Chapter 4: The Trap

“Let her go,” one agent ordered.

Crane’s hand moved beneath his jacket.

Margaret stepped forward.

“Martin, think carefully.”

Crane pulled Elena in front of him and drew his weapon.

The agents raised theirs.

Elena felt the barrel press against her ribs.

Julian emerged from the storage room, holding his injured arm.

“She gave us the drive,” he said.

Margaret looked at Elena.

Elena gave the smallest shake of her head.

The drive beneath the shelf was fake.

The real one was still hidden under the napkin on the silver tray upstairs.

“Put the gun down,” an agent said.

Julian laughed bitterly.

“You have no idea who you’re threatening.”

The second agent removed his phone.

“Actually, Mr. Apex, we’ve been investigating your family for eighteen months.”

Julian’s confidence slipped.

Margaret looked at Elena.

“I contacted them after Thomas died. I didn’t have enough evidence to move against Victor. Not until tonight.”

Crane tightened his hold.

“You used the girl as bait.”

“No,” Margaret replied. “Elena came here before I could stop her.”

Julian looked toward Crane.

“Get us out.”

The fire alarm suddenly began ringing.

Red lights flashed along the basement walls.

Crane glanced upward.

A calm automated voice announced an evacuation.

“What did you do?” Julian demanded.

Margaret smiled faintly.

“Victor ordered the alarms disabled for the gala. Someone just overrode his private system.”

Elena understood.

Her father had once taught her never to build a plan around a single escape route.

Before entering the ballroom, she had scheduled an encrypted message to a former Apex technician named Noah Grant.

If she failed to cancel it by nine o’clock, he would take control of the tower’s emergency systems.

The ballroom was now being evacuated.

Hundreds of witnesses were moving toward the exits.

The Apex family could no longer bury what happened inside.

Crane dragged Elena toward the stairwell.

One agent fired.

The bullet struck the wall inches from Crane’s shoulder.

Elena drove her heel backward into his knee.

He grunted and loosened his grip.

She dropped.

Another shot rang out.

Crane collapsed, wounded in the leg.

Julian ran.

The agents chased him into the stairwell.

Margaret hurried to Elena.

“Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine.”

“My mother’s recording. We have to get it upstairs.”

Margaret gathered the scattered documents.

Elena picked up the briefcase.

They entered the elevator together.

“Why didn’t you tell me who my mother was?” Elena asked.

Margaret stared at the doors.

“Thomas begged me not to. He believed Victor would leave you alone if you never claimed the Apex name.”

“He was wrong.”

“Yes.”

The elevator began rising.

“Margaret, what happened to my mother?”

Margaret’s eyes closed briefly.

“Victor arranged a gas leak at her house. He thought Thomas and you would be there too.”

Elena felt sick.

“I survived because my father took me to the movies.”

“Thomas spent the rest of his life protecting you.”

The elevator reached the ballroom.

The doors opened.

Guests crowded the exits in confusion.

Victor stood on the stage demanding that everyone remain calm.

Then he saw Elena and Margaret emerge from the elevator with the briefcase.

His face drained of color.

Margaret looked at Elena.

“End it.”

Elena reached beneath the napkin on the abandoned silver tray near the wall.

The real flash drive was still there.

She turned toward the control booth.

But Julian stepped from behind a marble column.

Blood stained his sleeve.

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He pointed his pistol directly at her.

“Take one more step,” he shouted, “and everyone in this ballroom watches you die.”