Chapter 28 - Gabriel Refused to Become the Man the First House DesignedThe containment door could shield the archive chamber from the explosion.
Someone had to remain at the manual control until it sealed.
Gabriel stepped toward it.
Lily blocked his path.
“No.”
“This is what I am trained to do.”
“That does not make it your purpose.”
The countdown reached twenty seconds.
Beatrice examined the mechanism.
“The lever can be held with the cane.”
Bernadette smiled. “The release pressure will break it.”
Samuel’s cane blade had been built from reinforced steel. Bernadette’s silver cane was decorative.
But Ansel’s belt contained the silver key from the wooden box.
Beatrice inserted it into a maintenance lock beneath the panel.
A second control opened.
REMOTE SEAL AVAILABLE.
Tomas’s voice came through the relay. “I can access it, but someone must keep the circuit active for ten seconds.”
Mara shot the damaged junction box, welding two contacts together.
The chamber filled with sparks.
“Tomas, now!”
The door began descending.
They carried Lucy, Lillian, and Beatrice through.
Bernadette refused to move.
“This house belongs to me.”
Elena looked back at the woman who had stolen her childhood.
“No. It is only the place where you hid from what you did.”
Elena crossed the threshold.
Gabriel followed last.
The door sealed.
The explosion threw everyone against the corridor walls.
Dust filled the tunnel.
For several seconds, there was no sound.
Then Lillian began crying.
Not the controlled, silent tears Bernadette had taught her.
Loud, frightened, living sobs.
Lily held her.
Behind the containment door, the archive chamber remained intact.
Bernadette had remained inside.
No movement appeared on the scanner.
Ansel was also presumed dead.
Beatrice looked at Gabriel.
“You were supposed to sacrifice yourself.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Gabriel glanced at Lily, Elena, Lucy, and Lillian.
“Because a command is not a destiny.”
Above them, the sanatorium began collapsing.
The group escaped through the passage beneath the grave markers.
As they reached the woods, emergency vehicles appeared along the road.
Mara had alerted federal teams before entering Ashcombe.
The First House burned behind them.
Then Tomas spoke through the radio.
“The archive upload stopped at ninety-seven percent.”
“Is that enough?” Lily asked.
Tomas hesitated.
“It contains nearly everything.”
“Nearly?”
“The final directory was removed before transmission.”
“What directory?”
May you like
Tomas read the title.
ACTIVE CARTER CHILDREN.
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