Chapter 6 - Victoria’s Bargain
Security alarms began as soon as the shot was fired.
Not school alarms.
A deeper siren pulsed through the underground corridors.
Sofia cut the lights.
Daniel swung his crutch into the masked intruder’s legs. The figure fell, fired again, and struck a pipe above them.
Steam filled the room.
Jasmine grabbed the damaged computer drive containing her father’s file.
They escaped through a second tunnel that opened behind the map wall.
The passage led to the abandoned railway two blocks from school.
By the time police arrived, the hidden room had been emptied.
Every computer was gone.
Every map had been burned.
The brick doorway beneath the library was sealed again.
Dr. Mercer denied knowing anything about an underground archive.
He also denied giving Jasmine the map.
Someone had taken the folded paper from her pocket while emergency workers examined her for smoke exposure.
Without the evidence, the police treated the incident as an attempted burglary followed by a weapons discharge.
No bullet was recovered.
No masked intruder appeared on any camera.
The damaged drive was Jasmine’s only proof.
Sofia worked on it through the night.
At six in the morning, she called Jasmine.
“Most of the data is corrupted.”
“Most?”
“There’s one audio file.”
Jasmine met her at the Reyes apartment.
Daniel lay on the couch with a new cast after worsening his fracture during the escape.
Sofia played the recording.
At first, there was only static.
Then Aaron Cole’s voice filled the room.
Jasmine had not heard him speak in seven years.
Her memories of his voice had become uncertain with time. Sometimes she remembered it as deep. Sometimes gentle. Sometimes she feared she had invented the sound completely.
But the moment the recording began, she knew.
“Crossroad test seventeen,” Aaron said. “The school route has been altered without county authorization.”
A second voice answered.
Female.
Young.
“We shouldn’t be here.”
Jasmine looked at Sofia.
The recording continued.
Aaron said, “Your mother knows the danger.”
The girl replied, “My mother created the danger.”
Jasmine recognized the voice.
Victoria.
Younger, but unmistakable.
The recording had been made seven years ago.
Victoria had been ten.
“What was she doing with my father?” Jasmine asked.
Daniel struggled upright.
“Ask her.”
Victoria contacted Jasmine before noon.
The message contained an address and a warning.
COME ALONE OR THE NEXT FILE DISAPPEARS.
Jasmine went to the old greenhouse behind the Hale estate.
She did not go alone.
Sofia remained in a van outside the property, listening through Jasmine’s phone. Daniel, unable to walk, protested until they threatened to lock him in his bedroom.
Victoria waited among rows of dead plants.
No navy outfit.
No perfect hair.
She wore jeans and an oversized coat. A bruise darkened her left shoulder.
“My mother thinks I’m at school,” she said.
“Were you with my father?”
Victoria looked toward the greenhouse door.
“He came to our house.”
“Why?”
“To speak to my mother. They argued. I followed them when they left.”
“Where did they go?”
“Westbridge.”
“To the underground room?”
Victoria nodded.
“You knew about Crossroad all this time.”
“I knew parts of it.”
“You framed me.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
“I uploaded the route.”
The admission was so direct that Jasmine almost missed its meaning.
“Why?”
“Because I was told to.”
“By your mother?”
Victoria did not answer.
“Twelve students could have died.”
“The route wasn’t supposed to lead you to the unstable trail.”
“But it did.”
“Someone changed my change.”
Jasmine laughed once.
“Do you hear yourself?”
“There were three maps. Yours, mine, and the one loaded onto the tablet after you crossed the bridge.”
“Why alter my map at all?”
Victoria walked to a cracked greenhouse window.
“My mother said a package had been hidden near the quarry. I was supposed to redirect the team close enough for someone to collect it during the confusion.”
“What package?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. I expect you to recognize this.”
Victoria removed a photograph from her coat.
It showed Aaron Cole standing beside Dr. Mercer and Celeste Hale in the underground archive.
A fourth person stood with his back to the camera.
On the table was a silver case.
Jasmine turned the photograph over.
Her father’s handwriting covered the back.
THE FIRST MAP IS FALSE.
THE SECOND MAP IS A TRAP.
THE THIRD MAP LEADS TO THE PERSON THEY TOOK.
Jasmine read it twice.
“Who did they take?”
Victoria’s voice became quiet.
“My sister.”
Jasmine looked up.
Everyone in Westbridge knew Victoria was Celeste Hale’s only child.
“That’s impossible.”
“My sister was erased from every record when I was ten.”
“Why?”
“Because she saw where they took your father.”
A car door slammed outside.
Victoria’s fear returned.
“She found us.”
“Your mother?”
Victoria grabbed Jasmine’s arm.
“You want to clear your name. I want to find my sister. We can help each other.”
The greenhouse door opened.
Celeste Hale entered with two men in dark suits.
Victoria immediately released Jasmine.
Her expression transformed.
She slapped Jasmine across the face.
Hard.
“What are you doing here?” Victoria shouted.
Jasmine stumbled, shocked.
Celeste approached.
Victoria pointed toward her as if she had discovered an intruder.
“She followed me home.”
Celeste studied both girls.
May you like
Then she smiled.
“Did she?”
