Chapter 45 - The Final Vault
A loud mechanical rumble echoed beneath the archive.
Dust drifted from the ceiling.
One wall slowly split apart, revealing a massive circular steel vault door unlike anything the rescue team had seen before.
Ancient locking wheels began turning automatically.
Henry's face turned white.
"It actually exists..."
Nathan smiled proudly.
"Of course."
"The archive was only the entrance."
The rescue team leader stared at the enormous vault.
"What's inside?"
Nathan looked directly at Elias.
"The real Shoreline."
"The files you've found..."
"...are copies."
"The notebook..."
"...was only bait."
"The photographs..."
"...were distractions."
He slowly raised one hand toward the opening vault.
"The truth has been waiting behind that door for thirty years."
As the final locking mechanism released with a deafening metallic boom, cold air poured from the darkness beyond.
Rows of lights deep inside the hidden chamber flickered on automatically.
No one had entered that room for decades.
Yet somehow...
The electricity was still running.
Elias took one careful step toward the opening.
Before he could see what lay inside, a familiar voice echoed from the darkness.
"Captain..."
"...you're finally right on time."
The voice did not belong to Nathan Cross.
May you like
It sounded exactly like Jacob Mercer.
Every person in the archive froze where they stood.
