CHAPTER 14 – Ten Minutes to Truth
A shrill alarm echoed through Level B4.
WARNING. STRUCTURAL FAILURE IMMINENT. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.
Red emergency lights began flashing along the corridor.
Dust drifted from the ceiling.
Detective Laura Bennett pointed her weapon at Catherine Monroe.
"Drop the remote!"
Catherine only smiled.
"You can arrest me."
"But you can't stop what's already started."
She casually tossed the remote onto the floor.
It shattered into pieces.
"The countdown is automatic now."
Richard looked toward Theodore.
"Can it be stopped?"
Theodore shook his head.
"I designed this archive with a self-destruct system."
Vivienne stared at him in disbelief.
"You built it?"
"I never imagined someone would find it before the truth was ready."
"So the archive destroys itself?"
"If someone activated the emergency protocol..."
"...yes."
Richard clenched his fists.
"How much time?"
Theodore glanced at the flashing display on the wall.
09:21
"Less than ten minutes."
Detective Bennett grabbed Catherine's arm and handcuffed her.
"You're coming with us."
Catherine didn't resist.
Instead, she laughed.
"It won't matter."
"The evidence dies today."
Theodore smiled faintly.
"You've underestimated me for twelve years."
Catherine's smile faded.
"What do you mean?"
Theodore walked calmly to the hidden safe.
Instead of grabbing random files...
He removed only three items.
A thick manila envelope.
A portable hard drive.
A faded hospital ledger.
Richard looked confused.
"That's all?"
"The rest are copies."
Everyone stared.
"C...copies?" Vivienne asked.
Theodore nodded.
"The originals have never been here."
Catherine's face suddenly lost all color.
"No..."
"That's impossible."
"I searched this archive myself."
"I know."
Theodore smiled.
"I wanted you to."
Detective Bennett frowned.
"Where are the originals?"
Theodore looked at Richard.
"I gave them to the one person our enemies would never suspect."
Richard searched his memory.
"I don't understand."
"The person who cleans without anyone noticing."
Samuel.
Everyone turned toward the elderly concierge.
Samuel looked embarrassed.
"For twelve years..."
"I've been carrying them."
He slowly removed an ordinary canvas janitor's bag from his shoulder.
Inside...
Were dozens of sealed evidence envelopes.
Original documents.
Birth certificates.
Financial records.
Photographs.
USB drives.
Even the missing envelope Theodore had given Richard before his "death."
Richard laughed softly despite the danger.
"You hid everything in a janitor's bag?"
Samuel shrugged.
"No thief ever looks twice at the old maintenance man."
Even Detective Bennett smiled.
The countdown reached 07:02.
The ceiling shook violently.
Concrete cracked above them.
"We have to move!" one officer shouted.
As everyone began heading toward the elevator...
Vivienne stopped.
Something had caught her eye.
A framed photograph hanging crookedly on the archive wall.
She walked closer.
It showed four smiling adults standing outside the hotel decades earlier.
Richard.
Emily.
Theodore.
And another man.
Vivienne frowned.
"I know the first three."
She pointed to the fourth.
"Who is he?"
Theodore's smile disappeared.
Richard slowly looked at the photograph.
His face turned pale.
"No..."
Vivienne looked back and forth between them.
"Who is he?"
Theodore answered quietly.
"Dr. Malcolm Pierce."
"The hospital director."
"The man responsible for the baby switch."
Detective Bennett quickly removed the photograph from the wall.
Written on the back were three chilling words.
Never found him.
Richard looked at Theodore.
"We searched for him."
"So did I."
"I failed."
Theodore lowered his eyes.
"He disappeared before I could expose him."
Suddenly...
One of the officers ran toward them.
"Detective!"
"You need to see this."
He pointed toward a dusty visitor log mounted beside the archive entrance.
Only three names had been written during the past twelve years.
Theodore Hawthorne
Catherine Monroe
And...
Dr. Malcolm Pierce
The most recent signature was dated...
Yesterday.
Vivienne felt her blood run cold.
"Yesterday?"
Richard slowly closed the logbook.
"That means only one thing."
Detective Bennett nodded.
"He's still alive."
Before anyone could say another word—
A deep explosion echoed somewhere above them.
The lights flickered violently.
Chunks of concrete crashed into the hallway behind them, blocking their path back to the elevator.
May you like
Their only exit...
Had just collapsed.
