Chapter 8 - The Voice on the Wire
Inside the vault, the temperature had dropped into the single digits. Frost coated the tips of Emmett Fontaine’s graying hair, and the old man had stopped shivering entirely—a terrifying medical sign that hypothermia was entering its final, fatal stage.
Nell sobbed openly, wrapping her entire body around her father to try and share what little warmth she had left. “Papa, please... please don't let go.”
Carmine ignored Salvator’s voice booming from the speaker. He stared up at the camera, his face a mask of absolute, glacial fury.
“You have less than five minutes, Carmine,” Salvator’s voice taunted from the speaker. “Tell me you’re surrendering the Garden District shipping routes, and maybe—just maybe—I’ll let the girl walk out of there alive.”
Carmine reached out, grabbing the steel bracket of the security camera with both hands. He didn't answer the transmission. Instead, he planted his boot against the insulated wall and pulled with a sudden, ferocious surge of adrenaline.
The mounting screws groaned, stripped out of the paneling, and the entire camera unit ripped free from the wall, trailing a tangled nest of sparking wires.
“Boss!” Benny shouted over the roar of the refrigeration fans. “What did you do that for? That was our only line of communication!”
“It wasn't a line of communication,” Carmine said, his voice cold and steady as he held the heavy metal casing of the camera in his hand. “It was a telemetry relay. These custom lockers aren't operated by local wall switches. They’re tied to a master digital terminal in the guard shack outside.”
Benny’s eyes widened as the realization hit him. “The guard shack on the other side of the wall.”
“Exactly,” Carmine said, turning toward the interior wall opposite the sliding door. He stripped the plastic housing off the ripped camera unit, exposing the heavy copper wiring and the internal lithium-ion battery pack. “Benny, help me strip this paneling.”
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Together, Carmine and Benny attacked the insulated aluminum wall, tearing away the thin outer skin to expose the hollow framing and the electrical conduit running directly through to the exterior structure.
The digital countdown clock above the door flashed a merciless 03:15.
