Chapter 14 - The Principal’s Last Lie
Daniel moved in front of Sofia.
Dr. Mercer aimed the pistol at his chest.
“I said step away.”
Jasmine stared at the man who had helped reveal the map, guided her to the archive, and taken a bullet outside the café.
“Whose side are you on?”
Dr. Mercer’s injured arm trembled inside the sling.
“The side that keeps Crossroad from reopening.”
“You knew Sofia was Evelyn.”
“I suspected it.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because Evelyn’s identity is the final authorization key.”
Victoria stood.
“My mother said Jasmine was the key.”
“Jasmine opens the routes,” Dr. Mercer said. “Evelyn activates the network.”
Sofia shook her head.
“I don’t know how.”
“You do not need to know consciously. The protocols were conditioned into you as a child.”
Victoria’s face twisted.
“You let them experiment on her?”
“I tried to stop it.”
“You helped erase her!”
“I helped her escape.”
Dr. Mercer’s voice cracked.
He looked toward Sofia.
“Your adoptive mother worked at St. Augustine’s Hospital. Aaron brought you there. Elena created your new identity. I altered the school records.”
Daniel looked sick.
“Our mother knew?”
“She agreed to protect Evelyn.”
“Why tell me she was adopted?”
“Because a child asking questions draws attention.”
Jasmine stepped closer to Dr. Mercer.
“Put the gun down.”
“I cannot.”
“You said you wouldn’t fail my father again.”
“Aaron asked me to destroy the final route.”
“Then why preserve the archive?”
“To find the two keys.”
Jasmine understood.
“You used us.”
“I guided you.”
“To the same place.”
Dr. Mercer’s expression became almost peaceful.
“Crossroad cannot survive if the route keeper and the network key die together.”
Daniel lunged.
Dr. Mercer fired.
The bullet struck a metal cabinet.
Sofia pulled Daniel down.
Victoria threw Evelyn’s whistle at the principal’s face. He flinched. Jasmine knocked the pistol from his hand.
It slid beneath the central table.
The archive doors sealed.
A countdown appeared on the wall.
FINAL NETWORK PURGE.
Five minutes.
Dr. Mercer laughed breathlessly.
“You cannot stop it.”
Sofia reached the control terminal.
“The purge isn’t deleting files. It’s overloading the tunnel power grid.”
“The entire network will collapse,” Dr. Mercer said.
“With us inside,” Daniel replied.
“With everyone inside.”
Jasmine grabbed Dr. Mercer’s coat.
“My mother is somewhere in these tunnels.”
“So is the man pretending to be your father.”
“Cancel it.”
“I cannot.”
“Who can?”
He looked toward Sofia.
Sofia placed her hands on the terminal.
The screen requested an identity phrase.
“I don’t remember it.”
Victoria stood beside her.
“When we were children, we had a game. Mother made us repeat directions.”
“Which directions?”
Victoria’s tears fell onto the keyboard.
“When the first road closes…”
Sofia’s lips moved.
A memory returned.
“The second road lies.”
Victoria nodded.
“And when the second road lies…”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“The third road remembers.”
The terminal accepted the phrase.
Purge paused.
A new request appeared.
ROUTE KEEPER AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Jasmine placed the compass against the terminal.
The screen displayed two choices.
DESTROY NETWORK.
RESTORE NETWORK.
Destroying it would collapse every hidden tunnel and erase all records.
Restoring it might expose years of crimes.
It might also return the system to whoever controlled it.
Dr. Mercer reached for the pistol beneath the table.
Daniel saw him and brought one crutch down on his hand.
Bones cracked.
Dr. Mercer screamed.
The countdown resumed.
Thirty seconds.
Jasmine selected RESTORE.
Victoria stared at her.
“What are you doing?”
“Destroying the network would destroy the evidence.”
“It could give my mother control.”
“Then we take control first.”
Jasmine pressed the compass against the authorization point.
Sofia entered the identity phrase.
The mechanical bells rang throughout the tunnel.
Every screen activated.
Crossroad files uploaded simultaneously to county investigators, federal archives, news organizations, and independent servers Sofia had prepared.
Names appeared.
Routes.
Payments.
Missing persons.
Celeste Hale’s authorization records.
Victoria’s forced participation.
Jasmine’s original map.
Proof of the altered route.
Proof of Crossroad.
Above them, police entered the school.
Board members were detained.
Celeste attempted to escape through the hallway elevator but found it locked.
The accusation against Jasmine collapsed publicly within minutes.
Her suspension was revoked.
Mr. Park was reinstated.
Daniel’s testimony was verified.
Victoria was taken into protective custody rather than arrested immediately, pending an investigation into years of coercion.
The first battle was over.
Then the terminal displayed one final recovered message.
It had been scheduled seven years earlier by Aaron Cole.
Jasmine opened it.
May you like
The screen showed only six words.
ELENA KNOWS WHO REPLACED ME.
