Chapter 2

The cold metal casing of the flare gun pressed against my palm.

I held the barrel steady, pointing it at the silver metal container labeled "AF-001."

"Mark, are you sure you want to play this big?"

My voice trembled from the cold, but my tone was unwavering.

On the other end of the walkie-talkie, Mark's laughter abruptly ceased.

Then came Chloe's panicked voice.

"Anya, don't be impulsive! That... that thing can't be messed with!"

"Oh? Now you know it can't be messed with?"

I scoffed, my breath condensing into a cloud of white in front of me.

"When you locked me in here, why didn't you think about the consequences?"

Mark's voice was still defiant.

"Anya, don't try to scare us!

"It's just a prank, isn't it? Is it really worth taking it out on the company's valuable cargo?"

"Do you even know what that is, daring to point a gun at it? Put the flare gun down!"

I ignored him, instead using my free hand to tap lightly on the metal canister beside me.

The canister emitted a sharp, resonant clang, piercing the dead silence of the freezer.

"That’s Ms. Sterling’s golden ticket to an heir!"

"She spent a whopping two hundred million dollars to get that, all the way from an African tribal chief!"

"They say it’s once-in-a-century elite genetic material!"

"I’m the QC supervisor who personally handled the receiving procedures. So tell me, do I know what it is or not?"

Silence crackled over the walkie-talkie.

I could picture Mark and Chloe's faces in the monitor room, suddenly drained of color.

They knew the value of this thing better than anyone.

The day it was stored, Ms. Sterling personally oversaw it, even demanding that the movers use brand new gloves.

She'd said if even a single thing went wrong, everyone involved would vanish, permanently.

Chloe's voice, laced with tears, rang out again, as if she'd suffered the greatest injustice.

"Anya, we really just wanted to play a joke, to lighten the mood..."

"Who told you to always be so cold and distant? Everyone's a little scared of you..."

"Please put the gun down, okay? Mark will open the door for you in a minute."

The moment she finished speaking, Mark immediately followed up.

"Right, right, Anya, we were just kidding. I'll figure out how to open the door right now."

"Maybe the old lock's circuits froze up. Don't worry, I'll go get some tools!"

Listening to their coordinated story, the last bit of warmth in my heart vanished.

Circuits frozen?

This German-engineered cryogenic door can function perfectly in temperatures as low as fifty below zero.

He thought I was an idiot.

"Stop acting," my voice was icy. "I'm giving you ten seconds. Open the door."

"Don't forget, you're still live-streaming."

"If Ms. Sterling sees her legacy destroyed because of you, do you think you'll even live to see tomorrow?"

"Ten seconds. Open the door. Now!"

"Ten."

"Nine."

I started counting down, my numb fingers hovering over the flare gun's trigger.

Mark's exasperated growl and Chloe's sobs came through the walkie-talkie.

"Psycho! Anya, you crazy bitch!"

"Mark, what do we do... the chat is blowing up, the top gifter says he wants to see her actually pull the trigger..."

"Shut up!"

"Three."

"Two."

The second before I pulled the trigger, Mark practically screamed.

"Stop! I'm opening it! I'm opening it now!"

I let out a shaky breath, my body trembling even more from the sudden release of tension.

But half a minute passed, and I was struggling to breathe.

The heavy freezer door remained motionless.

Through the walkie-talkie, Mark's voice came again.

"Oh, Anya, I'm so sorry."

"I was too nervous just now. I entered the electronic lock's password wrong three times, and the system automatically locked itself."

"Now... we'll have to wait for an engineer to unlock it."