Elias froze halfway to the ventilation shaft. "What do you mean?"
With the grace of a ghost, he bypassed the laser lattice. His fingers, steady as a surgeon's, input the bypass codes he’d spent six months and four murders to acquire. At the four-minute mark, the glass casing hissed open. He swapped the Star for a weighted replica—a cliché, he knew, but the physics of the pressure plate demanded it. 7 : What a Twist!
"Seven minutes, Elias," a voice crackled in his earpiece. It was Sarah, his handler, watching the thermal feeds from a safe house three miles away. "The perimeter guards reset their patrol at 02:07. You have exactly seven minutes before the floor sensors reactivate." Elias smirked. He didn't need seven. He needed three. Elias froze halfway to the ventilation shaft
It shouldn't be here. It was a digital asset in a simulation. He stared at the gem, its facets catching the light in a way no computer program could ever replicate. At the four-minute mark, the glass casing hissed open
Then, his dashboard screen flickered to life. A face appeared—the doctor from the lab. But he wasn't bored anymore. He looked terrified.
Suddenly, the vault doors slammed shut with a deafening thud . The lights didn't just flicker; they turned a deep, bruising violet. "Sarah?" Elias hissed. Only static answered.