“Because the entrance to that archive was sealed twenty years ago. Only three people knew the access code.”
“Who?”
Porter looked at Olivia.
“Daniel Whitmore. Richard Caldwell. And the man who ordered the sealing.”
Olivia's voice became quiet.
“Who was that?”
Porter swallowed.
“Your director. Reynolds.”
A distant metallic sound echoed through the tunnel.
Then the lights above them began switching off, one by one.
Rebecca raised her weapon.
“Everyone stay together.”
From somewhere ahead, a door slammed shut.
A voice came through the darkness.
“Olivia Bennett.”
It was Michael Grant.
“I've been waiting for you.”
Olivia stepped forward, keeping the ledger close to her chest.
“Then you should know I brought something you've been trying to bury for twenty years.”
Grant laughed softly.
“You brought a collection of papers. That's all. You still don't understand what you're dealing with.”
“Then explain it.”
A light flickered on at the far end of the passage. Grant stood behind a reinforced glass partition, his hands folded in front of him. Two armed men stood on either side.
Behind him, Olivia could see a heavy steel door.
And beside that door stood an elderly man.
His hair was white. His shoulders were bent. His face carried the exhaustion of someone who had spent too many years waiting for a rescue that might never come.
But his eyes were alert.
Porter took a step forward.
“Daniel?”
The old man lifted his head.
For a moment, he seemed unable to believe what he was seeing.
Then he moved toward the glass.
“James?”
Porter's voice broke.
“We came for you.”
Daniel Whitmore placed one trembling hand against the partition.
“Then you need to leave,” he said.
Olivia stared at him.
“Why?”
Daniel looked directly at her.
“Because the people who imprisoned me are not the only ones waiting outside.”
He glanced toward Grant.
Then he whispered something that made Olivia's blood run cold.
“Your father knew about Project Nightfall, Olivia. And he helped create it.”
Olivia felt the corridor tilt beneath her feet.
“My father died when I was twelve.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No. He disappeared. And before he vanished, he left something for you.”
Grant's expression finally changed.
For the first time, the confident smile disappeared from his face.
“Open the door,” he ordered his men.
Daniel stepped away from the glass.
“Whatever you do,” he called to Olivia, “do not let them take you to the room beneath the archive.”
The armed men began moving.
Walker raised his weapon.
Rebecca pulled Olivia behind the concrete wall.
And Porter, despite his injuries, stared at Daniel with an expression of disbelief.
“What's in that room?” he shouted.
Daniel looked at him.
“The original list of everyone who was supposed to die.”
The lights went out completely.
A gunshot exploded in the darkness.
And somewhere behind the steel door, a second voice began calling Olivia by her childhood nickname.
It was a voice she had not heard in twenty years.
A voice she had believed was gone forever.
The voice came from behind the steel door.
“Livvy?”
Olivia stopped breathing.
Nobody had called her that in twenty years. Not since the night her father had disappeared. Not since the police arrived at their house and told her mother that Thomas Bennett had probably abandoned his family. Not since she had stood at the front window, waiting for a man who never came home.
“Livvy, sweetheart. Can you hear me?”
Her fingers began to tremble.
Walker caught her arm.
“Olivia, don't move.”
But she could barely hear him. Her attention was fixed on the door.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
A weak laugh came from the other side.
“I'm sorry it took me so long.”
The voice was older, rougher, but unmistakable.
“Dad?”
Before anyone could respond, a gunshot rang through the passage.
Rebecca fired toward the emergency lights. One of Grant's men had stepped out from behind the glass partition, weapon raised. The bullet struck the wall beside him, forcing him back into cover.
“Get down!” Rebecca shouted.
Walker pulled Olivia behind a concrete pillar. Porter stumbled to the floor, clutching his injured side.
Grant's voice echoed through the darkness.
“Stop shooting! I want Bennett alive!”
That single sentence told Olivia everything.
Grant wasn't trying to kill her. He needed her for something.
“Walker,” she whispered, “we have to open that door.”
“We can't do that while they're shooting at us.”
“That's my father.”
“I know. But if we rush through there, we'll all be killed.”
Olivia looked toward the glass partition. Grant was speaking to someone through a small communication device. His face was illuminated by its screen.
Then she noticed something.