Chapter 7 - Room 1706
Mira drove her car directly through the station barrier.
The maintenance worker jumped aside as metal struck concrete.
Evelyn and Rosa ran toward the passenger door.
“Get in!” Mira shouted.
They escaped before the man could reach them.
Mira drove through side streets, changed vehicles at her office and took them to a small apartment registered under her sister’s name.
Only after every curtain had been closed did Evelyn turn to Rosa.
“What did you hide?”
Rosa removed her wet coat.
“Not here.”
“No more waiting.”
“Evelyn.”
“My husband may be planning to trap me on a weakened roof. A stranger just chased us for evidence. Tell me what you hid.”
Rosa sat at the kitchen table.
“After Nathan called me from the tower, I went there.”
“You said you drove him there.”
“I did. Then he called two hours later and told me to return.”
“What did you see?”
“The building was still under construction. Most of the upper floors were empty. When I reached the roof, your father was arguing with Celeste and William Hart.”
“Daniel’s father?”
“Yes.”
“Adrian was there too?”
“He guarded the rescue door.”
Rosa’s voice became unsteady.
“Nathan had discovered that money was being moved through false construction companies. Northbridge was one of them. The funds were not only stolen. They financed private surveillance systems, hidden accounts and payments to officials.”
“What did my father do?”
“He recorded them.”
Rosa looked down at her hands.
“He wore a small recorder beneath his coat. Celeste saw the wire when she pulled at his jacket. William ordered Adrian to lock the roof exit.”
Evelyn remembered Rosa’s warning during the climax that had not happened yet.
“He locked my father outside?”
“For several minutes. Nathan was not standing on the glass. He was near a maintenance platform. I found another stairway and opened the door from the opposite side.”
“Then he escaped.”
“Yes.”
“But he died that night.”
Rosa shook her head.
“I do not know what happened after we left the tower. He gave me the recorder and told me to take you to a safe place. I drove to your home, but your nanny said Celeste had already taken you.”
“Celeste took me?”
“She claimed your father had been injured and you needed protection.”
Evelyn struggled to breathe steadily.
“Where is the recorder?”
“I hid it inside the tower.”
“In Room 1706.”
“In the room behind the room.”
They returned to Hart Meridian shortly before dawn.
Mira had created temporary contractor badges, while Rosa knew a service entrance not covered by the public security system.
The brass key opened the archive again.
Rosa moved directly to Nathan’s drafting table.
Beneath its wooden surface was a metal plate containing four rotating numbers.
She entered 1706.
The floor shifted.
A narrow staircase appeared beneath the table.
The room below was smaller and colder. Old computer servers lined one wall. A steel cabinet stood in the center.
Rosa opened it with the brass key.
Inside was a cassette recorder wrapped in cloth.
Evelyn pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then her father’s voice emerged.
“My name is Nathan Vale. This recording concerns Hart Meridian Project Aegis and the financial network called Northbridge.”
A woman shouted in the background.
Celeste.
“You have no idea what you are interfering with.”
Nathan answered.
“I know exactly what it is.”
William Hart’s voice followed.
“Give me the recorder.”
“If anything happens to me, my daughter inherits the evidence system and the controlling shares.”
Celeste laughed.
“She is eight years old.”
“She will not always be.”
A metallic lock turned in the recording.
Adrian’s younger voice said, “The rescue door is secured.”
Nathan spoke again.
“Then every person in this building will know who locked it.”
The recording stopped.
Evelyn pressed the button again, but the tape had reached its end.
“There should be more,” Rosa said.
A red light appeared on one of the old servers.
A screen activated.
Words formed across it.
AEGIS RECOGNITION COMPLETE.
NATHAN VALE HEIR CONFIRMED.
PROTECTED RECORDING AVAILABLE AFTER ROOF EMERGENCY ACTIVATION.
Evelyn stared at the message.
“The full evidence will only unlock if there is another emergency.”
Mira read the next line.
“Not just any emergency.”
The screen displayed the condition.
EXECUTIVE INTERFERENCE WITH RESCUE DOOR REQUIRED.
Rosa looked at Evelyn.
“Your father expected them to do it again.”
The hidden door above them opened.
May you like
Daniel’s voice entered the archive.
“Evelyn, I know you are down there.”
