Chapter 10 - Harvest
Bullets ripped through the underground archive.
Laura pulled Ethan behind a concrete pillar.
"Stay down!"
Samuel clutched the Project Legacy folder against his chest.
The Raven never moved.
Instead...
She calmly removed a silver whistle from around her neck.
She blew it once.
Nothing happened.
Then...
The entire underground chamber began shaking.
Massive steel blast doors dropped from the ceiling.
Half the attackers became trapped outside.
The others opened fire wildly.
Laura fired back with perfect accuracy.
Two soldiers fell.
A third reached the archive drawers.
He wasn't interested in killing anyone.
He was searching.
"Find the Legacy files!"
Their commander shouted.
"Forget the brothers!"
The Raven looked at Ethan.
"Now you understand."
"It was never about your money."
"It was always about your blood."
Ethan tightened his grip on the black folder.
"What is Project Legacy?"
"You."
"No."
"Both of you."
Before she could continue...
A soldier raised his rifle toward her.
A single shot rang out.
The Raven collapsed.
Ethan instinctively rushed forward.
She grabbed his wrist before falling.
With her final strength...
She pressed something into his hand.
A tiny crystal key.
Barely larger than a coin.
Her lips trembled.
"Find..."
"...the First Vault..."
She stopped breathing.
Silence spread across the chamber.
Even the attackers hesitated.
Their commander lowered his rifle.
"Search her."
Two soldiers rolled the body over.
Nothing.
One cursed.
"The key isn't here."
Ethan quietly closed his fist around the crystal key hidden beneath his sleeve.
No one had seen the transfer.
Laura shouted,
"Move!"
The blast doors began reopening.
More enemies flooded inside.
Samuel pointed toward another escape tunnel hidden behind the archive shelves.
"This way!"
They ran.
Behind them...
The commander picked up the Raven's necklace.
A silver pendant shaped like a raven standing on a key.
His expression instantly changed.
"Stop them!"
"They have the Crystal Key!"
Ethan looked at the object hidden in his palm.
How did they know?
He had never shown anyone.
The escape tunnel curved sharply downward.
After several minutes of running...
They reached a reinforced steel elevator.
No buttons.
No keypad.
Only one circular opening.
Exactly the size of the crystal key.
Samuel looked at Ethan.
"You have something."
Ethan slowly opened his hand.
Samuel's eyes widened.
"The First Key..."
He carefully inserted it.
The elevator immediately came to life.
Instead of descending...
It traveled sideways.
Deep beneath the city.
No one spoke during the journey.
Thirty seconds later...
The doors opened.
Not into another tunnel.
Into an enormous underground chamber.
Hundreds of feet wide.
Filled with rows of identical steel vaults.
Each marked by a single number.
...
Every vault except one stood open.
Only Vault 1 remained sealed.
On its door...
May you like
Someone had recently written six words in fresh red paint.
WELCOME HOME, ETHAN BELL.
