Chapter 8 - THE ARCHIVE BEGINS TO BURN
Vincent drove Victor into the metal table.
The two men crashed against it.
Victor hit him across the face.
Vincent barely felt it.
Fourteen years of grief had become physical.
He struck Victor once.
Then again.
Victor fell backward.
Marcus reached Harold first.
He forced the attorney to the floor.
“Hands behind your head!”
Harold obeyed.
Evelyn moved toward the surveillance console.
Gabriel shouted.
“Stop her!”
Too late.
Evelyn pressed a red switch.
Steel shutters dropped across the archive cabinets.
Then a warning light began flashing.
Lydia shouted.
“What did you do?”
Evelyn stepped back.
“What your father designed this room to do.”
Smoke appeared beneath the nearest cabinet.
Marcus swore.
“Incineration system.”
Vincent turned.
“You’re burning the evidence?”
Evelyn stared at him.
“I’m ending this.”
Gabriel fought against the ropes.
“The ventilation will seal.”
“We’ll suffocate.”
Vincent ran toward Sophie and Hannah.
Marcus cut Hannah free.
Sophie threw herself into her mother’s arms.
Hannah held her so tightly Sophie’s feet nearly left the floor.
Vincent cut Gabriel’s restraints.
His brother tried to stand.
His legs failed.
Vincent caught him.
Gabriel gripped his arm.
“You got older.”
Vincent almost laughed.
“So did you.”
“Rude.”
The absurdity lasted half a second.
Then another alarm sounded.
FIRE SUPPRESSION FAILURE.
TEMPERATURE RISING.
Victor crawled toward the metal strip Sophie had thrown.
Sophie saw him.
“There!”
Marcus turned.
Victor grabbed the strip.
He ran toward the sealed exit.
“Darren!”
he shouted.
The steel door opened.
Victor slipped through.
Darren tried to close it.
Marcus fired.
Darren ducked.
Vincent pushed Gabriel toward Lydia.
“Take him.”
He ran.
The door narrowed.
Vincent jammed his shoulder through.
Darren struck him.
Vincent fell into the corridor.
The door slammed behind him.
He was now alone with Victor and Darren.
Victor disappeared around the corner.
Darren charged.
Vincent dodged.
The two men collided against the brick wall.
Darren was younger.
Stronger.
Trained.
Vincent was furious.
Sometimes that closed the gap.
Darren swung.
Vincent blocked badly.
Pain exploded through his wrist.
He drove his knee into Darren’s stomach.
Darren stumbled.
Vincent grabbed the black ring hand and slammed it against the wall.
The ring came loose.
It struck the floor.
Darren looked at it.
That hesitation cost him.
Vincent shoved him down the stairs.
Darren crashed against the lower landing.
Vincent picked up the ring.
Inside the band was engraved a symbol.
A small lighthouse.
Daniel’s symbol.
Vincent frowned.
Why would Darren wear something connected to Daniel?
Then Darren laughed from the floor.
“You still don’t understand.”
Vincent pointed Darren’s dropped weapon toward him.
“Then explain.”
“The Carters weren’t random.”
“What?”
“Daniel’s father worked for Gabriel.”
Vincent froze.
Darren smiled through blood on his lip.
“Ask your brother who helped him copy the first archive.”
Vincent’s phone buzzed.
Marcus.
“Vincent, where are you?”
“Corridor outside archive.”
“You have less than three minutes before oxygen suppression activates.”
“Can you open the door?”
“Trying.”
Vincent looked down the hall.
Victor was gone.
He could chase him.
Or go back.
Gabriel.
Sophie.
Hannah.
He chose.
“Open it.”
Darren laughed again.
“Victor has the key.”
Vincent looked at him.
“What does it unlock?”
“The only copy that matters.”
“Where?”
Darren shook his head.
“Not telling you.”
Vincent crouched.
“You kidnapped a child.”
“You kidnapped her mother.”
“You helped keep my brother imprisoned.”
“Police are entering the building.”
“You are not walking away.”
Darren smiled.
“Neither are you.”
The lights went red.
OXYGEN PURGE IN SIXTY SECONDS.
Vincent hit the steel door.
“MARCUS!”
Nothing.
He searched the wall.
Biometric panel.
He pressed his thumb.
Red.
ACCESS REVOKED.
Vincent understood.
Evelyn had removed Hale biometric permissions.
Then he looked at the ring.
Lighthouse engraving.
Daniel.
A scanner.
Vincent placed the black ring against the panel.
Green.
The door opened.
Marcus stood on the other side.
“How did you—”
“No time.”
They dragged Darren into the archive.
Hannah had freed Gabriel completely.
Lydia found a manual service hatch near the wine storage section.
Smoke thickened.
Cabinets burned behind sealed shutters.
Harold coughed on the floor.
Evelyn stood by the console as if she intended to die with the secrets.
Vincent grabbed her arm.
“Move.”
She pulled away.
“Let it end.”
“No.”
“Vincent.”
“All those people.”
“Everything your father did.”
“Everything Victor did.”
“Let it burn.”
Vincent stared at her.
“That is not ending it.”
“That’s hiding it.”
He lifted her despite her protest.
Marcus opened the service hatch.
They crawled one by one into a narrow maintenance tunnel.
Lydia first.
Hannah.
Sophie.
Gabriel.
Harold under Marcus’s control.
Darren barely conscious.
Vincent forced Evelyn through last.
The archive ventilation system activated behind them.
A tremendous vacuum roar shook the walls.
They crawled through darkness.
Sophie’s voice came from ahead.
“Mom?”
“I’m here.”
“Vincent?”
“I’m right behind Gabriel.”
A pause.
Then Gabriel said, “That’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear again.”
Vincent smiled despite himself.
The tunnel sloped upward.
They emerged into an old storage room beneath the main lobby.
Police officers flooded in through another entrance.
Weapons raised.
“Hands!”
“Show your hands!”
Marcus identified himself.
Vincent stood slowly.
Sophie remained with Hannah.
Gabriel sat against the wall.
An officer stared at his face.
Everyone had seen old photographs of Gabriel Hale.
The supposed dead heir.
Sirens filled the building.
Firefighters rushed downstairs.
Paramedics entered.
For a moment, Vincent thought they had survived the worst.
Then Marcus checked his pocket.
His face changed.
“What?”
Vincent asked.
“The memory card.”
“It’s gone.”
Vincent looked around.
Harold.
Darren.
Evelyn.
Lydia.
Gabriel.
Hannah.
Sophie.
Marcus searched again.
Nothing.
Then Sophie touched Vincent’s hand.
“Victor didn’t take it.”
Vincent looked down.
“How do you know?”
“I did.”
She reached into her sock.
The tiny memory card sat between her fingers.
Marcus stared.
“When?”
“When everyone was fighting.”
Vincent almost smiled.
Daniel Carter had raised a dangerous little girl.
Sophie handed him the card.
“But Mr. Shaw still has the metal numbers.”
Gabriel looked up sharply.
“What numbers?”
Sophie repeated them.
“17.”
“04.”
“89.”
“31.”
“11.”
Gabriel’s face lost color.
Vincent noticed.
“What?”
Gabriel whispered.
“That isn’t an encryption key.”
“Then what is it?”
Gabriel looked toward the ceiling.
“Coordinates.”
Vincent frowned.
“For where?”
Gabriel met his eyes.
“Our father’s private estate.”
“Hale Ridge.”
Vincent stared.
The place had been empty for six years.
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
May you like
“Not the house.”
“The graveyard.”
