Page 28 of Raider Unleashed

“I mean, I could hurry it up, but setting the charge one millimeter”—he pinched his thumb and forefinger together—“in the wrong direction could collapse the whole ceiling, burying us.” Raider’s measurement didn’t need to be that precise, but he doubted Denlo knew that.

A concerned frown crossed Denlo’s features and he backed deeper into the corner, casting anxious eyes to the ceiling. “Just—” he didn’t finish the sentence as he waved his hand in the air.

Keeping his smile to himself, Raider took out the C4 and put it where he needed it to make the hole large enough for them all to get through. He attached the electrodes to the explosive and then spooled out the wire as he climbed down the ladder. He stood back and looked at his work. It was solid. It would work for sure. “Okay, I’m ready.”

“Jesus, that took forever,” Denlo crabbed.

As he dragged the ladder to the side, he directed the group, “Get in the stairwell.” There was a lot of reinforced concrete implemented in stairwell design. This was the safest place for the whole group to shelter when the bomb detonated. Raiderindulged in a quick fantasy about leaving Denlo under the explosives, but he squashed the desire and crossed the room to follow the rest of them up to the top of the stairwell.

“Everyone ready?” At their nods. He said, “Fire in the hole,” and pressed the button on the detonator.

There was a soft concussivewhompchased by the crash of falling concrete and a cloud of dust swirled up the stairs. Denlo started coughing, his whole body shaking. He made them wait another minute or so and then started down the stairs. They entered the storage room. There was a pile of rubble on the floor and a neat roundish hole in the ceiling about three feet by three feet.

“Yes!” Denlo hissed.

Wells smiled and fist-bumped Baker.

“Get the ladder. We’re good to go,” Denlo directed.

“Careful where you step. The floor wasn’t reinforced concrete, so there’s no telling if it will hold after we blew a hole in it.”

A couple minutes later, they’d assembled inside the bank. No alarms had gone off and it didn’t appear like they’d disturbed anything. The office they’d come up in was small and they’d been damn lucky, Raider noted. Another few inches to the right and the desk would’ve fallen into the cellar, making it difficult to climb up into the bank. As it was, the sturdy metal desk had been shifted off kilter by the explosion. But the floor felt solid, so he had reason to hope it wouldn’t cave under anyone’s weight.

Raider left the office with the others and subtly nudged Piper to fall in behind him. Everyone fanned out, moving cautiously.

Wells headed toward the vault. “Well, shit on a shingle.” He stood outside it and stared. “Hey, Denlo?” he said his voice cracking.

“What?” Denlo strode to his side.

Wells pointed. “This isn’t the type of vault you said would be here.”

Denlo frowned. “What?”

Turning to him with wide eyes and sweat beading on his forehead, Wells said, “This is the wrong vault. I can’t crack this one.”

Denlo stared at him. “What do you mean you can’t crack it? I thought you were supposed to be some hotshot safe cracker. Just get it done.”

Wells shook his head. “That’s not how it works. This model is way beyond any of the tools I have here. I should’ve realized something was majorly wrong when Baker said the blueprints were off. This vault is smaller than the one on the blueprint and it’s a lot more sophisticated.”

Denlo staggered backward, eyes wide. “So just fucking get it open. We’ve got all night.”

Wells shook his head again. “We could have a month of Sundays and I wouldn’t have enough time. I need completely different tools and…” he stared at the round vault door, “and I don’t know how to open this vault.”

Denlo’s face clouded over. He pulled the gun from his waistband. “You better fuckin’ figure it out.” He raised the gun and pointed it at Wells’ forehead.

Wells put his hands up and shot a frightened glance at Raider and Piper.

Raider glanced around the bank. “Just wait a second, Denlo. If the vault is smaller than the plans, then let’s go see what else is here. Maybe the safety deposit boxes aren’t in the vault. Maybe we can get something from them. Just hang on and don’t go off all half-cocked. Let’s see what’s here.”

Denlo glared at him. Then he turned back to Wells. “You better hope he’s right.”

Raider started searching the offices. In the back corner across from the vault was another door. He tapped on it, please to find it was solid steel. This looked promising. He knew that Denlo wanted the safety deposit boxes but he couldn’t let Denlo know he knew.

He called everyone over. “This is the safety deposit box room. Maybe there’s jewelry and bonds and stuff in here. We could break into this and see.”

Denlo ran a hand over the door and nodded. He turned to Wells. “Can you open this one?”

Wells glanced at Piper and then back at Denlo. He went up to the door. “I…I don’t know what’s in it.”

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