Chapter 15 - The Gray Gloves
The armed men spread into a semicircle.
Their boots echoed across the chamber.
Richard positioned himself between Elizabeth and Voss.
Every hair along his back stood upright.
Margaret whispered without turning her head.
"Nobody run."
Emily looked around.
"There are too many."
"Exactly."
Voss removed his glasses and carefully cleaned them.
"I've spent twenty years repairing the damage Harold Bennett caused."
Olivia answered sharply.
"You mean hiding it."
"I mean protecting people from dangerous myths."
He glanced toward the collars hanging on the walls.
"Generations chasing fairy tales because of one sentimental old soldier."
Elizabeth stepped forward.
"He saved children."
"He stole government property."
"They were children!"
"They were research subjects."
Silence exploded through the chamber.
Emily stared at Voss.
"You actually said that."
"They belonged to the program."
Richard growled so deeply that even several guards shifted backward.
Voss ignored the dog.
"I don't need the women."
He pointed directly at Richard.
"I need him."
Olivia frowned.
"Why?"
Voss reached into his pocket and removed an old photograph.
It showed the first Richard standing beside young Richard Vale.
On the back was a handwritten formula.
Margaret recognized it instantly.
"The conditioning sequence..."
Voss nodded.
"The only surviving copy."
Emily looked from the photograph to the dog.
"You think the bloodline still carries something."
"I don't think."
Voss smiled.
"I know."
Richard suddenly turned toward a ventilation shaft in the far wall.
He barked twice.
Then once.
Elizabeth gasped.
"That's the signal."
"What signal?"
"The first Richard used that bark whenever he found another escape route."
Before Voss understood what was happening, Richard sprinted toward the shaft.
Several guards chased him.
One reached for the dog's collar.
Richard twisted away at the last second.
The guard crashed into the rusted cages, sending dozens of old collars crashing across the floor.
One collar struck the projector.
The ancient machine came back to life.
Harold's unfinished recording resumed automatically.
"...inside the bell tower."
Everyone stopped.
Even Voss.
Young Harold continued speaking.
"If I don't survive..."
Static interrupted him.
"...the master file is hidden inside the bell tower."
Voss's face changed completely.
"The bell tower..."
Margaret whispered.
"He never told me."
Olivia looked around.
"There's no bell tower here."
Elizabeth slowly smiled for the first time.
"There isn't anymore."
She pointed upward.
"But there used to be one."
Far above them, somewhere beyond several floors of concrete, the old hospital chapel bell rang loudly.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
May you like
Every person in the underground chamber instinctively looked toward the ceiling.
Richard had already disappeared into the ventilation shaft.
