Saint's Association
The battery inside the stainless-steel door of Landon Hawkwell's vault had long since been fully charged.
It was estimated to have a capacity of at least 20,000 mAh, enough to keep the access-control sensor system running for another year or two.
The Chinese access-control expert had even skipped the step of charging it. The representatives of the Congo (Kinshasa) Government and the Animal Protection Organization assumed there was still power inside the door and didn't question it.
"The door's open!"
The Animal Protection Organization's leader, Wells Black, couldn't help exclaiming as he stared fixedly at the gap in the automatically opening door.
With the snake swarm no longer in the way, everything became so simple, almost effortless.
"Everyone, please step back. There may be deadly mechanisms and traps..."
The access-control expert, clutching his script, was in his element. This seemed to be the most dazzling moment of his life; everything was under his control.
The next steps held no suspense at all. The passage beyond the stainless-steel blast door was spotless and stretched all the way to the actual vault at its deepest point, where boxes of all sizes were piled up.
The Congolese were excited. The Animal Protection Organization's representatives tried to contain their excitement, while the Chinese, who had already been excited earlier, could only play along. They were working so hard to keep it up that they were about to run out of steam.
They inventoried, authenticated, and drew up a list, then did it all over again.
As dawn approached, both the Chinese and the Congolese were exhausted after working all night.
Only when the final box from Landon Hawkwell's vault had been moved into the Chinese storage room and piled outside the vault—where it was jointly guarded by the Chinese and Major Barto's