“I heard them.”
Marcus turned.
“The man with the briefcase?”
She shook her head.
“Both of them.”
Thomas frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Lena swallowed.
“There were two people in the room. The man with the briefcase and someone else.”
Marcus’s attention sharpened.
“What were they saying?”
“I couldn’t hear everything.”
“Tell me what you heard.”
Lena looked down.
“One of them said, ‘Bennett will take the blame.’”
Silence.
Marcus felt the meaning settle slowly into the room.
Thomas was the first to speak.
“So Bennett is being framed.”
“Maybe,” Marcus said.
Lena looked at him.
“You found his card, didn’t you?”
Marcus narrowed his eyes.
“How do you know that?”
Her face immediately changed.
She had said too much.
Marcus stepped closer.
“You were behind that door.”
Lena backed away.
“Yes.”
“And you knew we found the card?”
“I heard you.”
Marcus stared at her.
“What else did you hear?”
Lena said nothing.
Thomas moved between them.
“Marcus.”
But Marcus continued.
“You told us you found the cufflink after they left.”
“I did.”
“Then why didn’t you report it?”
Lena’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because I was scared.”
“Of whom?”
She looked toward the darkness again.
“That’s the problem.”
Marcus waited.
“I don’t know.”
That answer sounded honest.
Too honest to be useful.
Before Marcus could ask another question, a loud metallic bang echoed through the tunnel.
All three of them froze.
Another sound followed.
Footsteps.
Thomas immediately reached for his radio.
“Security—”
Static.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Marcus checked his own.
The same.
“No signal,” Thomas whispered.
Lena’s breathing became rapid.
“They found us.”
Marcus grabbed his flashlight.
“Who?”
Lena shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
The footsteps grew louder.
Marcus looked toward the narrow passage Lena had indicated.
“Go.”
Thomas stared at him.
“Are you serious?”
“Move.”
They ran.
The old utility passage was barely wide enough for one person. Rusted pipes forced them to duck as they moved through the darkness.
Behind them, another metallic sound echoed.
Someone had entered the tunnel.
Marcus kept Lena between himself and Thomas.
He still didn’t know if he trusted her.
But he knew one thing.
Someone wanted them found.
After several minutes, Lena stopped beside a concrete wall.
“There.”
Marcus looked.
There was nothing.
Just old pipes and cracked cement.
Lena reached behind one of the pipes and pulled a hidden lever.
A narrow section of the wall moved.
Thomas stared.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Lena pushed harder.
The opening revealed a small service corridor.
Marcus went first.
Thomas followed Lena.
As soon as they entered, Marcus pulled the wall shut behind them.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then Thomas looked at Marcus.
“Where does this go?”
Lena answered.
“Parking level three.”
Marcus checked his watch.
If they could reach the parking structure, they could access another security terminal.
He looked at Lena.
“You’re coming with us.”
She nodded.
“I wasn’t planning to leave.”
They moved forward.
But halfway down the corridor, Marcus stopped.
Something on the wall caught his attention.
A security camera.
New.
Recently installed.
Marcus approached it.
The small red light was blinking.
Thomas stared.
“This corridor isn’t supposed to be monitored.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Exactly.”
Someone had installed the camera recently.
Someone had been watching this passage.
Watching whoever used it.
Marcus suddenly remembered the man with the black briefcase.
The distraction in the lobby.
The erased access records.
The planted card.
And now this.
The evidence had not been hidden.
It had been placed where someone wanted it to be found.
Marcus reached up toward the camera.
Then stopped.
“Don’t touch it,” Lena whispered.
Marcus turned.
“Why?”
Lena pointed to the thin wire running along the wall.
It disappeared behind a metal panel.
Thomas followed it with his eyes.
Then his face changed.
“Marcus.”
Marcus crouched beside the panel.
There was a small electronic device attached to the wiring.
A transmitter.
Not part of the building’s security system.
Someone had created a private surveillance network inside Westbridge Center.
Marcus slowly stood.
Thomas whispered, “We need to get this to Eleanor.”
Marcus nodded.
For once, there was no hesitation.
No need to prove himself.
No attempt to solve everything alone.
He pulled out his phone.
“No signal.”
Thomas checked his.
Nothing.
Lena looked toward the end of the corridor.
“There’s an emergency stairwell.”
Marcus turned to her.
“Does it have reception?”
“Sometimes.”
That was enough.
They began moving again.
Then Marcus heard a voice behind them.
A calm male voice.
“You’re making this much harder than it needs to be.”
All three stopped.
Marcus slowly turned around.
At the far end of the corridor stood a man.
He wore a dark suit.
His face was partially hidden by the shadows.
But Marcus recognized the black briefcase immediately.
The man smiled.
The same smile he had given Marcus in the lobby.
Marcus stepped in front of Thomas and Lena.
“Who are you?”
The man took one slow step forward.
“That is the wrong question.”
Marcus tightened his grip on the flashlight.
“Then what should I be asking?”
The man looked directly at him.
“You should be asking why Richard Bennett is so desperate to find you.”
Marcus felt his heartbeat accelerate.
“What do you know about Bennett?”
The man smiled again.
“A great deal.”
Then he raised the black briefcase slightly.
“And if you want the truth, Officer Cole…”
The smile disappeared.
“You’re going to have to decide who you trust.”
The lights above them suddenly went out.
And the underground corridor disappeared into darkness.
The lights went out so suddenly that Marcus barely had time to breathe.
One moment, the underground corridor was illuminated by weak fluorescent bulbs.
The next, everything disappeared.
Darkness swallowed the walls.
The pipes.
The hidden surveillance camera.
Even the man with the black briefcase.
Thomas cursed under his breath.
Lena gasped.
Marcus immediately lifted his flashlight.
Nothing happened.
“Dead battery,” he muttered.
“Of course,” Thomas whispered.
From somewhere ahead, the stranger laughed quietly.
It was not loud.
That made it worse.
Marcus kept his body between Lena and the direction of the voice.
“Stay where you are,” he ordered.
The man answered from the darkness.
“Officer Cole, I don’t think you’re in a position to give orders anymore.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“Who are you?”
A pause.
Then the voice came again.
“Someone who has spent a very long time watching Westbridge Center.”
Thomas whispered, “He knows the building.”
Marcus heard movement.
Shoes against concrete.
But the sound echoed through the corridor, making it impossible to tell where the man was standing.
“What do you want?” Marcus asked.
“The same thing you do.”
“The truth?”
A quiet laugh.
“No.”
The answer made Marcus freeze.
“I want what the truth can destroy.”
Suddenly, Lena grabbed Marcus’s arm.
“There.”
Marcus followed the direction of her hand.
At the far end of the corridor, a small red light appeared.
An emergency exit sign.
The backup generator had activated.
Marcus immediately understood.
“Run.”
They moved.
Marcus grabbed Lena’s hand and pushed her toward the faint light. Thomas followed close behind.
Behind them, footsteps exploded through the darkness.
The man was running too.
Marcus reached the emergency stairwell first and slammed the door open.
Bright emergency lights filled the concrete staircase.