Alex flipped up the NVGs and they both turned on their red-beamed flashlights. The rest of the FBI didn’t know about this place yet. Alex wanted to search for the crypto before Evidence Response Teams got in here because doing otherwise would slow them down. He wanted to barter Laura’s life for EG’s fortune.

“You really think he left the money here?”

“Yep. He doesn’t trust banks and he doesn’t think we’ll find this place.” The house was registered to a corporation and hidden under layers and layers of shell companies. “I doubt he’d risk carrying it all on his person in case he was mugged or apprehended. It probably isn’t all of the money but I’d wager it’s the bulk of it.”

Shane knew that, ideally, they’d stake out the place and arrest the fucker when he came home to pick up the cash. But EG had Laura and no one wanted her to die.

“Where do we start?”

“Panic room.”

“You saw the blueprints?” Shane asked in surprise.

Alex shook his head. “Simpler than that. As soon as I located the property, I found an old real estate listing. It mentioned a panic room.”

“He never did any killing here, right?” Shane didn’t want to contaminate evidence of a crime scene if he could help it.

“Not that we know of but anything is possible.”

A shiver ran over Shane’s back. Ethan Grice was a serial killer with no morals and zero empathy. Who knew when he first started his grisly trade.

Shane followed Alex to a large bookcase and they quickly figured out the opening mechanism and pulled the doors wide. Behind the cases was a steel door.

“Four-inch-thick steel with a 10-gauge carbon steel inner plate. Eleven bolts form the locking mechanism which also has electronic lock guards.”

“Great. How do we get in?” Shane eyed it. “I could probably blow the hinges and bolts.”

“The amount of explosives required might destroy everything inside which is fine except I want the hardware wallets intact.”

The thought of giving Grice the money left a bad taste in Shane’s mouth but he wasn’t sure he could live with the alternative either. Hopefully they could catch the guy during the exchange—if he took the bait.

Alex leaned closer to examine the electronic lock which had shifted to some sort of auxiliary power system. He removed the faceplate and attached another small electronic gadget to some of the wires. Then they waited.

Every second ramped up the tension. The hairs on his nape rose. What if the sonofabitch had boobytrapped this space?

Fifty seconds felt like an eternity but finally the lock clicked and Alex pushed on the lever, spinning it in a circle until it unlocked and came ajar.

Shane halted the door with his foot and ran the flashlight around the crack of the opening. Satisfied, he moved his foot. “Looks clear.”