"Ma'am! Are you in there? We heard sounds! Is everything alright?"
The voice from outside the vault door was urgent, concerned. Multiple footsteps echoed in the corridor beyond.
Amara's eyes went wide. She pulled away from Alex slightly, her expression shifting from satisfied to alert in an instant.
"I'm fine!" she called out, her voice remarkably steady considering everything they'd just done. "Just checking some documents! Everything is secure!"
There was a pause from outside. Then another voice, deeper and more authoritative. "Ma'am, we need visual confirmation. Protocol requires we see you're safe."
"Fuck," Alex muttered under his breath.
Amara looked at him, concern replacing the satisfaction that had been there moments ago. "I have to go out there. They won't leave until they see me."
"I know."
"But you..." She gestured at him, at his state of undress, at the obvious evidence of what they'd been doing covering the office. "How are you going to get out of here?"
