Chapter 5 - The Child Who RememberedThe Key Was Never Meant for an AdultThe hidden chamber went silent.
Alexander stared at the bracelet in Sofie's hand.
“A key to what?”
Elena shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“But you've seen that symbol.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
She looked toward the wall.
At one photograph.
William Carter.
A woman.
A baby.
And the scratched-out man.
Elena whispered:
“Your father's private archive.”
Alexander frowned.
“He had an archive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I never found it.”
Sofie suddenly spoke.
“Behind the clock.”
Alexander looked around.
“What clock?”
“There.”
She pointed to the old analog clock hanging above the desk.
There was no reason a three-year-old should know that.
Alexander walked toward it.
The clock was stopped at 4:17.
He removed it from the wall.
Behind it sat a small metal cylinder.
He pulled it free.
Inside was a key.
Not the bracelet key.
A larger one.
Stamped with the same three-circle symbol.
Alexander stared at Elena.
“You knew about this?”
“No.”
The door behind them suddenly rattled.
Richard's voice returned.
“One hour.”
Alexander shouted.
“Richard!”
No response.
The engineers examined the hidden chamber.
“We can break through the ceiling.”
“How long?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Do it.”
Alexander inserted the new key into a slot beneath the desk.
A panel opened.
Inside was another recording.
William appeared on-screen.
This time he was visibly terrified.
“Alexander, if you found this, Richard already knows about the child.”
Alexander leaned closer.
William continued.
“Do not trust anyone wearing the Carter security badge.”
The guards exchanged looks.
Then William said:
“The person who attacked Elena was not Richard.”
Elena's face changed.
Alexander froze.
William continued.
“Richard ordered it, but someone else carried it out.”
A name appeared on the screen.
MARTIN VALE.
Alexander knew him.
Head of internal security.
The man who had served Alexander for six years.
The man currently standing in the room.
Alexander slowly turned.
Martin's gun was already in his hand.
Everything happened at once.
One guard fired.
Martin dove behind the desk.
The gunshot shattered the laptop.
Elena screamed.
Alexander grabbed Sofie and pulled her behind a concrete pillar.
Martin fired twice.
“Give me the drive!”
Alexander shouted.
“You're working for Richard.”
Martin laughed.
“No.”
He stepped from behind the desk.
“I work for the person Richard works for.”
Alexander's blood ran cold.
“Who?”
Martin smiled.
“You've never met him.”
He raised his gun.
Then Sofie whispered:
“Mommy.”
Elena looked down.
Sofie was pointing toward the wall.
A tiny red light blinked behind a photograph.
Martin saw it.
His expression changed.
“What did she find?”
Alexander looked.
The light was attached to a miniature camera.
The chamber had been recording them.
Martin rushed toward it.
Too late.
Alexander tackled him.
The gun skidded across the floor.
They crashed into the desk.
Martin punched Alexander.
Alexander struck back.
Elena grabbed Sofie and ran toward the stairs.
Martin saw them.
He reached for another weapon.
Then the chamber door opened.
Police flooded inside.
Alexander looked shocked.
“You called them?”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
A detective entered.
His eyes went directly to the drive.
Then to Martin.
“Martin Vale, you're under arrest.”
Martin started laughing.
Alexander stared.
“Who called you?”
The detective looked at his phone.
“We received an automated emergency transmission from this room.”
Alexander's gaze moved to Sofie.
The little girl was holding the bracelet.
It had begun flashing a tiny blue light.
Sofie smiled.
“I pressed the button.”
Alexander stared at her.
“You knew?”
She shrugged.
“Daddy said button.”
“Who told you that?”
Sofie pointed at the laptop.
“Grandpa.”
Alexander's blood froze.
He looked at the dead screen.
His father had recorded the message eleven years ago.
Sofie was three.
She hadn't been alive when it was recorded.
Yet she had just claimed William Carter spoke to her.
Alexander turned toward Elena.
“Where did she learn to recognize him?”
Elena's face crumpled.
“I never told her about him.”
The detective suddenly shouted.
“Sir!”
Alexander turned.
The officer held a phone.
A bank alert filled the screen.
The Orchid Trust had just moved $100 million.
Not into Sofie's account.
Not into Elena's.
The money had been transferred to another destination.
A Carter Holdings account overseas.
Alexander looked at the recipient.
His face went blank.
The account belonged to his own name.
May you like
Someone had just transferred one hundred million dollars to Alexander Carter.
And the transfer had been authorized from inside the hidden chamber.
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