Page 61 of Cold Heir

Leaves crunched beneath our feet, and we crouched at the base of a towering, electrified fence—the first line of defense against intruders. Silas’ gaze was trained on me as I dug through the bag I carried, revealing the purpose of one of the items I requested. Ducking to one of the power supply panels, I plugged in a device that would temporarily diffuse that section of the barrier.

A solid red light flashed green quickly, and then went dormant altogether. Peering up at Silas, I nodded.

“We’re good to go,” I informed him.

“And if they notice and reactivate it before we return?” he whispered back.

“We’ll be in and out long before that happens,” I smirked. I’d outsmarted the authorities at this particular location on more than one occasion.

We climbed together, pausing at the top to cut through the barbed wire before going over to the other side. My feet hit the ground with a thud, but Silas was far stealthier. I smiled a bit.

Show off.

Staying low, we hurried closer, keeping our eyes locked on the watchtower to our left.

“Your eyes are definitely better than mine,” I admitted. “Are you able to see how many guards there are?”

Silas took a moment to observe. “Looks like two.”

“Ok, as soon as they’re both panning in the other direction, say the word and we’ll run for it,” I instructed.

He didn’t answer, just kept a watchful eye on the tower as my heart raced with anticipation.

“Ok, go!” he urged, prompting my feet to move faster than I think he expected. We were so close to our destination—a steel ladder positioned near one of three back entrances.

This was such a rush, a burst of adrenaline that was unmatched. As difficult as this had been for me in the past, I honestly loved that I was able to find some small way to contribute to the cause. And tonight, with the help of Silas, that sense of purpose had been restored. I wouldn’t forget that he’d been in support of that.

He trailed right behind me as I climbed, glancing toward the watchtower every so often to ensure that we were still flying under the radar, and luckily, we were.

As we reached the rooftop, a massive grate to the right was our next destination. And lucky for us, the deadly fan blades inside it weren’t whirring tonight, which meant we’d just been granted a small favor because there was one less step to take. One less opportunity to be caught.

Silas decided to lead the way, having memorized our plan, and the map I designed. Meticulously, he removed the large bolts that held the grate in place, gently dropping each into the palm of my gloved hand. After a few moments of checking over our shoulders for the guards in the tower, our way in was suddenly wide open.

I couldn’t see his expression through the mask, but I knew Silas was smiling. The glint in his temporarily red eyes told me so.

“After you,” he offered, gesturing with his hand.

More than ready for this, I didn’t hesitate.

After slipping between the metal blades with care, my knees touched the cool surface of the airduct, and we entered in almost complete silence. I felt my way through the darkness, for fear of a flashlight shining through one of the registers, alerting someone that they had company. We hung a right, and then a sharp left which would take us toward the center of the building where the vault was.

The ‘X’ that marked the spot.

“Ten feet,” I barely whispered.

Continuing forward with painstakingly slow movements, we closed in on our target. The bright light beaming through the grate, illuminating a portion of the duct, was an indicator. That particular space was, generally, empty. Except on the occasion where someone was either dropping off or picking up samples. Security often did rounds past the circular room, one reminiscent of a fishbowl with all its windows.

I came to a stop, earning Silas’ attention when I checked for my knife, and readjusted my mask. With a look, I signaled him that it was time to go.

Tremors rattled my fingers as I gently eased the grate open, knowing it would swing out, alerting anyone nearby that someone had trespassed. Meaning, this particular move was a stab in the dark, a matter of chance. When there wasn’t immediate scrambling beneath us, or gunfire even, I guessed we’d lucked out to have arrived when security happened to be elsewhere.

Bracing my hands on the edge of the opening, I let my legs fall through the center, and lowered myself down to the ground.

The bright white of the lab was almost blinding, but adrenaline made my senses sharper as I peered around, doing a scan of all the windows to ensure that we didn’t have an audience. Silas dropped down next, taking a moment to re-secure the grate before crouching beside me.

I didn’t speak, only nodded.

His eyes went to the small, glass-front refrigerator straight ahead of us, one filled with blood samples. The labels were unique, which was where Silas’ ability to hack into their system a few days ago had come in handy. With a little work, he determined what code had been used for the tainted lot, which would make our mission a lot more efficient. The less time we spent here, the better.

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