Chapter 65 - Box Number Seventy-Two
The unexpected sound echoed through the underground archive.
Daniel, Samuel, Lily, and the caretaker followed it carefully.
Each aisle carried rows of numbered boxes.
Carter.
Ashcroft.
Monroe.
Winters.
Finally they reached Shelf C.
Box 72 rested slightly open.
Unlike every other container, it bore no family name.
Only a brass plate engraved with the number.
Samuel photographed the untouched layer of dust surrounding it.
"No footprints."
"No fingerprints."
"Yet someone opened it."
Daniel slowly lifted the lid.
Inside lay a neatly folded construction uniform.
Another one.
Not Daniel's.
This jacket carried a different employee badge.
Victor Hayes
Lily carefully unfolded a handwritten note tucked into one of the pockets.
The ink had faded, but every word remained readable.
> If you reached this room, it means I failed to stop them.
> I had only enough time to move one box.
> I pray it was the correct one.
Samuel searched the remaining pockets.
He found a folded quarry map.
Unlike the earlier versions, this one extended far beyond the archive.
A narrow tunnel continued underneath the mountain itself.
At the end of the tunnel someone had drawn a small red circle.
Beside it were two handwritten words.
Final Vault
The caretaker stared silently at the map.
"I've never seen this before."
Daniel looked directly at him.
"You've guarded this place for years."
"I guarded what I was told existed."
He slowly shook his head.
"Apparently..."
May you like
"...someone was keeping secrets from the keeper."
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