“I wouldn’t say that.” Eliana reached up and slid the wig all the way off, trying to pretend like it didn’t hurt that much to take off the rest of the adhesive. She tossed it aside, pulled the pins from her scalp, releasing it from the net, then shook out her hair.
Then she looked at the young woman.
Miles.
No one said anything.
Miles shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Well, one of you can get in the vault, right?”
“Only one!” Tony looked around. “W-what’s going on?” His words were slurred, but he’d regained his sense of self.
Miles turned to him. “Can you get in the vault, old man?”
“You’re not getting into the vault,” Tony sputtered. “It only admits one person at a time, and that person’s DNA has to be coded to the system.” Right now, he sounded a whole lot more in control of himself.
Eliana nearly sagged onto the floor out of sheer relief.
Not being promoted to head of security? She didn’t mind so much right now, considering she didn’t have to figure a way out of this situation by herself.
“I guess there’s no way for you to get in, then.” She shrugged, but there wasn’t much to it. “You should all leave before we get the police down here to arrest you. We’ll call it even. No harm, no foul.”
Maybe her mom just argued people to a rational conclusion so no one got hurt, and everyone went on with their lives. She’d have to ask.
The young woman touched the outside of Miles’s arm. “Just kill her. We’ll use the old man to get into the vault.”
“Someone needs to see if the rumors are true.” Miles stared at her.
“Rumors?” Eliana asked.
The young woman smirked. “If you’re vaporized before you can even step foot into the vault, then we’ll know it’s true.” She looked at the man and the other woman beside her, then lifted her chin. “Get her.” Then turned and walked to the vault.“Someone’s eyeball will get us through this door. Shame we don’t have to cut it out to find out.”
They hoisted Eliana to her feet.
“My retina—if that’s what the scan is—won’t get you through there.” Eliana glanced between them. “I’ve never even been down here.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky, and it’ll vaporize your eyeball in your head.” The young woman laughed, but Eliana didn’t think anything about this was amusing.
They dragged her forward.
“No!” Tony yelled. “Don’t!”
Eliana struggled against their hold, but it didn’t work. She tried to scramble back.
They walked her to the panel on the wall and forced her to bend until her eye was in front of the camera.
She gasped. A green light flared, swelling until it eclipsed everything.
The door clicked.
She pushed back, and they let her go. Light flashed in her eyes, no matter how much she blinked.
A recorded voice emerged from a speaker overhead.“Insert for stage two.”
“How?” Tony asked. “It should only be one person.”
Miles pushed her toward the door. “Go ahead and do the next part.”
“I don’t know what it is! I’ve never done this before!”
