Chapter 7 - SEVEN KEYSThe underground server room had a steel door thick enough to survive fire.
Maybe not a full demolition.
Richard entered a code.
ACCESS DENIED.
“Again,” Kayla said.
“I am.”
ACCESS DENIED.
The timer over the hall flashed.
03:41.
Maisie listened.
“Someone's inside.”
Richard stared.
“What?”
“I hear breathing.”
Julian raised his gun.
Richard entered an emergency override.
The lock clicked.
They opened the door.
A teenage girl stood behind the servers holding a pistol with both hands.
She was maybe sixteen.
Bruised.
Terrified.
The barrel shook.
“Stay back.”
Tyler stared.
“Nina?”
She looked at him.
“Tyler?”
Mrs. Dixon had bragged for years that Nina, Tyler's older sister, was attending boarding school.
Tyler's face crumpled.
“You're supposed to be in Connecticut.”
Nina laughed bitterly.
“You believed that?”
Their parents had sent her into the Crown network two years earlier.
Training.
Courier work.
Surveillance.
When she tried to leave, Voss locked her underground.
Tyler looked sick.
“Mom said you hated us.”
“She lied.”
The timer hit three minutes.
Richard stepped forward.
“We need access.”
Nina looked at Milo.
“Do you have the dogs?”
“Yes.”
“Then hurry.”
She moved to the terminal.
“Voss changed your codes. I changed his.”
Richard stared.
“You did?”
“I've been waiting for somebody to come.”
She typed.
The system opened.
Seven empty circles appeared.
Each labeled with a name.
RICHARD.
SAMUEL.
NORA.
ELIJAH.
GRACE.
THOMAS.
EVELYN.
Richard touched Milo's tag to a scanner.
RICHARD turned green.
He removed Cyrus's hidden implant.
NORA turned green.
Julian frowned.
“We only have two.”
Nina shook her head.
“You don't need seven dogs.”
“What?”
“The tags are biometric storage devices, but all seven keys were copied into the master server.”
“Where?”
Nina pointed to the locked vault beneath the terminal.
Timer:
02:21.
Leo planted a small charge.
“Stand back.”
Explosion.
The vault door bent.
Inside sat seven metal capsules.
Richard inserted them.
One by one.
All circles turned green.
The archive unlocked.
Files flooded the screen.
Names.
Payments.
Murders disguised as accidents.
Election donations.
Police bribes.
Judges.
Business leaders.
And one folder labeled:
BLACKWATER.
Kayla opened it.
A video loaded.
Ten years earlier.
Richard sat in a safe house.
Across from him—
Julian.
Kayla stared.
The footage showed Richard handing Julian documents.
“If I don't survive, Kayla can never know the child was targeted because of her father.”
Kayla froze.
“My father?”
Julian's face tightened.
On the recording, Julian said:
“She thinks Dad died in prison.”
“He didn't.”
Kayla turned slowly toward him.
“Julian.”
“Not now.”
Richard touched her arm.
The timer hit ninety seconds.
“We copy everything.”
Nina connected drives.
UPLOAD STARTED.
28%.
Outside, gunfire erupted.
Leo looked toward the door.
“Voss.”
Julian took position.
Kayla watched the percentage.
42%.
The door shook.
Bullets struck steel.
Maisie covered her ears.
Cyrus pressed against her.
Tyler took Nina's hand.
51%.
Richard looked at Kayla.
“If we don't get out—”
“We will.”
“Kayla.”
“No.”
“I'm sorry.”
She turned on him.
“You don't get to apologize now.”
“I left because—”
“Later.”
“I left because our child was alive.”
Everything stopped.
Even the timer seemed silent.
Kayla stared.
“What?”
Richard's face broke.
“The hospital lied.”
Kayla couldn't breathe.
“They told me I lost the baby.”
“You delivered early after the explosion.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You told me—”
“I wasn't there.”
“Julian?”
Julian looked away.
Richard whispered:
“The Crown took her.”
Her.
Kayla gripped the table.
“Our daughter?”
“Yes.”
Kayla nearly collapsed.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
The timer:
00:58.
UPLOAD 73%.
Kayla grabbed Richard's shirt.
“Ten years?”
“I've been searching.”
“You let me think she was dead?”
“I thought she was until four years ago.”
Kayla hit him again.
Harder.
“I earned that too.”
UPLOAD 81%.
Gunfire.
Leo shouted.
“They're coming through!”
Nina typed faster.
88%.
Julian fired through the opening.
A man fell.
92%.
Maisie suddenly tilted her head.
“Stop.”
Nobody heard her.
“STOP!”
Richard looked.
“What?”
“The timer's fake.”
Everyone stared.
Maisie pointed upward.
“The alarm changed.”
Nina checked the system.
Her eyes widened.
“No explosives.”
Julian cursed.
“A trap.”
Richard looked at the upload.
99%.
The monitor went black.
Voss's face appeared.
“Thank you.”
Richard's expression changed.
“What did you do?”
Voss smiled.
“You unlocked the archive for me.”
The server doors slammed shut.
Gas hissed from ceiling vents.
Maisie coughed.
Kayla grabbed her shirt.
“Cover your face!”
Richard ran to the control panel.
Locked.
Nina staggered.
Tyler caught her.
Cyrus barked furiously.
Voss's face remained on screen.
“Seven keys. Ten years. And all I needed was grief.”
Kayla's vision blurred.
Richard slammed his fist against the panel.
Julian stumbled.
Leo fell to one knee.
Maisie whispered:
“The floor.”
Kayla barely heard.
“What?”
“Air.”
She crawled toward the corner.
“There.”
A draft.
Richard ripped away a floor grate.
Maintenance duct.
Small.
Too small for the adults.
Maisie could fit.
Danny shook his head.
“No.”
Maisie touched his face.
“I can open the door.”
“You can't see.”
“I don't need to.”
Voss began counting backward from sixty.
Danny started crying.
Maisie crawled into the duct.
Cyrus tried to follow.
She pressed her forehead to his.
“Stay.”
The blind girl disappeared into darkness.
Kayla watched the vent.
Forty-five seconds.
Thirty.
Twenty.
Julian collapsed.
Richard leaned against Kayla.
Ten.
The door clicked.
Maisie's voice came faintly from outside.
“I found it.”
Kayla smiled through fading consciousness.
Then the door opened.
Cold air flooded inside.
And armed men surrounded Maisie.
Voss stood behind them.
May you like
His hand rested on her shoulder.
“You really are remarkable.”
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