Chapter 8 - The Hostage on the Screen
The entire gala watched Dr. Keene struggle against the ropes.
Blood ran from his temple.
The masked figure remained behind him.
A distorted voice came through the speakers.
“Claire Mercer, stop the presentation.”
I stepped toward the screen.
“Where is he?”
“Destroy the server drive and Evelyn Shaw’s files.”
Julian looked as shocked as everyone else.
But his left hand slowly moved toward his pocket.
Nathan saw it.
He grabbed Julian’s wrist and pulled out a second phone.
The screen displayed an active video connection.
Julian yanked away.
“That isn’t mine.”
“It was in your pocket,” Nathan said.
Beatrice moved closer.
“You planted it.”
The masked figure on the giant screen pressed a blade against Dr. Keene’s throat.
“You have sixty seconds.”
Panic spread through the ballroom.
Guests rushed toward the exits.
The doors remained locked under emergency protocol.
Police began searching the building.
I studied the video.
A stained concrete wall.
A metal shelf.
A humming fluorescent light.
Then I heard a train horn.
Close.
The image trembled slightly after the horn, as if the building itself shook.
Walter Hayes, the retired maintenance worker who rescued me, had arrived with paramedics.
He stared at the screen.
“That’s not a live video from across town,” he said.
“How do you know?”
“The freight line runs beneath this hotel’s east loading tunnel.”
Nathan checked the signal.
“He’s right. The transmission is coming from inside the building.”
I grabbed the microphone.
“Keep them talking.”
The masked figure tilted their head.
I spoke slowly.
“You want the server destroyed? Come take it.”
Julian whispered, “Claire, don’t provoke them.”
I looked at him.
“You’re worried they might hurt the doctor who can prove you murdered my father?”
“I had nothing to do with Harrison’s death.”
“Then help us find Keene.”
Julian stayed silent.
That silence told the room everything.
Police officers moved toward the east corridor.
Walter led Nathan and me through a service stairwell.
The train horn sounded again.
We descended below the ballroom into a concrete maintenance passage.
At the end stood a locked storage room.
A faint voice came from behind it.
“Help me.”
Police broke the door open.
Dr. Keene sat exactly as he appeared on the screen.
But the masked figure was gone.
The ropes around his wrists had been cut.
Keene looked at me.
“I’m sorry about your father.”
Before he could say more, Beatrice appeared at the far end of the corridor.
She held a small pistol in both hands.
Her arms were steady.
“Samuel,” she said, “you were paid to stay silent.”
Julian arrived behind her.
“Mother, put the gun down.”
She looked at him with contempt.
“You never had the stomach to finish anything.”
May you like
Then she aimed directly at Dr. Keene.
👉 Beatrice had finally revealed herself as the person controlling the conspiracy, and her next shot could bury the truth about Claire’s father forever.
