To live and to love

04| 𝕾𝖎𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖘 𝖎𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖇𝖊𝖆𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙

Smart man.

Azaan took off his jacket, muscles flexing as he pulled at the heavy lock and we slipped in, the deadbolt sliding back with a laborious click. I pushed past him just as the lights came back in the hall, punctuated by the collective sigh of relief that echoed behind us.

Three stone vaults, large grotesque rectangular boxes made to contain human remains, greeted us. Aside from some carved stone plaques on the walls, the small room held nothing else. How had he left this area unprotected? Was it arrogance?

"Where do we start?" I asked.

Azaan noticed the lid of one box sat less straight than the others. "This one's been moved."

With both of us shoving, the vault lid swung aside. We stopped pushing when the large container opened, staring dumbfounded at the second traditional vault.

Typical.

"How long will it take you, Eliza?" If I knew Akbar, this would be the simplest and the easiest code to crack. His arrogance and frequent use of the lock made it so.

"A minute," My fingers worked faster, the pins in my hair helping me decode the code, by checking the grooves in the lock. There was a whirring sound, with the sight of something rising inside a protective case.

A noise from outside caught our attention and Azaan crept toward the door, his flashlight in his fist in case the guard needed another sedative.

"Focus Eliza."

A faint but steady clicking sound so slight it would have disappeared entirely in any other moment, in any other room. The door popped open and started to spin, and yet the case itself seemed to move, hydraulics working, smoothly raising the velvet cushion. Only the small signs that hung on the two cases gave any clue that what I was seeing wasn't a mirror image or some elaborate mirage.

The stones were perfect. Priceless and pristine. Their insides filled with a code that could take down a king. As I turned the diamonds, they sparkled, catching the light, bathing the area in a white iridescent glow, and yet it was nothing compared to the look in Azaan's eyes as he stood near the doorway, staring right at me.

"We did it," I nodded, my eyes welling over. He nodded, relief on his face. It was almost over.

Something fell in the distance, someone shouted and there was some type of scuffle.

"Time to go, Eliza..."

Excitement curled in my stomach and I made the switch, my electronic bracelet passing over the piece, and stood up. "Done."

Azaan whirled just as a giant security guard stumbled into the room, lunging at him, trying to tackle him to the floor. He kicked hard and I heard a grunt of pain as Azaan's heel connected to the guard's face. The guy still didn't let go, grasping at Azaan's jacket, tearing it at the seams. Pushing him off, Azaan finished the fight by punching the man repeatedly in the face and then driving his foot into his back, letting him hit the floor with a thud.

"Huh," His jacket in tatters, I briefly admired Azaan's toned chest as his white dress shirt gleamed with sweat and blood. Not his blood, I noticed—the only injuries I could see were his split lip and a bruise on his cheek

"Do you have it?" He asked and I nodded. "Let's go."

Running across the hall, we exited through the side entrance. Shouts and screams echoed in the distance. We waited for the guards to come down the hallway, looking for intruders. We heard the footsteps of one guard, the other right behind him. We kept waiting.

Once they were both out of sight, we rounded the corner of the staircase and ran towards the back exit, sprinting across the lawn towards a small gate drilled in by Sush and Riaan hours before. Azaan hauled me towards the back wall, abandoning the rope ladder, practically flying over the wall and down the trail—all to loud shouts and flashing lights.