Chapter 10 - The Diner Trap
Rain hammered the diner windows.
Nicole stopped across the street at 9:48.
Evelyn sat beside her in the vehicle.
“You were told to come alone,” Evelyn said.
“I did.”
“You have four investigators on rooftops.”
“They aren’t coming inside.”
“And me?”
“You are staying in the car.”
Evelyn opened the door.
Nicole locked it electronically.
Her mother stared at her.
“Child locks?”
“I learned from the best.”
Nicole stepped into the rain carrying Daniel’s ledger.
The diner appeared closed. Chairs rested upside down on tables. Only the neon sign above the entrance remained lit.
She entered.
Caleb sat in the center of the room with his wrists tied.
Travis stood behind him, holding a pistol.
Chief Harper occupied a booth near the kitchen.
Victor Kane sat at the counter, drinking coffee.
No sign of Wexler or Nathaniel.
Nicole placed the ledger on a table.
“Let him go.”
Victor stirred his coffee.
“You know negotiations do not begin with the demand.”
“They do when one side has already lost.”
Travis pressed the pistol against Caleb’s head.
“Does this look like losing?”
Nicole looked at Caleb.
His left hand was clenched.
She had taught him a simple signal at the library.
One finger meant one captor.
Two meant two exits.
A clenched fist meant explosive.
She scanned the room.
A thin wire ran beneath Caleb’s chair.
Victor noticed her eyes moving.
“The building is prepared,” he said. “If your soldiers approach, we all die.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because my role is finished.”
Travis looked at his father.
“What does that mean?”
Victor ignored him.
Nicole said, “You’re expendable.”
“For once, Colonel, we agree.”
Travis’s confidence faltered.
“Dad?”
Victor sipped his coffee.
“Nathaniel promised our family protection.”
“Where is he?”
“Beyond your reach.”
“And Daniel?”
“Almost beyond it.”
Nicole checked the clock.
Hale should be approaching Junction Four.
She needed to keep them talking.
“You staged the diner assault to bring me home.”
Victor nodded.
“Evelyn would never call for help unless someone else was endangered. Travis threatened the waitress. Your mother interfered exactly as predicted.”
Travis frowned. “You told me to scare her.”
“I told you to create a public confrontation.”
“You knew she’d get hurt.”
Victor looked at his son without affection.
“You have never understood the difference between usefulness and importance.”
Travis’s face hardened.
Chief Harper watched silently.
Nicole addressed him.
“Your wife discovered the tunnels, didn’t she?”
Harper’s jaw tightened.
Nicole continued.
“She didn’t leave Bellhaven. She found evidence. You chose the network over her.”
“Stop.”
“Did you kill her?”
“I said stop.”
Victor smiled into his coffee.
Nicole saw it.
Harper did too.
“You told me she was relocated,” he said to Victor.
“She was.”
“Where?”
Victor did not answer.
Harper stood.
“Where is my wife?”
Travis moved his pistol from Caleb toward Harper.
“Sit down.”
Harper looked at him.
“You knew?”
“Everybody knew she asked too many questions.”
Harper lunged.
The pistol fired.
The bullet struck the ceiling.
Caleb threw himself sideways.
The wire beneath his chair pulled free.
Nicole crossed the distance before Travis recovered. She struck his forearm, seized the gun, and pushed Caleb behind a table.
Harper tackled Victor against the counter.
The coffee cup shattered.
“You said she was alive!”
Victor drove his cane into Harper’s ribs.
The front door opened.
Evelyn stepped inside carrying Daniel’s revolver.
“I disabled the child lock,” she said.
Nicole stared at her.
“How?”
“Your father taught me.”
A red light began blinking beneath the counter.
Caleb shouted, “The bomb!”
Victor stopped fighting.
For the first time, fear crossed his face.
“I didn’t activate it.”
A voice came through the diner speakers.
General Wexler.
“No,” he said. “I did.”
The doors locked.
Steel shutters dropped over the windows.
The countdown appeared on the television above the counter.
Three minutes.
Victor looked toward the camera.
“We had an agreement.”
Wexler replied, “Your family’s service is appreciated.”
Travis turned pale.
“Dad, do something.”
Victor struck the steel shutter with his cane.
Harper searched the kitchen exit.
“Locked.”
Nicole examined the explosive wire.
“Caleb, where is the device?”
“Under the floor.”
“How do you know?”
“I heard them drilling.”
Nicole looked at the old black-and-white tiles.
Fresh grout surrounded one section.
She forced a table leg beneath the tile and lifted it.
Below was a pressure-triggered explosive connected to the building’s gas line.
Two minutes, twenty seconds.
Evelyn asked, “Can you disarm it?”
“Maybe.”
Victor approached.
“I know the code.”
Nicole pointed the pistol at him.
“Tell me.”
“It requires the ledger.”
“Why?”
“The final page contains a numeric cipher.”
Nicole opened the book.
The entries appeared random.
Victor said, “Add the shipment dates associated with the triangle symbol.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“That would take longer than two minutes.”
Nicole studied the page.
Daniel had marked some dates with tiny dots.
Seven entries.
She read the final digits.
7, 1, 3, 9, 4, 2, 6.
A keypad glowed beside the device.
She entered the sequence.
ACCESS DENIED.
One minute, thirty seconds.
Victor said, “Reverse it.”
Nicole entered 6, 2, 4, 9, 3, 1, 7.
ACCESS DENIED.
Travis began pounding the door.
Harper looked at Victor.
“You never knew the code.”
Victor’s face remained pale.
“Nathaniel changed it.”
Caleb stared at the television.
“The numbers.”
The countdown showed 1:12.
“What about them?” Nicole asked.
“Every twelfth second, one number flickers.”
Nicole watched.
At 1:00, the second digit flashed.
At 0:48, the sixth digit flashed.
“It’s giving us a sequence,” she said.
They waited.
0:36. The first digit.
0:24. The fourth.
0:12. The seventh.
Only five numbers.
Nicole entered 2, 6, 1, 4, 7.
The keypad requested two more digits.
Three seconds remained.
Evelyn looked at the diner clock.
“Your birthday.”
Nicole entered 1 and 9.
The timer stopped at 0:01.
Everyone remained still.
The shutters rose.
The doors unlocked.
Wexler’s voice returned.
“Excellent, Colonel.”
Nicole looked at the camera.
“You wanted me to solve it.”
“You have now confirmed the mnemonic conditioning remains intact.”
Her blood went cold.
The diner had not been a murder attempt.
It had been a test.
A screen behind the counter activated.
General Hale appeared in the tunnel at Junction Four.
He stood with both hands raised.
Armed soldiers surrounded him.
May you like
Daniel’s truck waited behind them.
Wexler said, “Now we begin the real transfer.”
