Chapter 12 - THE DARKNESS INSIDE THE MANSION
The chandelier went black.
The security system chimed once and died.
Vanessa gasped.
Someone moved near the fireplace.
My father’s security officer shouted, “Nobody move.”
Daylight still entered through the tall windows, but the sudden darkness turned every reflection into a hiding place.
I heard Adrian’s shoes scrape across the floor.
Then a hand closed around my arm.
I struck backward with my elbow.
A man grunted.
The grip released.
My father called my name.
“I’m here.”
The security officer activated a flashlight.
Its beam swept across the room.
Adrian stood near the coffee table.
Vanessa was pressed against the staircase.
Claire had crouched beside her briefcase.
Miriam remained near the chair.
The flash drive was gone.
My father saw the empty table.
“Who took it?”
No one answered.
The front doors had automatically locked when the power failed.
The security officer tested them.
“Electronic deadbolt. Manual override isn’t responding.”
Adrian rubbed his side where I had struck him.
“You brought armed strangers into my house and now we’re trapped.”
“This was not our system,” the officer said.
My phone still had service.
I called emergency services, but the signal dropped before the call connected.
A jammer.
The officer recognized it too.
“Someone activated a short-range signal blocker.”
“Inside the house?” I asked.
“Most likely.”
Claire stood.
“The cloning device.”
My father shone the flashlight toward her briefcase.
The small unit was still there, but the green light had turned red.
“It may be interfering with the network,” she said.
“Or it was designed to,” the officer replied.
Miriam moved toward me.
“Elena, sit down. You’re injured.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
She reached for my arm.
Something fell from her pocket.
A silver key card.
THE HALCYON was printed across the front.
Everyone saw it.
Miriam stopped moving.
I picked it up.
“How did you get this?”
She stared at Claire.
“It was in my medical bag.”
Claire shook her head.
“Don’t look at me.”
Miriam’s voice rose.
“You stood beside it before the lights failed.”
“So did Adrian.”
“So did Vanessa.”
Vanessa looked offended.
“I’ve never touched that bag.”
My father took the key card.
A handwritten number appeared on the back.
19-04.
“The nineteenth floor,” I said.
Adrian remained silent.
Too silent.
I looked toward him.
The flashlight caught a small black object in his hand.
The flash drive.
“Put it down,” the security officer ordered.
Adrian held it between two fingers.
“You all want the truth?”
He stepped backward toward the fireplace.
“Here it is.”
He threw the drive into the cold ashes.
I lunged toward it.
At that exact moment, the fireplace ignited.
Flames surged upward.
Vanessa screamed.
The security officer dragged me back.
The drive disappeared beneath the fire.
Adrian watched it burn.
Then a woman’s voice came from the mansion’s hidden speaker system.
“Destroying the copy changes nothing, Adrian.”
May you like
I knew that voice.
It belonged to my mother.
