Chapter 9 - The Nitric Trap
CLICK-CLICK-BZZZZZZT!
A sharp, high-pitched mechanical alarm shrieked from inside the iron safe. Internal gears ground together violently as a tiny glass ampoule inside the safe mechanism shattered.
"No!" Dr. Vance screamed, backing away in sheer terror. "The acid safety trigger!"
Thick, greenish-yellow nitric acid fumes began pouring out from the safe vents, filling the narrow stone archway with a corrosive, blinding cloud.
"You crazy bitch!" Vivian shrieked, coughing hysterically as the acid fumes burned her eyes and throat. "You destroyed the evidence!"
"I didn't destroy anything!" Claire shouted over the alarm.
In the chaos, Ethan fired his shotgun into the ceiling!
BOOM!
The massive explosion of noise and falling stone dust sent the four security guards scrambling in panic. Ethan tackled the two lead guards, knocking their pistols into the darkness, while Claire lunged forward, grabbing Dr. Vance's medical bag from his hands and snatching the thick leather briefcase Vivian had dropped in the dirt!
"Run!" Ethan roared, grabbing Claire’s arm as they sprinted toward the sea-cave exit grate.
"Kill them! KILL THEM!" Vivian screamed from inside the yellow acid smoke, coughing blood as she blindly fired a pocket revolver into the darkness.
Ethan and Claire burst through the iron grate out onto the fog-covered cliffs, right into the middle of twenty flashing red and blue police lights!
Standing at the front of a dozen armed State Police cruisers was District Attorney Marcus Vance—Dr. Vance’s estranged younger brother, whom Ethan had anonymously tipped off via satellite relay three hours ago!
"Drop your weapons!" Marcus Vance bellowed over a bullhorn, as dozens of armed officers rushed past Ethan and Claire into the cellar opening.
Dr. Vance stumbled out of the grate first, dropping to his knees, sobbing hysterically as he raised his hands in the air.
"I confess! I confess everything!" Vance screamed, weeping into the dirt. "She's inside! Vivian is inside! She kept the girl locked up for twenty years! The evidence is in the briefcase!"
Moments later, two state troopers dragged Vivian Ashford out of the sea cave in heavy iron handcuffs. Her hair was wild, her expensive coat covered in green acid burn holes, her face twisted in an ugly, demonic mask of rage as she glared at Claire.
"You're nothing!" Vivian screamed, thrashing against the officers' grip. "You're a dead girl! You hear me?! You're dead!"
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Claire walked up to her, stopping two feet away. She looked down at her aunt with complete, absolute serenity.
"My name is Claire Bennett," she said, her voice echoing clearly over the roar of the ocean waves. "And I am alive."
