosives. When the storm clears, his men will breach the door."
Alejandro inspected the vault's master security panel on the wall. It was dead. Without power, the automated emergency distress beacon couldn't send a signal to his loyal military reserves stationed in the nearby city.
"The main power relay is in the central security control room," Alejandro muttered to himself, frustration evident in his voice. "If I can manually flip the breaker and insert my master security override flash drive, the automated defense turrets will activate and clear the mansion."
"Can't you go there?" Emma asked, looking at the heavy steel door.
"The doors are locked from the inside to keep them out," Alejandro explained grimly. "If I unlock the main vault door, their mercenaries will rush us before I can make it to the stairs."
Emma looked over at a small, square air vent near the ceiling of the vault. It was barely eight inches wide—far too small for any adult, but just large enough for a tiny four-year-old girl.
"The pipe goes up there?" Emma pointed with her small finger.
Alejandro looked at the air vent, then at Emma. His heart clenched. "No. It's too dangerous, Emma. It's pitch black, full of dust, and if they catch you—"
"I have my rabbit backpack," Emma interrupted, her voice suddenly steady and resolute. "And I have the flash drive. You saved me, and you saved Mama. It's my turn to help."
Alejandro stared at his young niece. In her round, innocent eyes, he saw no fear—only an unbreakable courage that mirrored his own.
He reached into his inner pocket, pulled out the sleek silver master override flash drive, and placed it inside her pink rabbit backpack, zipping it tight. He attached a small LED penlight to her wrist.
"Listen to me carefully, Emma," Alejandro said, his hands shaking slightly as he adjusted her collar. "You crawl straight through the main pipe for fifty feet. Turn left at the junction. You will come out right above the security room control desk. You drop the flash drive into the blue glowing USB slot on the main server. Do not talk. Do not make a sound. The moment it's plugged in, come straight back."
Emma hugged her uncle tightly around the neck. "I'll be fast, Uncle Alejandro."
Alejandro unscrewed the metal vent grate and lifted Emma up to the opening. The little girl gave him one last brave smile, turned around, and squirmed into the dark, narrow metal shaft.
Alejandro watched her pink shoes disappear into the shadows of the vent.
Outside the vault door, the muffled sound of heavy footsteps and drilling equipment began to echo. Lucas’s mercenaries had reached the cellar doors.
Emma was crawling through the dark, icy metal pipe alone, holding the fate of everyone in the mansion in her tiny hands.
Suddenly, through the thin metal of the ventilation shaft ahead of her, Emma heard a familiar voice speaking into a radio directly below her position.
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"We have the explosives set on the cellar door, Mr. Moretti," Vargas’s voice boomed through the duct. "Once we blow it, we execute Alejandro, his sister, and the child immediately. No survivors."
Emma froze in the dark pipe, her heart pounding against her ribs. She was standing directly above the enemy.
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