Chapter 4: The Man in the Security Footage
Chapter 4: The Man in the Security Footage
No one in the boardroom spoke.
Harold Alder read the security report a second time before slowly placing it on the polished table.
"Run it again," he ordered.
The security officer nodded.
"Yes, sir."
Within seconds, the massive screen lit up.
The timestamp read:
05:22 A.M.
Vault Seven – Lower Archive
The camera showed a long concrete hallway lined with reinforced steel doors.
Everything appeared normal.
Then a figure entered the frame.
A man wearing a dark suit.
His face hidden beneath the brim of a baseball cap.
He stopped before the biometric scanner.
The system flashed green.
ACCESS GRANTED
The vault door unlocked.
Director Brooks frowned.
"Zoom in."
The technician enlarged the image.
The man's face remained hidden.
Only his right hand was clearly visible.
He placed it on the scanner.
Again...
ACCESS CONFIRMED
The technician swallowed nervously.
"The system identified the fingerprints as Dominic Hale."
"But..."
He hesitated.
"...the facial recognition system failed."
The room fell silent.
Lillian Grant crossed her arms.
"Someone cloned his biometric profile."
Harold looked toward her.
"Is that possible?"
"Very."
"If someone gained temporary access to Dominic's fingerprint data."
Director Ruiz frowned.
"Meaning Dominic could still be innocent?"
Lillian answered carefully.
"Regarding this specific vault entry..."
"Yes."
"But not necessarily regarding everything else."
Evelyn remained quiet.
She wasn't interested in assumptions.
Only facts.
"Play the footage inside the vault."
The technician froze.
"There isn't any."
"What?"
"Vault Seven has no internal cameras."
"Your grandfather prohibited surveillance inside."
Harold nodded.
"He believed some family records should remain private."
Director Chen sighed.
"So we know someone entered."
"We know they left."
"But we have no idea what happened inside."
"Exactly."
Harold turned another page of the report.
"They were inside..."
"...for exactly four minutes."
"Then they disappeared."
Director Brooks looked confused.
"Disappeared?"
"There is no footage showing them leaving."
Every head turned toward the screen.
The technician replayed the hallway.
The mysterious visitor entered.
The vault door closed.
Four minutes later...
Nothing.
No one exited.
The hallway remained empty.
Director Ruiz whispered,
"That's impossible."
Harold looked toward Security Chief Marcus Doyle.
"You designed this building."
Marcus nodded.
"There are only two exits."
"The hallway..."
"...and an emergency passage."
"Show us."
Blueprints appeared on the screen.
A narrow maintenance tunnel connected Vault Seven to an abandoned elevator shaft built during the hotel's original construction.
Director Chen frowned.
"I thought that shaft was sealed."
Marcus answered quietly.
"It was."
Lillian looked at him.
"You don't sound confident."
Marcus hesitated.
"It was supposed to be."
Meanwhile...
Dominic stepped out of the Presidential Suite.
Vanessa adjusted her designer sunglasses.
"I'm starving."
"The rooftop restaurant?"
Dominic smiled.
"Best breakfast in Las Vegas."
They walked toward the private elevators.
Several hotel employees greeted them politely.
"Good morning, Mr. Hale."
"Morning."
No one gave the slightest indication that an investigation was unfolding fifty floors above.
Exactly as Evelyn had instructed.
Let him feel safe.
Back inside the boardroom...
A junior analyst rushed through the doors carrying a tablet.
"Madam Chair..."
"We recovered deleted emails."
Harold accepted the device.
"There are over three thousand."
"Anything unusual?"
"One thread."
He connected the tablet to the main screen.
An email appeared.
From: Dominic Hale
To: Unknown Recipient
Subject: Phase Two
The body contained only one sentence.
Everything will belong to us by Friday.
Director Brooks frowned.
"No signature?"
"No."
"No recipient?"
"The address was encrypted."
Lillian narrowed her eyes.
"This wasn't sent through company servers."
"It used an offshore relay."
Harold looked toward the analyst.
"Can we trace it?"
"We're trying."
Another notification appeared.
The analyst's expression changed.
"We just recovered the attachment."
Harold clicked.
A floor plan appeared.
Not of the hotel.
Not of headquarters.
Director Ruiz leaned forward.
"What building is that?"
Marcus answered immediately.
"The Whitmore Family Estate."
Silence.
Every hallway.
Every security camera.
Every private office.
Every emergency exit.
The entire family residence had been mapped.
Lillian looked at Evelyn.
"Someone was planning something."
For the first time since entering the meeting...
Evelyn's expression changed.
She recognized the blueprint.
It wasn't recent.
It included rooms demolished eight years earlier.
Which meant...
The plan had existed for years.
Long before Dominic became Executive Vice President.
Long before he even married her.
Harold noticed.
"You've seen this before."
She nodded slowly.
"My grandfather kept a copy."
"But no outsider should ever have had access."
Marcus suddenly interrupted.
"I remember something."
Everyone turned.
"Three years ago..."
"There was a fire."
Director Brooks nodded.
"In the estate library."
Marcus looked uneasy.
"It was ruled electrical."
Lillian quietly replied,
"Was it?"
No one answered.
At that same moment...
Breakfast arrived in the Presidential Suite.
Vanessa admired the silver serving trays.
"Caviar."
"Fresh truffles."
"Imported coffee."
"This place is unbelievable."
Dominic smiled.
"When I'm COO..."
"We'll own experiences like this every day."
A soft knock interrupted them.
Room service?
No.
A concierge stood outside holding a sealed envelope.
"For Mr. Dominic Hale."
Dominic accepted it.
"No sender?"
The concierge smiled politely.
"I'm afraid not, sir."
After the door closed, Dominic opened the envelope.
Inside was a single hotel keycard.
No note.
No explanation.
Only three words printed across the front.
Vault Seven.
His face lost all color.
Vanessa frowned.
"What is it?"
Dominic quickly slipped the card into his pocket.
"Nothing."
But it wasn't nothing.
He had never heard of Vault Seven.
So why did seeing those words make his pulse race?
Because somewhere deep in his memory...
He had heard that name before.
Years ago.
From someone he thought was dead.
Far below the hotel...
In the abandoned maintenance tunnels beneath the Sterling Crown...
A lone figure stood in complete darkness.
Watching security monitors.
Watching the boardroom.
Watching Dominic.
The stranger slowly removed a baseball cap.
Only the lower half of the face was visible.
A faint smile appeared.
Then a quiet voice echoed through the empty tunnel.
"You're looking in the wrong direction, Evelyn."
"This was never about Dominic."
The monitor flickered.
One by one...
May you like
Every security camera connected to Vault Seven went black.
To Be Continued...
