Chapter 9 - THE HEIST PLAN
By 4:00 AM, Clara, Lily, and Julian had taken shelter inside the basement of a deconsecrated church two blocks away from the financial district. The air was thick with the scent of old oak, frankincense, and age-old dust.
Julian spread a set of blueprinted architectural schematics across a heavy wooden altar table. They were the original construction plans for the National Commerce Bank building, constructed in 1924.
"The main lobby will be a death trap," Julian explained, tracing a red marker along the building's infrastructure lines. "Reyes will have snipers on the parking garage across the street and plainclothes officers at every entrance. Walking through the front doors is suicide."
Clara leaned over the map, staring at the thick concrete walls surrounding the subterranean vault room. "How did Daniel plan for us to get inside without being seen?"
Julian tapped a small, circular icon beneath the vault floor. "The bank was built directly over the old steam-pipe distribution network that heats the financial district. There’s an emergency ventilation shaft connecting the main vault's utility room to the boiler basement of the office building next door."
"Can we fit through it?" Clara asked.
"You and Lily can," Julian said, looking at her seriously. "I’m too broad-shouldered to squeeze through the intake ducts. My job will be creating a massive distraction on the street to draw Reyes's perimeter team away from the rear entrance."
Clara looked at the blueprints, then down at her daughter, who was sitting on a pew, fast asleep while clutching the silver badge.
"Julian," Clara said softly, her voice filled with quiet determination. "Reyes has the entire city believing I'm a monster. When we get that evidence... how do we make sure it doesn't just get buried by his corrupt friends in the D.A.'s office?"
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Julian reached into his pocket, pulling out a small, high-frequency digital broadcasting transmitter.
"Daniel thought of that, too," Julian smiled grimly. "The moment that vault is unlocked with Reyes's badge and Lily's fingerprint, the server inside doesn't just display the files... it automatically broadcasts every document, audio tape, and video ledger directly to the live news servers of twenty-five national media outlets simultaneously."
