Chapter 13 - The Last Breath
"Halon," Julian murmured, his mind racing through architectural blueprints he had studied years ago. "It’s heavier than air. It settles at the floor first."
He immediately hoisted Clara onto the highest brass shelf of the open deposit lockers, three feet above the floor.
"Clara, look at me," Julian said, stripping off his cotton undershirt. "Cover your mouth and nose with this. Breathe as slowly as you can. Do not look down."
Clara pressed the cloth against her small face, her hazel eyes wide, filled with a maturity no five-year-old should ever possess. She didn't panic; she held Julian’s gaze with absolute trust.
Victoria was slumped against the wall, clutching her arm, coughing as the first waves of invisible, oxygen-depleting gas rolled across the floor tiles.
"The... the sluice hatch," Victoria choked out, pointing with her uninjured hand toward the back of the vault. "The emergency release... requires two keys. Simultaneous turn."
Julian sprinted to the back grille. Embedded in the reinforced concrete was a heavy iron hatch, secured by two brass lock cylinders spaced four feet apart. Above it was an industrial wheel marked EMERGENCY RIVER PURGE.
"Where is the second key?!" Julian demanded, grabbing the collar of Victoria’s coat.
Victoria coughed violently, her lips already taking on a faint blue tint as the oxygen levels plummeted. "My neck... the chain around my neck..."
Julian reached under her silk collar, snapping a thin platinum chain. Hanging from it was an identical brass key to the one he had retrieved from Clara’s dress.
"Stay with Clara!" Julian commanded, shoving Victoria toward the locker base.
Julian ran back to the hatch. His lungs were burning, his chest tightening as if a vice were squeezing his ribs. The air was thin, tasting metallic and dry.
He jammed the first key into the left cylinder. He turned it. It locked into place with a loud mechanical thud.
He jammed the second key into the right cylinder. He grabbed the heavy iron wheel with both hands, muscles screaming as he fought the rusted gears that hadn't moved in fifty years.
The wheel groaned, metal flaking off in red dust. It moved an inch. Then another.
Through the fog of his dimming vision, Julian saw Clara’s eyes fluttering shut on the upper shelf.
"Clara!" Julian roared through burning lungs.
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With a final, desperate heave that tore the tendons in his forearms, Julian threw his entire body weight against the wheel.
A thunderous hydraulic hiss answered. The iron hatch blew inward under the immense pressure of the high-tide river outside, unleashing a massive wall of dark, freezing harbor water that swept through the vault like a tidal wave.
