Chapter 16 - Fifty-Nine SecondsAdrian smashed the emergency panel.
Nothing.
The gas thickened.
I coughed.
He wrapped his jacket around my mouth.
“Stay awake.”
“Where’s the exit?”
“Behind the server wall.”
“There’s no door.”
“There will be.”
He pulled out a small device.
Pressed it against the wall.
Nothing.
“Adrian.”
“I know.”
“Do something.”
“I’m trying.”
The timer dropped.
Thirty seconds.
Then I remembered the locket.
The number 217.
I pulled it from my neck.
“There.”
Adrian looked.
The wall had a tiny slot.
He inserted the locket.
A mechanism clicked.
The wall opened.
Fresh air rushed in.
We stumbled through.
The tunnel led underground.
At the end stood a locked steel door.
Adrian looked back.
The timer reached zero.
The server room erupted behind us.
We ran.
The tunnel shook.
I slipped.
Adrian caught me.
We reached the exit.
Outside, Daniel was alive.
Barely.
A bullet wound in his shoulder.
The nurse was gone.
Victor was gone.
But Black Ledger remained.
Adrian looked at me.
“We need to disappear.”
“To where?”
“Somewhere Victor can’t reach.”
“Does such a place exist?”
He stared at Manhattan.
“No.”
Then Daniel whispered:
“There is one.”
Adrian turned.
“Where?”
“Your mother’s house.”
“My mother’s house was destroyed.”
“No.”
Daniel coughed.
“Only the house everyone knew about.”
“There was another?”
Daniel nodded.
“Upstate.”
We reached it before dawn.
The house was small.
Old.
Forgotten.
Inside, I found dozens of boxes.
Photographs.
Letters.
Then one letter addressed to me.
My mother’s handwriting.
Cara,
If Adrian ever brings you here, it means he has finally learned the truth.
I looked at him.
Adrian stood frozen.
I continued reading.
Your brother Toby knows the rest.
My blood ran cold.
“Toby?”
Daniel shook his head.
“He’s not in the hospital.”
“What?”
A final line appeared.
May you like
Toby was never sick.
I dropped the letter.
