Chapter 44 - The Alpine Fortress
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The freezing wind whipped across the tarmac of the private Swiss airstrip, biting through my heavy tactical winter jacket. Snow blanketed the towering peaks of the Alps, reflecting the blinding white light of the morning sun.
A local contact—a rugged man in a heavy parka—handed Julian the keys to a tracked snow-utility vehicle. We loaded our gear in silence.
The drive through the winding mountain passes took two hours. As we crested a steep ridge, the facility finally came into view.
It didn't look like a bank. It looked like a military installation. Built directly into the sheer granite face of a towering mountain, the entrance to the Alpine Vault featured massive steel blast doors and a reinforced concrete landing pad. A steep funicular railway track ran up the cliff side, connecting the lower security checkpoint to the main vault entrance above.
Irene pulled out a pair of high-powered binoculars, scanning the perimeter. "I see heavily armed guards patrolling the lower station. Five hostiles. And a black helicopter on the helipad. Thorne is already here."
"We can't just shoot our way onto that train," Julian assessed, checking his thermal scope. "They'll hit the lockdown alarm, and those blast doors will seal forever."
"We don't need to shoot our way in," I said, pulling a sleek, forged black briefcase from the trunk. Inside was the cloned VIP credentials we had stripped from Thorne’s computer network back in Miami.
I looked at Julian. "You take the sniper position on this ridge. Keep us covered. Irene and I are going to walk right through the front door."
"Are you insane?" Julian hissed. "They'll recognize you!"
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"They won't recognize us," Irene said, pulling a sleek blonde wig over her dark hair and adjusting a pair of designer sunglasses. "The guards are local contractors, not syndicate insiders. If we act like high-tier clients demanding immediate access to our vault, they won't question the forged credentials."
I strapped a ceramic, non-metallic pistol to my ankle—designed to pass through metal detectors—and grabbed the briefcase. "Cover us, Julian. If this goes wrong, light them up."
