Chapter 15 - The Locked File
An alarm suddenly echoed through the underground chamber.
Not loud.
Not frantic.
Slow.
Measured.
Three repeating tones.
Arthur's expression immediately changed.
"We're out of time."
Margaret looked around.
"What does that alarm mean?"
"It means another authorized key has entered the archive."
Daniel reached for his own brass key.
"It's still here."
Arthur shook his head.
"There were never just two."
Rebecca looked toward a heavy steel vault at the opposite end of the room.
A bright green light above the door had changed to red.
Letters slowly appeared across a dusty electronic display.
FILE OMEGA UNLOCKED
The vault door began opening on its own.
Cold air drifted from inside.
Shelves filled with sealed evidence boxes stretched deeper than their flashlights could illuminate.
At the very center stood a single black safe unlike anything else in the archive.
No keypad.
No handle.
Only three identical keyholes.
Margaret counted carefully.
"Three keys."
Arthur nodded.
"We have two."
Daniel slowly turned around.
"Then someone else has the third."
Footsteps echoed from the tunnel behind them.
Not one person.
Several.
Measured.
Confident.
Rebecca switched off her flashlight.
Everyone remained perfectly silent.
The footsteps stopped just outside the chamber.
A familiar female voice echoed through the darkness.
"You finally opened it."
Margaret recognized the voice immediately.
It belonged to Rebecca's mother.
The woman everyone believed had moved overseas nearly fifteen years earlier.
May you like
Arthur whispered only one sentence.
"She's been Custodian Number Three this entire time."
