Page 41 of Now Until Forever
She ended up between the elevator and what she presumed was the vault—a giant metal door with the big wheel, like she’d seen in banks. It certainly looked like what she’d expect a vault door to look like. All that was down here apart from that was a sparse lobby, nothing on the walls and no furniture. A single door to the right totaled three doors down here.
Four people stood around the vault door, duffel bags on the floor. Equipment out. Little devices with tons of wires coming from them.
“What is this?” Eliana lifted her chin but didn’t get up.
Two men slammed Tony against the wall, bringing the group to a total of six. The young people she’d seen upstairs. Which had to have been them scoping out the place.
Tony scoffed. “You’ll never get into the vault.”
The man in the center stepped forward and came to stand over her. He had dark hair, long and tied back behind his head. Leather jacket, jeans, and a T-shirt. Black boots. Nothing special. He’d blended in upstairs until he opened his mouth up there and she’d noticed the group.
“Saw you scoping out the place.” She gave him a second. “Who are you guys?”
He crouched. “You can call me Miles. Because I’m miles of fun.”
Ew.
“Question is, who are you?” He reached up and touched her wig, which she realized was hanging off her head where Tony had torn the adhesive away. “A security guard wearing a wig?”
“Medical condition.”
“Sure, it is.” Miles straightened. “Lucky for us, you’re just the people we need to get into the vault.” He turned to his crew. “Change of plans. She’s going to get us in.”
One of the guys holding Tony said, “Miles, what do you want us to do with this guy?”
Miles spun around and went up to Tony, standing between the men, pushing him against the wall. Tony struggled, his expression slightly dazed as if he were in shock. Miles drew a gun and took a step back, pointing it at Tony’s head.
Eliana gasped. “No!”
Miles turned to her, a smirk on his face. “Guess we know now where you stand.” He didn’t shift his aim from Tony’s forehead. “Tell me how to get in the vault, and I won’t blow his brains all over this wall.”
She needed…
Eliana had no idea. Her knife was across the room. And what good would that do, anyway?
Lord, help me.
She’d never asked God for help out of a dangerous situation before. Did He actually direct things and help her mom? She wasn’t sure how far His power stretched to the second-by-second development of a life-or-death scenario.
Was it copacetic to ask Him to stop the gun from firing, or maybe the ceiling could fall down unexpectedly? Help could arrive…from somewhere. Directed by On High.
Amen. Amen.
“Ticktock,” Miles singsonged. “We’re all getting older while you’re deciding whether this guy ends up in a grave.” He glared at Eliana. “So what’s it gonna be?”
“I…” She managed to swallow. “I don’t know how to get into the vault.”
“Only one person goes in the vault, and that’s me!” Tony roared, pushing against the men holding him and forcing them to push back.
Miles’s gun touched Tony’s forehead.
Eliana’s breath caught in her throat.
“Guess we know who’s expendable and who isn’t.” Miles lowered the gun, brought it around, and pointed it at her. “Let’s find out exactly what these legendary security measures are.”
Eliana shook her head, still sitting on the floor. Even if it put her at a serious disadvantage, she wasn’t sure she wanted to stand up. “What are you talking about?”
A young woman stepped forward. “Just kill her.” She had straight almost-black hair, wide-set round eyes, and a full mouth. She was gorgeous, but with that scowl on her face, her attitude wasn’t doing her any favors. “Obviously, she knows nothing about this.”
