Page 169 of Silent Target

Victor used it to bypass the steel door and rejoin the remaining Inner Guard.

He’s injured.

Angry.

Still dangerous.

Fathom scans the wall as we move.

“The vault chamber is ahead, but I don’t see an entrance.”

Mac points toward three intersecting corridors.

“The vault was designed so no one outside the First Circle could reach it directly.”

Cobra runs a hand along the concrete. “Every room has a door.”

“Not necessarily where you can see it,” Evie says.

She studies the floor.

A thin trail of blood crosses the dust.

Victor’s blood.

It ends at a blank wall.

“Here.”

Fathom sweeps his scanner over the concrete.

“Reinforced steel behind it.”

Cobra’s face brightens. “Now?”

Rook nods. “Controlled breach.”

“You do know how to make a man happy.”

Cobra places a shaped charge around the hidden locking mechanism.

We move back.

The explosion punches inward.

The concealed panel falls.

Beyond it waits the archive chamber we just left—but on the opposite side of the collapsed shelves.

The Warden is gone.

The Inner Guard isn’t.

Gunfire erupts from three directions.

Rook drops behind a steel cabinet.

Shark and Falcon take the opposite aisle.