Page 141 - DeepRestFlipFinal

DEEP REST
Vega grunted, his eyes scanning the rock face.
"Good. Less chance of tripwires. More chance of a
nasty fall."
He pulled out a small a portable thermal scanner.
He swept it across the rock. A heat signature. A hidden
door.
"They've sealed it," Vega murmured. "Reinforced
steel. Pressure plates."
"Can you get through it?" Liam asked. He could
feel it now, the subtle shift in the facility's energy, the
growing sense of dread that told him Evelyn was in
danger.
Vega merely smiled. He pulled out a small, high-
powered cutting torch, its flame a brilliant blue against
the darkness. "They build walls. I find doors."
He began to work, the hiss of the torch echoing
through the tunnel, the smell of burning metal filling
the air. He moved with practiced efficiency, cutting a
precise circle in the reinforced steel.
Meanwhile, Cassandra Thorne, positioned miles
away in a remote mobile command center, monitored
their progress. Her screens displayed satellite feeds,
geological surveys, and a live, albeit heavily
encrypted, audio feed from Vega’s comms.
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