Garrett Cole laughed.
“I’ve been looking for that envelope for seventeen years.”
The customers dove beneath tables as armed men entered behind him.
Rex quietly slid the girl behind the counter.
“Stay down. Whatever happens, don’t let him take that envelope.”
Garrett raised his hand.
“You still don’t know what’s inside, do you?”
Rex looked down.
The envelope wasn’t full of money or documents.
It contained a tiny brass key.
“What does it open?” Rex demanded.
Garrett’s smile disappeared.
“It opens the only room that can destroy everything I’ve built.”
Before anyone could react, the girl grabbed the key and sprinted toward the diner’s kitchen.
Garrett shouted.
“STOP HER!”
Gunfire shattered every window.
Rex tackled Garrett to the floor as the girl disappeared through a hidden cellar door beneath the kitchen.
She reached the bottom of the stairs.
There, hidden beneath the old diner for decades, stood a massive steel vault covered with the same black symbol.
The tiny key fit perfectly.
Her hands shook as she turned it.
The vault door slowly began to open.
A bright white light poured out.
The girl gasped.
Inside stood dozens of frightened children… and a woman who whispered with tears in her eyes—
“Sweetheart… you came back.”
End of Part 2.
