“We need those codes from Clara first,” I said. “Once the accounts are frozen, Caleb has nothing to fight for.”

I looked at Clara, whose face was growing paler by the second.

“Clara,” I said, stepping closer. “The Geneva cipher. Tell me now.”

She parted her dry lips, trying to speak.

“It’s… five, nine, alpha…” she began, her voice barely a whisper.

A sudden, sharp metallic click echoed from the top of the stairs.

The heavy steel door that led to the kitchen security room hissed.

I pointed my weapon upward, my eyes straining in the dim light.

Before Clara could finish the sequence, the overhead fluorescent lights died.

The entire cellar plunged into absolute, pitch-black darkness.

The hum of the ventilation system fell silent.

“Nora, get down!” I shouted.

A second later, the heavy electronic locks on the cellar doors clicked.

The sound was distinct, a series of mechanical thuds as the magnetic bolts disengaged.

The backup generator hadn’t kicked in.

That meant the power grid hadn’t just been cut from the outside.

It had been manually overridden from the main control terminal inside the house.