Chapter 7 - The Missing Ten Minutes
Elena reached the laptop first.
She disconnected the network cable and pulled the battery release, but the deletion continued from an internal backup system.
“Can you stop it?” Nathan asked.
“I can preserve fragments.”
The file directory vanished line by line.
Margaret examined the vault door.
“No interior handle.”
Nathan struck the steel once with his palm.
The sound disappeared into the thick walls.
“Someone knew we were coming.”
The unknown sender had directed them toward the vault while warning Nathan not to trust the first person who sent him there.
Now the only complete video made Charles appear responsible for the sabotage.
Too complete.
Too convenient.
Nathan replayed the final seconds before the file disappeared. Charles’s mouth moved with each word, but something in his expression felt wrong.
“Pause at four minutes twelve seconds.”
Elena froze the image.
Charles held his right hand beneath the desk.
His index finger was tapping against his leg.
Three taps. Pause. Two taps. Pause. Three taps.
Nathan leaned closer.
“What is it?” Margaret asked.
“A code he taught me when I was a child.”
“For what?”
“When we attended long meetings, he used to tap letters beneath the table.”
Nathan translated the pattern.
C.
Another sequence followed.
U.
Then T.
“Cut,” Elena said.
“He knew he was being recorded. He wanted someone to cut the video.”
She searched the surviving fragments.
“The displayed file was twelve minutes long, but the metadata shows the original recording lasted twenty-two minutes.”
“Ten minutes are missing.”
Elena recovered an audio trace from the deleted section.
Static filled the speakers.
Then Charles’s voice emerged.
“If they use this recording against Nathan, he must understand that Adrian is not the architect.”
Another voice answered, too faint to identify.
Charles continued.
“Adrian believes he will inherit control. He doesn’t know Orion will eliminate him the moment the transfer is complete.”
The audio broke apart.
Nathan heard one final sentence.
“The person directing Orion has been inside my family for years.”
The file vanished.
Elena looked at Nathan.
“Your father was not ordering Adrian to destroy you.”
“He was making Adrian believe he had permission.”
“Or he was performing for whoever controlled the room,” Margaret said.
A low mechanical hum came from the ceiling.
Ventilation fans stopped.
A red light appeared near the door.
Elena inspected the control panel.
“The air system has been sealed.”
“They’re not trying to kill us,” Nathan said. “They’re trying to scare us into surrendering the key or the folder.”
Margaret looked at him.
“How can you know that?”
“Because a sealed vault containing three bodies creates an investigation. Adrian needs the board vote to appear legal.”
Nathan raised his voice.
“You’re listening, aren’t you?”
No response came.
He placed the blue folder on the table where a security camera could see it.
“You want page seventeen? Open the door.”
A speaker clicked above them.
Adrian’s voice filled the room.
“You should have gone home, Nathan.”
Margaret glanced toward the camera.
“Are you recording this conversation, Mr. Shaw?”
Adrian ignored her.
“Nathan, leave the folder and the key on the table. The door will open.”
“You showed me the video of my father.”
“I tried to warn you. Charles never trusted you.”
“Yet he trusted you so much that he recorded your meeting without your knowledge.”
Silence.
Nathan continued.
“He also said Orion would eliminate you.”
The speaker crackled.
Adrian’s breathing changed.
“That’s a lie.”
“You’ve never seen the missing ten minutes, have you?”
Elena understood Nathan’s strategy.
She turned the laptop so the camera could see a blank editing screen.
“We recovered the complete recording,” she said.
Adrian said nothing.
Nathan stepped closer to the camera.
“Open the vault and I’ll show you what Charles said about the person behind Orion.”
The lock released.
Margaret raised an eyebrow.
Nathan whispered, “He’s more afraid of Orion than he is of us.”
The door opened three inches.
A man in a dark coat stood outside.
Elena slammed the steel door into him. Nathan seized his arm and pulled him forward while Margaret pressed the emergency release on the corridor wall.
A second man ran toward the stairs.
Elena photographed his face.
The first man tore free and followed.
Nathan did not chase them.
They had less than an hour before Vanessa arrived.
Elena checked the vault cabinets.
Most were empty.
One contained a single envelope addressed to Nathan.
Inside was a photograph taken at Nathan and Vanessa’s wedding.
Charles stood beside Adrian near the edge of the reception hall.
Someone had circled Vanessa in red ink.
May you like
On the back, Charles had written one sentence.
SHE DID NOT MEET YOU BY ACCIDENT.
