Chapter 12 - The Trap Pierre Built
Gabriel smashed the laptop against the desk.
Too late.
The screen cracked.
The hard drive kept running.
A progress light blinked.
Gabriel grabbed it and ripped out the cable.
Émilie laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
He hit her.
Thomas lunged.
One of Gabriel's men caught him and drove a fist into his stomach.
Thomas dropped to one knee.
Madeleine screamed.
Gabriel grabbed Émilie's hair.
“Where did it upload?”
Émilie looked at him through tears.
“News outlets.”
He slapped her again.
“Where?”
“Federal investigators.”
Another hit.
Thomas surged upward.
The guard punched him again.
Émilie smiled despite the blood at the corner of her mouth.
“And three law firms.”
Gabriel froze.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
Thomas forced himself upright.
“Dad built a dead-man switch.”
Gabriel looked at him.
Thomas continued.
“The archive opened, the mirror triggered.”
Gabriel's confidence cracked.
For the first time, Thomas saw panic.
Gabriel looked toward one of his men.
“Burn the building.”
Madeleine gasped.
The man hesitated.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“There are people—”
“Burn it!”
Thomas looked at Émilie.
She gave the smallest nod toward the grate.
Thomas understood.
He threw himself sideways.
His shoulder hit the guard.
Émilie kicked the man's knee.
Madeleine rocked her chair hard enough to knock into Gabriel.
The gun fired.
The bullet shattered a window.
Thomas tackled Gabriel.
They hit the floor.
Gabriel was sixty-six, but stronger than Thomas expected.
He drove his elbow into Thomas's jaw.
Thomas saw white.
Another man reached for him.
Émilie hooked her tied wrists around the man's ankle.
He fell.
Madeleine shouted, “Thomas!”
Thomas rolled.
The gun slid across the concrete.
Gabriel went for it.
So did Thomas.
Gabriel reached it first.
He turned.
A gunshot exploded.
Thomas flinched.
Gabriel stared down.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Sarah stood in the doorway.
“Drop it.”
Gabriel did.
For half a second.
Then he kicked open the floor grate and disappeared into the tunnel.
Sarah shouted into her radio.
“He's moving underground!”
Thomas cut Madeleine's restraints.
Sarah freed Émilie.
“Stay here.”
Thomas headed for the grate.
Émilie grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“He'll escape.”
“There are men down there.”
“So?”
“So I just got you back.”
The words stopped him.
For twelve years, she had been gone.
Now she was inches away.
Thomas looked at her.
“You didn't get me back.”
Émilie's expression broke.
“I know.”
Thomas swallowed.
“We have twelve years to talk about.”
“If we're lucky.”
A scream came from below.
Then two gunshots.
Sarah looked down the tunnel.
Her radio crackled.
“Cole, suspect heading east. We lost visual.”
Thomas knew the east tunnel.
It led to the river.
Sarah headed down.
Thomas followed.
“Thomas!”
Émilie shouted.
He turned.
Madeleine had gone pale.
She was staring at the red unit Gabriel had dropped.
The light wasn't flashing anymore.
It was solid.
Madeleine whispered, “Pierre told me about that too.”
Thomas's stomach tightened.
“What does solid mean?”
She looked toward the tunnel.
“It means someone started the final sequence.”
“What sequence?”
Madeleine shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Then the floor beneath them trembled.
A deep boom rolled through the mill.
Émilie's face changed.
“Gas lines.”
Thomas stared at her.
She whispered, “Gabriel isn't trying to escape.”
May you like
Another explosion shook the building.
“He's trying to bury the evidence with us inside.”
