With the grace of a ghost, he bypassed the laser lattice. His fingers, steady as a surgeon's, input the bypass codes he’d spent six months and four murders to acquire. At the four-minute mark, the glass casing hissed open. He swapped the Star for a weighted replica—a cliché, he knew, but the physics of the pressure plate demanded it.
"I’m out," Elias whispered, tucking the gem into a velvet-lined pocket. 7 : What a Twist!
Then, his dashboard screen flickered to life. A face appeared—the doctor from the lab. But he wasn't bored anymore. He looked terrified. With the grace of a ghost, he bypassed the laser lattice