Chapter 32 - The Door Beneath the Vault
The hidden door revealed a narrow maintenance passage.
Dr. Cole moved toward it, but one of the officers blocked his way. Cole pressed a button on the black cartridge.
The archive responded immediately.
Steel barriers descended between the cabinets, dividing House Zero into separate sections. Rachel, Tessa, Marcus and one officer were trapped beside the pressure vault. Olivia and Miriam disappeared behind another barrier.
Cole slipped through the maintenance door before it closed.
“Olivia!” Rachel shouted.
No answer came.
The floodwater reached Rachel’s knees.
Marcus pulled himself upright against the vault. He looked weak, but his attention remained fixed on the floor.
“Your father built an overflow system,” he said. “There should be a release beneath the central cabinet.”
“How do you know?”
“I read the instructions inside Victor’s safe.”
Tessa helped Marcus reach the cabinet. They found a circular plate marked with three symbols: a house, a wave and the number zero.
The brass key opened the first lock.
The silver token Olivia had carried was required for the second.
But Olivia was on the other side of the barrier.
Rachel searched the sealed package her father had left. Inside the torn lining, she found a thin metal disk.
Marcus stared at it.
“That’s not a disk. It’s a copy of Olivia’s token.”
Rachel inserted it.
The mechanism released.
Water rushed into the lower channels, and the emergency barriers rose several inches. Rachel dropped to the floor and called Olivia’s name through the gap.
Miriam answered.
“Olivia followed Cole.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Because he told her Evelyn is alive.”
Rachel froze.
Miriam’s voice became urgent.
“Cole knows where she has been hidden. Olivia believes he can take her there.”
The barrier lifted high enough for Rachel to crawl beneath it.
Miriam stood alone in the next section.
The maintenance passage was empty.
Olivia was gone.
On the wet floor lay her silver token and a folded piece of paper.
Rachel opened it.
May you like
The message contained only five words.
I HAVE TO CHOOSE HER.
