Chapter 14 - The Countdown Returns
Red emergency lights flooded the underground archive.
A mechanical voice echoed through hidden speakers.
"Security protocol activated."
"Archive lockdown in five minutes."
Steel barriers slammed into place behind them.
Thomas rushed back toward the entrance.
The vault door had sealed shut.
"No manual release."
David's expression hardened.
"They found the secondary control."
Emily looked around the room.
"There has to be another exit."
"There is."
David pointed toward a narrow passage hidden behind the filing cabinets.
"But no one has used it in over twenty years."
Daniel suddenly spoke from the back of the group.
"I know where it goes."
Everyone turned.
"You've been here before?" Thomas asked.
Daniel slowly nodded.
"My father brought me once."
David stared at him.
"How old were you?"
"Fourteen."
"What did he show you?"
Daniel hesitated.
"He wanted me to understand that information controls governments more effectively than weapons."
Emily looked at him in disbelief.
"So everything..."
Daniel lowered his head.
"I grew up believing there was no way out."
The announcement interrupted again.
"Four minutes remaining."
Thomas motioned toward the hidden passage.
"We move now."
As officers prepared to leave, Emily noticed one cabinet standing apart from all the others.
Unlike the rest, it bore no family name.
Only three engraved words.
FOR MY DAUGHTER.
She reached for the handle.
David immediately stepped forward.
"No."
Emily looked at him.
"You left this for me."
"I did."
"Then why can't I open it?"
David closed his eyes.
"Because once you read what's inside..."
He struggled to finish the sentence.
"...you may never forgive me."
The countdown continued.
Three minutes.
Fifty-eight seconds.
Three minutes.
Fifty-seven seconds.
Behind the sealed vault door, a heavy impact echoed through the steel.
Someone—or something—was trying to get in.
May you like
And this time, it wasn't Dr. Ward's people.
It was someone who already knew exactly what waited inside the archive.
