Chapter 17 - The Courthouse
The lasers vanished.
No shots followed.
Rook had made his point.
He was watching.
Adrian forced himself not to look toward the trees.
“Move.”
They reached the storm drain fifteen minutes later.
Mara went first.
Victor followed.
Emily crawled behind Adrian while Thomas brought up the rear.
The tunnel smelled of rust and standing water.
At the end, Victor lifted an old steel grate.
They emerged into darkness beneath the courthouse.
No alarms.
No voices.
Mara checked the time.
“Six minutes.”
Victor pointed down a corridor.
“Archive room is there.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Rook will have traps.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Then tell me where.”
Thomas did.
Pressure sensor under the east doorway.
Motion detector near the archive cage.
Backup trigger wired to the old fire suppression system.
Emily stared at him.
“You built all this?”
“I built safeguards.”
“You built a prison.”
Thomas had no answer.
A child cried somewhere ahead.
Adrian’s entire body tightened.
“Noah.”
He started forward.
Mara caught him.
“Slow.”
They turned the corner.
Noah sat behind a steel mesh partition.
Small.
Dark hair.
Sarah’s eyes.
Adrian forgot how to breathe.
The boy stared back.
“Are you the man from the phone?”
Adrian crouched.
“Yes.”
“Are you my dad?”
Emily covered her mouth.
Adrian nodded.
“Yes.”
Noah’s face crumpled.
“Why didn’t you come before?”
The question cut deeper than anything else that night.
“I didn’t know where you were.”
Noah looked down.
A slow clap came from the archive room.
Evan Rook stepped into view.
He was older than Adrian remembered from the fake technician identity, but the same calm arrogance remained.
“Beautiful,” Rook said. “Family truth always has better timing than explosives.”
Mara raised her gun.
Rook pressed a button.
A red light appeared over Noah’s cage.
“Shoot me and the boy dies.”
Mara lowered the weapon.
Rook smiled.
“Thomas. The card.”
Thomas held up his empty hands.
“Emily has it.”
Rook looked at her.
“Of course she does.”
Emily stepped forward.
“You let Noah go first.”
Rook laughed.
“You have your grandfather’s nerve.”
“I’d rather not.”
That made Victor smile despite himself.
Rook pointed toward a terminal.
“Insert the card.”
Emily did.
“Now place your thumb on the reader.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Emily.”
She looked at him.
Then at Noah.
“I know.”
Her thumb touched the pad.
The screen lit.
SUCCESSOR VERIFIED.
A vault door began to open.
Rook’s smile widened.
Then the terminal flashed red.
ACCESS DENIED.
He frowned.
Emily smiled.
“You forgot something.”
“What?”
She held up the real memory card.
The one in the terminal was blank.
Rook’s face changed.
For the first time all night, he looked afraid.
Then Thomas whispered, “Emily… run.”
May you like
Because behind Rook, the archive door was opening anyway.
