Chapter 5 - THE THREAT BENEATH THE TOWER
Hale called for tactical support.
Julian called his lawyer again.
Evelyn ordered Grant to shut down the building system remotely.
Grant refused.
“That woman is going to be killed.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“You have no idea who she is.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It matters if she is stealing private company records.”
I studied Evelyn’s face.
She knew the woman.
Julian moved toward the elevator.
Hale stopped him.
“You’re staying here.”
“This is my property.”
“That is exactly why.”
Julian’s eyes shifted toward me.
“This is what you wanted?”
“I wanted dinner without being threatened.”
“You destroyed this family over one argument.”
Nora looked at the shattered room.
“One argument did not install a hidden camera.”
Julian’s jaw clenched.
Hale left two officers at the condominium and took Nora and me downstairs.
Evelyn protested.
Grant insisted on coming because his access credentials could open restricted areas.
Julian was ordered to remain behind.
As the elevator doors closed, I saw him smiling.
Not defeated.
Prepared.
That frightened me more than his rage.
Carter Tower rose above the financial district like a blade of black glass.
My father had helped finance its construction twenty years earlier.
I had attended Christmas parties there.
Board meetings.
Charity auctions.
I had never known there was a hidden level beneath the parking structure.
The service stairwell opened behind a locked control room.
Grant entered a code.
The door rejected it.
He tried again.
“Someone changed my access.”
Hale called the security supervisor.
No response.
Nora examined the wall panel.
“Your father used manual overrides.”
Grant stared at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because I worked for him before you learned to read a balance sheet.”
She removed a decorative metal plate near the floor.
Behind it was an older keypad.
She entered six numbers.
The door clicked open.
A narrow concrete stairway descended into darkness.
The air smelled of dust and electrical heat.
Hale went first.
I followed despite his order to remain behind.
At the bottom, we found a steel corridor lined with locked storage rooms.
The overhead lights flickered.
Locker numbers were printed above each door.
The door stood open.
Inside, metal shelves had been emptied.
Paper covered the floor.
A dark stain marked the wall.
The woman from the camera lay behind a cabinet.
She was alive.
Barely.
Hale checked her pulse.
Her name was Claire Dawson.
I recognized it from old company records.
She had served as chief accountant for a manufacturing firm Carter Holdings acquired six years earlier.
After the acquisition, she vanished from business.
The newspapers said she suffered a breakdown.
Claire opened her eyes.
“Evelyn,” she whispered.
“What did Evelyn do?” I asked.
Claire’s hand closed around my wrist.
“Your father found us.”
“Found who?”
“The shareholders.”
Her breathing became shallow.
“People they declared incompetent.”
Hale called for paramedics.
Grant searched the empty shelves.
“What was stored here?”
Claire pointed weakly toward the ceiling.
“Not here.”
A small red light blinked above us.
A camera.
Hale stood.
“Who’s watching?”
The corridor speaker came alive.
Julian’s voice filled the underground level.
“My wife.”
My blood turned cold.
Grant stared at the speaker.
“How did you get access?”
Julian ignored him.
“Sophia, you have five minutes to leave the tower.”
“Why?”
“Because I am giving you one last chance.”
“To do what?”
“Come home. Withdraw the money. Dismiss the attorney. Tell Detective Hale you invented the abuse.”
Hale gestured for everyone to move away from the locker.
Julian continued.
“Do that, and I will forget today happened.”
I looked at the camera.
“No.”
A pause.
Then Julian laughed quietly.
“You always needed pain to understand consequences.”
The lights shut off.
Emergency red lamps came on.
A mechanical hum moved through the corridor.
Grant looked toward the ceiling vents.
“What is that?”
Claire began struggling to sit up.
“Gas.”
Hale grabbed her under the arms.
“Move!”
We ran toward the stairwell.
The steel door slammed shut before we reached it.
Hale pulled the handle.
Locked.
A bitter chemical smell entered the corridor.
Nora began coughing.
Grant covered his mouth with his sleeve.
I looked for another exit.
The blueprint message showed a maintenance tunnel behind Locker 118.
I ran back into the room.
The shelves had been moved, but scrape marks remained on the floor.
Together, Grant and I pushed the largest unit aside.
A narrow panel appeared in the wall.
No handle.
Only a circular keyhole.
Claire reached inside her coat and dropped a brass key into my hand.
“Your father gave me this.”
My breath caught.
“He knew you?”
“He tried to save us.”
I inserted the key.
The panel opened.
We crawled through as the chemical haze thickened.
Hale dragged Claire.
Grant helped Nora.
I entered last.
Before closing the panel, I looked back at the blinking camera.
Julian could still see me.
I held his gaze through the lens.
“You failed.”
His voice came through the speaker one final time.
“No, Sophia.”
A heavy explosion shook the corridor above us.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
May you like
Julian’s voice lowered.
“I just sealed the only exit.”
