Chapter 10 - EIGHT MINUTES UNDERGROUND
Noah found the maintenance tunnel.
Claire found the explosives map.
Daniel found something worse.
The demolition was not merely intended to destroy the warehouse.
Charges had been placed around Sublevel C.
Someone wanted the underground facility erased specifically.
Eight minutes became seven.
Samuel could barely walk.
Margaret was conscious but weak.
Daniel lifted her.
She touched his face.
“You got old.”
He laughed through tears.
“So did you.”
“Rude.”
Even now she sounded like his mother.
They moved into the corridor.
Claire supported Samuel.
Noah led them toward the utility tunnels.
A steel gate blocked the passage.
Electronic lock.
Power unavailable.
Noah examined the hinges.
“Two minutes.”
“We don’t have two minutes.”
Daniel looked behind them.
Marcus appeared at the far end.
He carried a pistol.
“Leave the archive.”
Daniel shouted back.
“We don’t have it.”
Marcus fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Claire returned fire.
Marcus disappeared behind the corner.
Samuel leaned against the gate.
“There’s a manual release.”
“Where?”
“Pump room.”
Daniel looked at the countdown.
05:41.
“I’ll go.”
Claire grabbed him.
“No.”
“Stay with Mom.”
“Daniel.”
“I’ll be back.”
He ran.
The pump room stood fifty yards away.
Marcus entered behind him.
Daniel heard footsteps.
He reached the release wheel.
Locked.
Marcus appeared in the doorway.
Gun raised.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You first.”
He swung a pipe.
Marcus fired.
Pain tore across Daniel’s side.
He fell.
Marcus approached.
“You have no idea what your father created.”
Daniel pressed a hand against the wound.
“You mean what you stole.”
Marcus smiled.
“History doesn’t care who invents something.”
“It remembers who controls it.”
He raised the gun.
A shot sounded.
Marcus stopped.
Blood appeared on his shirt.
He collapsed.
Julian stood behind him.
Face burned.
Jacket torn.
Alive.
Daniel stared.
“You blew yourself up.”
Julian smiled.
“Badly.”
He helped Daniel stand.
“Release.”
Together they turned the wheel.
The gate opened remotely.
03:12.
They ran back.
Claire saw Julian.
“You look terrible.”
“So do you.”
Samuel almost smiled.
They entered the tunnel.
02:20.
Behind them Marcus groaned.
Still alive.
Evelyn appeared beside him.
She did not help.
Instead she took his access card and walked away.
Marcus stared after her.
“Evelyn.”
She disappeared.
01:14.
Noah reached the storm outlet.
Locked grate.
Daniel kicked it.
Nothing.
Julian fired at the lock.
The grate opened.
They climbed out onto the riverbank.
Samuel first.
Margaret.
Claire.
Noah.
Julian.
Daniel last.
He reached the grass as the ground erupted.
The warehouse lifted in a column of fire.
Concrete collapsed inward.
A pressure wave threw them toward the river.
Daniel hit the mud.
For several seconds he heard nothing.
Then sound returned.
Sirens.
Fire.
Claire coughing.
Margaret calling his name.
They were alive.
All of them.
Except Evelyn had escaped.
And Marcus might have died underground.
Police arrived within minutes.
Federal agents followed soon after.
Julian raised both hands.
“Before anyone arrests anyone, call Special Agent Lena Ortiz.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Who?”
“The person I’ve been working with for eighteen months.”
Claire stared.
“You’re federal?”
“No.”
Julian smiled weakly.
“I’m still a lawyer.”
He collapsed.
Three hours later, Daniel sat in a hospital corridor for the third time in four days.
Claire was stable.
Julian had burns but would survive.
Samuel required surgery.
Margaret remained under observation.
Noah sat beside Daniel.
Neither spoke.
Then Agent Lena Ortiz approached.
She was in her forties.
Calm.
Direct.
She placed a folder between them.
“We found Marcus Vale.”
Daniel looked up.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Evelyn?”
“Gone.”
Daniel exhaled.
Ortiz sat.
“There’s something you need to understand.”
“What?”
“Evelyn wasn’t trying to perfect Project Orpheus.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then what was she doing?”
Ortiz opened the folder.
Inside were financial records.
Government contracts.
Private military invoices.
Offshore payments.
“She was selling it.”
Noah stared.
“To who?”
Ortiz looked at Daniel.
“Anyone who could pay.”
Daniel looked through the documents.
Then found a name.
HALE, REBECCA.
He froze.
A payment had been issued six weeks ago.
Noah saw it too.
His face emptied.
“My mother?”
Ortiz nodded.
“Rebecca Hale is alive.”
Noah stopped breathing.
“Where?”
Ortiz closed the folder.
“That’s the problem.”
May you like
“She isn’t hiding from Evelyn.”
“She works for her.”
