Chapter 8 - Two Minutes and Seventeen Seconds
The smoke smelled bitter and metallic.
Mara covered Caleb’s mouth with a cloth and pushed him toward the floor.
“Stay low.”
Silas searched the shelves for another exit.
Garrett remained outside the hidden wall.
“You should have stayed gone,” he called.
Silas struck the door.
“What did your father do to Elias?”
“My father followed orders.”
“Whose orders?”
Garrett did not answer.
The timer reached 01:52.
Roy coughed violently.
Mara examined the ceiling vent.
“This is not fire smoke.”
“Gas,” Silas said.
Caleb remembered his mother’s hospital room.
During her final week, she had become confused after certain medications. She had warned him repeatedly about a sweet smell coming through the vents, though he had smelled nothing.
“What kind of gas?” he asked.
Mara’s eyes watered.
“Something designed to knock us out.”
“Then Garrett wants the ledger, not our bodies.”
“Maybe both.”
Caleb opened the backpack.
The ledger fit tightly beside the cassette tapes.
His hand touched the laminated card.
The number 0217 had activated the hidden door.
It was also the countdown length.
He examined the scratched rooster symbol.
Below the numbers was another mark he had overlooked.
A small arrow pointed left.
Caleb looked toward the left wall.
Metal filing cabinets covered it.
He crawled to the nearest cabinet and pulled it open.
Empty.
The next was locked.
The third contained hanging folders.
He pushed them aside and saw a circular indentation at the back.
“Silas.”
Silas crawled over.
Caleb pressed the laminated card into the indentation.
It fit exactly.
A hidden latch released.
The entire filing cabinet shifted outward.
Behind it was a narrow emergency shaft.
Fresh air moved through the opening.
“Go,” Mara ordered.
Roy entered first, coughing. Caleb followed, dragging the backpack. Silas and Mara came behind.
The shaft climbed steeply through the foundation and ended beneath a metal hatch.
Roy pushed upward.
The hatch opened into the diner’s pantry.
They emerged behind stacked boxes.
The timer continued sounding faintly below.
00:41.
Garrett had not realized they escaped.
Silas motioned toward the kitchen.
They moved quietly.
Through the service window, Caleb could see Garrett standing near booth six. A portable gas cylinder rested beside him. A handgun was tucked into his apron.
He watched the countdown on a tablet.
00:25.
Silas entered the dining room.
“Looking for us?”
Garrett spun.
Mara drew her weapon.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Garrett raised one hand.
The other remained near the tablet.
“You don’t understand what you found.”
“Then explain it,” Silas said.
“If that ledger leaves this diner, people will die.”
“People are already dead.”
“More.”
The timer reached zero.
A muffled ignition sounded beneath the floor.
Garrett’s face changed.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Flames burst from the basement stairwell.
The gas had not been intended only to knock them unconscious. The final mechanism ignited the room, destroying evidence and anyone trapped inside.
Smoke rolled into the diner.
Mara moved toward Garrett.
He threw the tablet through the broken front window and drew his gun.
Silas shoved Caleb behind the counter.
Garrett fired.
The bullet struck a coffee machine.
Steam exploded across the counter.
Mara fired once, hitting Garrett in the shoulder.
He fell but remained conscious.
Outside, motorcycle engines roared.
Steel Harbor Riders surrounded the building as flames spread beneath the floor.
Ben entered carrying a fire extinguisher.
“Everyone out!”
Roy and Mary’s old kitchen equipment blocked the rear corridor. Smoke thickened rapidly.
Silas pulled Garrett upright.
“You’re coming with us.”
Garrett laughed through clenched teeth.
“They’ll kill me before I talk.”
“Who?”
Garrett looked toward Caleb.
“The woman who created him.”
Caleb stopped.
“My mother?”
Garrett shook his head.
“Anna didn’t create his identity.”
“Then who did?”
The ceiling above booth six collapsed.
Flames shot upward.
Silas dragged Garrett toward the front door.
A burning beam fell between them and the exit.
Mara kicked open the side service door.
They spilled into the parking lot as the diner windows glowed orange.
Fire crews had already been called by the riders. Sirens approached from town.
Garrett lay on the gravel, blood spreading across his white shirt.
Caleb stood over him.
“Who created me?”
Garrett looked at the boy’s face.
For the first time, his hostility faded.
“You really don’t know.”
“No.”
Garrett coughed.
“Your mother made a deal. Elias found out. That’s why he came back here.”
“What deal?”
Garrett closed his eyes.
Silas grabbed his collar.
“Stay awake.”
Garrett opened them again.
“The woman who runs Lantern promised Anna that the child would live.”
Caleb’s heart pounded.
“What woman?”
Garrett’s lips moved.
Before he could speak, a shot cracked from the darkness.
Garrett’s head snapped sideways.
Silas threw Caleb to the ground.
Riders took cover behind motorcycles.
Mara scanned the motel roof, the highway, and the fields.
A second shot struck Garrett’s chest.
Silas dragged him behind an engine block, but it was too late.
Garrett exhaled once.
Then stopped.
The shooter escaped without being seen.
Sheriff Hollis arrived six minutes later.
He stepped from his patrol car and stared at Garrett’s body, the burning diner, and Silas holding a bloodstained backpack.
Hollis raised his weapon.
“Drop the bag.”
Silas did not move.
Deputies spread across the parking lot.
Mara stood beside Caleb.
“The real shooter is still out there,” she said.
Hollis looked at Garrett.
“Garrett was shot with Mara’s weapon.”
“No,” Mara replied. “I hit his shoulder. The fatal shots came from a rifle.”
Hollis ignored her.
He looked at Caleb.
“Come here, son.”
Caleb moved behind Silas.
Hollis’s expression hardened.
“Silas Rourke, you are under arrest for arson, kidnapping, destruction of evidence, and the murder of Garrett Mercer.”
Motorcycles began moving into a circle.
Dozens of riders positioned themselves between the deputies and Caleb.
Hollis raised his voice.
“Anyone interfering will be arrested.”
Silas handed the backpack to Mara.
“No violence.”
“Silas,” she warned.
“No violence.”
He stepped forward and placed his hands behind his back.
Hollis cuffed him.
As Silas was led toward the patrol car, Caleb saw the sheriff glance at the backpack.
Not with curiosity.
With recognition.
Then Hollis whispered something into Silas’s ear.
May you like
Caleb could not hear it.
But Silas’s face went completely white.
