Chapter 6 - The First EscapeThe first gunshot shattered a warehouse window.
Glass rained across the floor.
Adrian pushed Noah behind a steel support beam.
"Stay down."
Frank grabbed his oxygen mask.
"Adrian..."
"I've got you."
"No."
Frank pointed toward the floor.
"Under us."
Adrian looked down.
"What?"
"Noah knows."
The boy knelt and pulled up a loose metal panel.
Beneath it was a narrow tunnel.
Victor would have called it impossible.
Adrian called it useful.
"Move."
They descended.
Noah went first.
Frank followed.
Adrian brought up the rear.
Above them, boots thundered through the warehouse.
The tunnel was barely wide enough to walk through.
Water ran along the bottom.
After fifty meters, Noah stopped.
"This way."
They turned.
The passage split in two.
Adrian looked at him.
"How do you know?"
"My father built it."
Noah pushed a rusted panel aside.
They emerged inside an old maintenance station beneath the riverfront.
Adrian helped Frank sit.
"Can you breathe?"
Frank nodded.
Noah looked back toward the tunnel.
"They'll follow."
Adrian checked his phone.
No signal.
Then it rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A distorted voice said,
"Nice escape."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"Who are you?"
"You know me."
The voice laughed.
"You've known me for years."
Adrian glanced around.
"What do you want?"
"Not what I want."
The voice paused.
"What Helix wants."
Adrian looked at Noah.
"They want the boy."
"They want what he can unlock."
"What?"
"The archive."
Adrian clenched his jaw.
"Why?"
"Because Elias hid something inside it."
"Something worth killing for?"
"Something worth starting a war for."
The call ended.
Adrian stared at the phone.
Noah spoke quietly.
"There is a second archive."
Adrian turned.
"What?"
"My father told me."
Frank looked shocked.
"You knew?"
Noah nodded.
"It isn't inside the car."
"Where is it?"
The boy reached into his backpack.
He pulled out a small notebook.
He opened it.
Pages were filled with diagrams.
At the center was a map.
Adrian recognized the location.
An old Vale Motors testing facility.
Abandoned for fifteen years.
"The old proving grounds," he whispered.
Noah nodded.
"My father called it Room Zero."
Frank's face went pale.
"That's where Helix began."
Adrian looked at him.
"You were there?"
Frank nodded.
"Elias discovered something in Room Zero."
"What?"
Frank lowered his voice.
"The original engine."
Adrian frowned.
"The original what?"
"Not the Asterion."
Frank looked toward Noah.
"The machine that came before it."
A sound echoed in the tunnel.
Metal scraping against concrete.
Someone had entered.
Adrian stood.
"They found us."
Noah grabbed his arm.
"Wait."
The scraping stopped.
Then a flashlight appeared around the corner.
Adrian raised the pipe.
A figure stepped into view.
It wasn't one of the armed men.
It was Victor.
Adrian nearly laughed from relief.
"How did you get here?"
Victor looked exhausted.
"Followed the GPS tracker I put on your car."
Adrian stared.
"You tracked me?"
"You're welcome."
Victor looked at Noah.
Then Frank.
"There's something you need to know."
Adrian's smile disappeared.
"What?"
Victor pulled out a tablet.
He showed them footage from the garage.
Someone had accessed the Asterion after they left.
The camera zoomed in.
A woman in a dark coat was standing beside the engine.
She touched the same hidden panel Noah had opened.
Then she looked directly at the camera.
Victor froze the image.
Adrian stared.
He recognized her.
"No."
Victor looked at him.
"Who is she?"
Adrian whispered,
"Mara Reed."
Noah's face went pale.
"That's my mother."
Silence.
Victor stared.
"Your mother is alive?"
Noah nodded.
Adrian looked at the screen.
The woman turned toward the camera.
May you like
And for one terrifying second, Adrian could have sworn she smiled.
Then the footage ended.
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