02:15 – The Vault, United States Embassy Sub-Level
The heavy steel bank-vault door of the CIA armory hung at a sickening, unnatural angle, its massive reinforced hinges glowing a brilliant, angry cherry-red where the concentrated thermite charges had ruthlessly burned through the tempered steel. The acrid, suffocating smell of the incendiary compound lingered heavily in the subterranean air, mixing with the sharp, metallic tang of ozone, pulverized concrete, and the distant, muffled cadenc