Chapter 5 - THE EIGHTY-SIXTH FLOOR
At 2:13 a.m., Kendrick opened the sealed elevator.
Evelyn stood beside him.
Titan waited between them.
"You should stay with Penny," Evelyn said.
"My security team is with her."
"That isn't what I meant."
Kendrick pressed the button for eighty-six.
"You don't get to tell me where to go."
The elevator descended.
Evelyn crossed her arms.
"You've always this pleasant?"
"So far, you've lied about your name, infiltrated my building, concealed information about my wife's murder, and attracted an assassin."
"Fair."
The elevator doors opened.
Darkness.
Rows of locked archive rooms stretched down a long corridor.
Kendrick turned on the lights.
Dust floated through the air.
Evelyn removed the brass key.
"Which room?"
Kendrick studied the number engraved into the key.
8617.
"This way."
Room seventeen was at the end.
The key fit.
Inside were old filing cabinets, a steel desk, and one massive safe.
Evelyn stared at it.
"My father used to talk about old-fashioned men."
"What did he say?"
"They trusted paper more than people."
Kendrick almost smiled.
"Smart man."
"He was."
The smile disappeared.
Kendrick found a keyhole beneath the safe's combination wheel.
The brass key fit there too.
A panel popped open.
Inside was a smaller lockbox.
Evelyn's hands shook as she lifted it out.
Kendrick watched silently.
She opened it.
Documents.
Photographs.
Three flash drives.
A ledger.
And a voice recorder.
Evelyn pressed play.
Static.
Then her father's voice filled the room.
"Evelyn, if you're hearing this, I failed."
She covered her mouth.
Kendrick looked away, giving her the smallest amount of privacy he could.
Daniel continued.
"The missing money isn't theft for personal gain. Barrett is building something outside Ashford control."
Kendrick's eyes hardened.
"He has police, judges, union officials, and at least two captains working for him."
Evelyn gripped the desk.
"If I expose him directly, he'll kill us."
A long pause.
"I made a mistake. I warned Victor Ashford."
Kendrick's father.
"Victor promised to handle Barrett quietly. Two days later, Victor stopped returning my calls."
Kendrick stepped closer to the recorder.
Then Daniel said something that changed everything.
"If Victor is dead when this is found, Barrett killed him too."
Kendrick froze.
His father had died five years earlier.
Heart attack.
At least that was what the autopsy had said.
The recording continued.
"Barrett's biggest problem is Celeste."
Kendrick's heart slammed.
"She found one of his ledgers while helping with the Ashford Foundation accounts."
Evelyn looked at Kendrick.
Daniel's voice crackled.
"She doesn't know the full truth yet. But if she keeps digging, Barrett will remove her."
Kendrick grabbed the recorder.
"When was this made?"
Evelyn looked at the date.
Six years ago.
Three years before Celeste died.
Kendrick's hand tightened so hard around the device his knuckles turned white.
Evelyn opened the ledger.
Pages of transactions.
Names.
Dates.
Payoffs.
Then she stopped.
A handwritten note sat beneath one entry.
C.A. knows too much.
Operation Widow approved.
Kendrick whispered, "Celeste Ashford."
Evelyn nodded.
Then Titan barked.
Once.
They turned.
Smoke slipped beneath the door.
Kendrick rushed to it.
Locked.
He slammed his shoulder against the steel.
Nothing.
Evelyn looked toward the ceiling.
A red emergency light flashed.
"Fire."
"No."
Kendrick smelled it.
Gasoline.
"This isn't a fire."
Flames suddenly erupted on the other side of the glass panel.
Someone had locked them inside.
May you like
And someone knew exactly what they had found.
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