Chapter 10 - Fire Beneath the Dining Room
Smoke entered the hidden room through the ventilation shaft.
Calvin Lake’s men had ignited the first floor.
The dining room burned directly above them.
Detective Bell tried the main staircase, but the hatch had jammed after the explosion.
The emergency tunnel was blocked from outside.
Margaret heard wood cracking overhead.
Eli pressed both hands against his ears, rocking once before forcing himself still.
“There is another vent,” he said.
Bell looked at him.
“Where?”
Eli studied Thomas’s blueprint.
“The tunnel has a flood release.”
“That sounds like water, not an exit.”
“It opens into the storm drain.”
Anna shook her head.
“The drain is too small.”
“For you,” Eli said. “Not for me.”
Margaret grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“I can reach the release.”
“You are not crawling into a burning tunnel.”
“If I open it, firefighters can reach us.”
“You don’t know what’s inside.”
“I know what’s above us.”
Another beam collapsed.
The ceiling bowed downward.
Bell examined the narrow maintenance shaft. It was barely wide enough for an adult to crawl through.
Eli was right.
He was the only one who could move quickly inside it.
Margaret wanted to refuse.
But refusing would not protect him. It would trap everyone.
She touched his face.
“Come back.”
“I will.”
Bell gave Eli a flashlight and radio.
He entered the shaft.
Margaret watched his shoes disappear into darkness.
For years, Richard had described Eli as helpless.
Now seven adults depended on him.
The radio carried every breath and scrape.
“Ten feet,” Eli said.
Then, “The pipe turns.”
Smoke thickened.
Anna coughed against the wall.
Margaret looked at her.
“Did you arrange Thomas’s death?”
Anna’s eyes watered.
“This is not the time.”
“It may be the only time.”
Anna laughed bitterly.
“You think there was one villain? Thomas uncovered people with judges, doctors, insurers, politicians. He threatened them. They told me to solve the problem.”
“Did you?”
“I arranged for his radio to fail. The storm was real.”
Margaret’s vision blurred.
“You left him to die.”
“I expected him to turn back.”
“You cut his emergency communication.”
“I followed orders.”
“That is what everyone in your network says.”
Anna looked toward the shaft where Eli had disappeared.
“Richard was supposed to watch you after Thomas died. Report whether you found anything.”
“He married me.”
“He became ambitious.”
“He abused my son.”
“He believed fear created obedience.”
Margaret stared at her.
“And you let him.”
“I used him.”
“No. You armed him.”
The radio crackled.
“I found the release,” Eli said.
Bell lifted his radio.
“Can you open it?”
“Trying.”
Metal groaned through the speaker.
Then Eli cried out.
Margaret moved toward the shaft.
“What happened?”
“My hand is cut.”
“Come back.”
“No.”
A deep mechanical sound rolled beneath the floor.
Fresh air rushed through the tunnel.
Eli had opened the flood gate.
Firefighters outside located the storm drain and forced it wider.
Minutes later, rescue crews reached the hidden room through the tunnel.
Margaret crawled out behind Bell.
When she emerged into the backyard, the house was engulfed in flames.
Eli sat on the grass with a firefighter wrapping his hand.
Margaret ran to him.
“You came back.”
“I said I would.”
She held him carefully.
Across the lawn, officers dragged Calvin Lake from behind a burning shed.
He had been shot in the leg during a confrontation with police.
Two accomplices were arrested.
One died inside the house.
Anna was placed in a federal vehicle.
Before the door closed, she called Margaret’s name.
“Richard has the financial key.”
Margaret approached.
“What key?”
“A hardware device. It can access accounts and erase transaction trails.”
“Where is he going?”
“The money has to pass through a physical server before transfer.”
“Where?”
Anna hesitated.
Margaret leaned closer.
“If he escapes, he will blame everything on you.”
“He already has.”
“Then help us stop him.”
Anna looked at the burning house.
“The server is beneath the original Rosebridge hospital in Baltimore. The building closed ten years ago.”
Bell heard.
Agents immediately moved.
The old hospital stood abandoned near the industrial waterfront.
By the time the task force entered, the basement server room had been cleared.
One terminal remained active.
A transfer of forty-two million dollars had begun.
It was routed through six countries.
The recipient account belonged to a foundation in Belize.
Investigators stopped most of the transfer, but six million disappeared.
Security footage showed Richard entering the hospital two hours earlier.
He left wearing paramedic clothing and driving an ambulance.
Inside the ambulance, police later found blood.
Not Richard’s.
DNA testing identified it as Priya Shah’s.
Margaret called Priya.
No answer.
Her office had been found empty.
A chair lay overturned beside the conference table.
May you like
On her computer screen, Richard had left a message.
You saved your son. Let’s see what your company is worth to you.
