Chapter 15 - The Third Passage
Eleanor descended the stone steps carefully.
Samuel followed with two flashlights, a medical bag, and Thomas’s journals sealed inside a waterproof case.
The hidden chamber looked exactly as they had left it, but the steel door was now open.
Cold air moved through the passage beyond.
Samuel hesitated.
“This could be what Adrian wants.”
“It probably is,” Eleanor replied.
“Then why are we continuing?”
“Because Thomas spent twenty-eight years waiting for someone to finish what he started.”
They entered.
The passage narrowed until they had to walk single file. Rusted pipes crossed overhead. Old railway symbols appeared on the walls, some painted recently.
After several minutes, they reached a three-way junction.
The first tunnel was marked WAREHOUSE.
The second was marked VAULT.
The third had no label.
Eleanor opened Thomas’s journal.
One sentence had been underlined repeatedly.
The third road has no name because the Circle fears where it leads.
She pointed toward the unmarked tunnel.
“This way.”
The floor sloped downward.
Soon they heard water moving beneath metal grates. The air smelled of oil and damp stone.
Samuel suddenly stopped.
“Someone’s following us.”
A faint scrape echoed behind them.
They turned.
Nothing.
They continued.
At the end of the passage stood a narrow door with two locks.
Eleanor’s iron key opened the first.
The second required a combination.
Samuel searched the surrounding wall.
Four numbers had been scratched into the stone.
1912.
“The year Rose’s Kitchen was built?” he asked.
“No. The building wasn’t that old.”
Eleanor remembered the old newspaper photograph she had kept beside her bed.
In the corner of the image was a clock.
Its hands pointed to seven and four.
She entered 0740.
The lock clicked.
Beyond the door was a long chamber filled with machinery.
Old generators.
Signal equipment.
And dozens of modern computer servers.
“This is how Adrian controls the cameras, locks, and power,” Samuel said.
One monitor showed Daniel inside the police station.
Another showed reporters outside Bellarose.
A third showed Melissa sitting inside the black car.
She was alive.
Her hands were tied.
Eleanor moved closer.
A man entered the screen.
Adrian Vale.
He spoke directly to the camera.
“I knew you would choose the third passage.”
Eleanor looked around.
A red light above the door began flashing.
Adrian smiled.
“Thomas made the same choice.”
The door slammed shut behind them.
Then another monitor activated.
It showed a stone room containing an elderly man with white hair.
Thomas Hayes lifted his head.
For the first time, Eleanor saw his face clearly.
He was alive.
May you like
But beside him stood Victor Kane, holding a gun.
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