Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPHThomas did not sleep.
He sat at his kitchen table until sunrise with Rebecca's letter in front of him.
Seven words had become a prison.
Don't trust Evelyn Croft.
Then another sentence had become a weapon.
She's the reason I died.
Thomas read it again.
And again.
He wanted to tear it apart.
He wanted to believe Rebecca.
He wanted to believe Evelyn.
He wanted someone to tell him what had happened five years ago.
Instead, at 6:17 a.m., his phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
One photograph.
Rebecca.
Standing outside Apex Holdings.
Date stamp: five years earlier.
Thomas zoomed in.
She was speaking to a man.
Thomas recognized him.
Julian Cross.
Another photograph appeared.
Rebecca entering a black sedan.
Then another.
Rebecca looking over her shoulder.
Then the final image.
A hospital.
The night she died.
Thomas's hands went cold.
Someone had been documenting Rebecca's movements before her death.
He texted the number.
Who are you?
The reply came instantly.
Ask Evelyn about the Ninth Floor.
Thomas stared.
Apex Holdings only had fifty floors.
He knew because he'd cleaned them.
There was no Ninth Floor hidden from employees.
But there was something strange.
He remembered an elevator button he'd never noticed.
A tiny black symbol beneath "8."
He had always assumed it was a maintenance indicator.
At 8:03, Thomas arrived at Apex.
He did not go to work.
He went directly to Evelyn's office.
She was already there.
"You read it."
Thomas dropped Rebecca's letter onto her desk.
"Tell me everything."
Evelyn looked at the letter.
Then closed her eyes.
"I was afraid of this."
"Was my wife investigating you?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she was investigating my father."
Thomas leaned forward.
"Then why does she blame you?"
"Because I lied to her."
"About what?"
Evelyn looked toward the window.
"Because I was afraid."
Thomas almost laughed.
"The billionaire CEO was afraid?"
"More than you know."
She opened a cabinet.
Inside was a stack of old files.
She removed one.
"Five years ago, I discovered my father was running a private network inside Apex."
"The shell companies?"
"That was only the beginning."
She opened another file.
Thomas saw photos.
Politicians.
Judges.
Military contractors.
Corporate executives.
"We called it Black Crown."
Thomas remembered the button.
"The symbol."
Evelyn nodded.
"My father used it as his mark."
"Was Julian part of it?"
"He still is."
Thomas's eyes narrowed.
"Why didn't you go to the police?"
"I did."
"And?"
"The officer I spoke to died two days later."
Thomas said nothing.
Evelyn continued.
"I tried the FBI."
"What happened?"
"Someone called me from a number that should have been impossible."
"Who?"
"My father."
Thomas stared.
"Richard Croft was dead."
"Exactly."
Evelyn lowered her voice.
"Someone was using his voice."
Thomas felt a chill.
"What does that mean?"
"It means my father may not have been acting alone."
She pulled another photograph from the file.
A room beneath Apex.
There was a table.
Six chairs.
A black crown painted on the wall.
Thomas stared.
"Where is this?"
"The Ninth Floor."
Thomas looked up.
"There is no Ninth Floor."
"Not officially."
She took a key from her desk.
"This elevator doesn't appear on public blueprints."
She led him out.
They entered a service elevator.
Evelyn inserted the key.
Pressed "9."
The elevator began descending.
Not rising.
Thomas's stomach dropped.
The doors opened beneath the building.
A dark corridor stretched ahead.
Thomas stepped out.
The walls were concrete.
Old.
Cold.
On the wall was the same black crown.
Evelyn walked toward a steel door.
She stopped.
"This is where your wife came."
Thomas's breath caught.
She opened the door.
Inside was a room filled with monitors.
Files.
Photographs.
Boxes.
And on one wall were dozens of surveillance images.
Thomas stepped closer.
He saw Rebecca.
Apex lobby.
Hospital.
Her apartment.
His old car.
Sarah's kindergarten.
His blood ran cold.
"They watched her."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Rebecca found something."
"What?"
Evelyn pointed toward a monitor.
A video began playing automatically.
Rebecca sat in the same room.
Alive.
Terrified.
She was speaking directly to a camera.
"If you're watching this, Thomas is already in danger."
Thomas staggered backward.
The recording continued.
"Thomas, I need you to understand something. I didn't die because I knew too much."
Rebecca swallowed.
"I died because I refused to give them what they wanted."
Evelyn looked at Thomas.
He barely noticed.
Rebecca's face filled the screen.
"They need the Miller family."
Thomas froze.
"The Miller family has something that belonged to Richard Croft."
The recording glitched.
Rebecca looked toward the door.
Then whispered:
"Evelyn doesn't know."
The screen went black.
Thomas turned.
"What doesn't she know?"
Evelyn looked genuinely confused.
"I have no idea."
Suddenly, alarms began to sound.
Red lights flashed.
Evelyn grabbed Thomas's arm.
"We have to go."
"Why?"
"Someone just accessed this room."
They ran.
The elevator doors began closing.
A gunshot echoed through the corridor.
Thomas ducked.
Evelyn pulled him inside.
The doors shut.
Another shot struck the metal.
They descended.
Thomas looked at her.
"Who was that?"
"I don't know."
She was breathing hard.
Then the elevator stopped.
Between floors.
The lights flickered.
Thomas heard something.
A soft ticking.
Evelyn heard it too.
She looked down.
A small device had been taped beneath the handrail.
Her face went white.
"Thomas."
"What?"
"Don't move."
"Why?"
She pointed.
The device had a digital countdown.
00:27.
Thomas stared.
"What is that?"
Evelyn whispered:
"A bomb."
The timer hit 00:26.
Thomas looked at the steel doors.
They were trapped.
00:25.
Evelyn grabbed his hand.
"Listen to me."
Thomas stared at her.
"If this elevator opens, you run."
"What about you?"
"I'll handle it."
"No."
"Thomas."
He shook his head.
"You brought me into this."
The timer dropped.
00:10.
Thomas looked at Evelyn.
Then at the device.
And suddenly noticed something.
The bomb had no detonator.
His eyes narrowed.
"Wait."
"What?"
Thomas crouched.
"There's no battery."
Evelyn stared.
The timer reached zero.
Nothing happened.
The lights came back on.
A voice came through the elevator speaker.
Distorted.
Male.
Calm.
"Congratulations, Mr. Miller."
Thomas looked up.
The speaker crackled.
"You've just passed your first test."
The elevator doors opened.
Nobody was waiting.
Except a dead body.
Wearing a black crown button.
Evelyn whispered:
"Julian."
But Thomas stared at the man's face.
It wasn't Julian Cross.
It was someone else.
Someone Thomas recognized.
May you like
His night manager.
The man who had assigned him to the fiftieth floor.
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