Thomas had been with Whitmore for fourteen years.
He was quiet, competent, and almost never involved in office politics.
Richard had always considered him dependable.
“Call Thomas,” Richard said.
Daniel pulled out his phone.
“No.”
Richard looked at him.
“Why not?”
“Because if Thomas is involved, he'll know we're coming.”
Margaret looked between them.
“You think Facilities is involved?”
Richard shook his head.
“I think we don't know anything yet.”
He walked to the office door.
“That's the problem.”
They left together.
The executive hallway was unusually quiet.
Richard noticed several cameras mounted in the ceiling.
He stopped beneath one.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“When was this camera installed?”
Daniel looked up.
“I don't know.”
Richard examined it.
“That's interesting.”
“What?”
“The model.”
Daniel frowned.
“What about it?”
“It isn't one of ours.”
Daniel looked surprised.
“Are you sure?”
Richard nodded.
“Our security system was upgraded two years ago. These cameras are older.”
Margaret looked around.
“How many are there?”
Daniel counted.
“Five.”
Richard's face hardened.
“Five cameras that aren't connected to our system.”
They continued toward the service elevator.
When they reached it, Daniel pulled out his security card.
The reader flashed red.
“Access denied.”
He tried again.
Red.
Richard took out his own card.
He swiped.
The reader turned green.
The doors opened.
Margaret stared at him.
“You've never used this elevator before.”
“No.”
“Then how did your card work?”
Richard looked at the access panel.
“I don't know.”
Daniel stepped inside.
The elevator doors closed.
The lift began moving upward.
But instead of stopping at the forty-third floor, it continued.
Forty-four.
Forty-five.
Forty-six.
Margaret looked at the panel.
“That's impossible.”
Richard's expression became serious.
The elevator stopped at forty-eight.
The doors opened.
Nobody spoke.
The forty-eighth floor was supposed to be locked.
It had been unused for almost a decade.
Richard stepped out.
Dust covered the hallway.
Old office furniture sat beneath plastic sheets.
But there were fresh footprints on the floor.
Several pairs.
Someone had been using the floor recently.
Daniel looked at Richard.
“Sir…”
Richard raised one finger.
Silence.
They moved slowly down the hallway.
At the end was a glass office.
The door was slightly open.
Inside, a computer screen was glowing.
Richard approached.
The screen displayed a security feed.
He looked at it.
His own office appeared on the monitor.
Margaret froze.
“They've been watching us.”
Richard stared at the screen.
Another monitor showed the lobby.
Another showed the executive elevator.
Another showed the loading dock.
And another showed the service elevator.
Daniel stepped backward.
“This isn't possible.”
Richard looked at him.
“Why?”
“This system isn't connected to ours.”
Richard's eyes remained fixed on the screens.
“Exactly.”
Then something appeared on the center monitor.
A live image of Richard, Margaret, and Daniel standing in the room.
Someone was watching them right now.
Richard slowly turned toward the camera mounted above the monitor.
“Whoever you are,” he said, “you've made a mistake.”
The monitor flickered.
A message appeared.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE LOBBY.
Margaret stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
Richard didn't answer.
Another message appeared.
THE MAN WHO STOPPED YOU WASN'T THE TARGET.
Richard's eyes narrowed.
Then the final message appeared.
YOU WERE.
The screens went black.
At that exact moment, the building's lights went out.
Margaret gasped.
Daniel reached for his radio.
Nothing.
No signal.
Richard stood completely still in the darkness.
Then they heard footsteps.
Coming from the hallway.
Slow.
Measured.
Getting closer.
Richard whispered,
“Don't move.”
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
Someone was standing there.
Then a man's voice came through the darkness.
“Mr. Bennett.”
Richard recognized it immediately.
Victor Hale.
“You should have listened to me.”
Richard looked toward the doorway.
“Victor?”
No answer.
Then the emergency lights flickered on.
The hallway was empty.
Victor was gone.
But on the floor outside the office was a black leather folder.
Richard walked toward it.
He picked it up.
Inside were dozens of documents.
Financial records.
Security reports.
Internal emails.
And one photograph.
Richard pulled it out.
His hands stopped moving.
The photograph showed a younger Richard Bennett standing beside his father outside the company's first factory.
Written across the bottom in red ink were six words:
YOUR FATHER KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN.
Richard stared at the photograph.
For the first time in twenty-six years, he felt something he had almost forgotten.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For the company.
For the people who trusted him.
And most of all, for the secret his father had apparently taken to the grave.
A secret that someone was now willing to expose.
Or kill for.
Richard closed the folder.
“Margaret.”
“Yes?”
“Get everyone we trust out of this building.”
She stared at him.
“What about you?”
Richard looked toward the dark hallway.
“I'm staying.”
“Richard—”
He turned to her.
“Someone spent years building this.”
He held up the folder.
“And today, they made the mistake of letting me find it.”
Richard's expression hardened.
“Now it's my turn to find them.”
Outside, somewhere below them, a security alarm suddenly began to scream.
And on the forty-eighth floor, the three of them realized they were no longer investigating a strange incident.
They had become part of it.
The alarm continued screaming.
Its metallic sound echoed through the abandoned forty-eighth floor, bouncing off empty walls and darkened windows. Red emergency lights flashed at regular intervals, briefly illuminating the corridor before plunging it back into shadow.
Richard Bennett stood perfectly still, the black leather folder in his hands.
Margaret was beside him.
Daniel stood near the doorway, his radio pressed against his ear.
“Nothing,” Daniel whispered.
Richard looked at him.
“No signal?”
Daniel shook his head.
“The entire security network is down.”
Richard glanced at the monitors.
Every screen remained black.
“That isn't an accident.”
“No,” Daniel said. “It isn't.”
Margaret looked toward the hallway.
“Then what do we do?”
Richard closed the folder.
“We leave.”
Daniel looked surprised.
“You just said you were staying.”
“I said I was staying.”
Richard handed the folder to Margaret.
“You two are leaving.”
Margaret stared at him.
“You can't be serious.”
“Very serious.”
“Richard, whoever is behind this knows we're here.”
“Exactly.”
“That means you shouldn't stay alone.”
Richard smiled faintly.
“I won't be alone.”
Margaret frowned.
“Who else is here?”
Richard looked toward the darkened hallway.
“The person who wants me frightened.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Sir, that's not a good idea.”
Richard looked at him.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“You said someone told you to watch the executive elevator this morning.”
“Yes.”
“And you said you didn't know who gave the order.”
“Yes.”
Richard nodded toward the folder.
“Then this may be your chance to find out.”
Daniel stared at the folder.
“What do you mean?”
Richard lowered his voice.
“Someone inside this building has been using security to control access. They altered clearance levels. They brought unauthorized people into restricted areas. They knew what I would be wearing this morning.”
He paused.
“And they knew exactly where I would go after the confrontation downstairs.”
Margaret's eyes widened.
“They knew you would come here.”
“Perhaps.”
“Then why leave this folder?”
Richard looked at the black leather cover.
“That is the question.”
The alarm suddenly stopped.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Daniel slowly lowered his radio.
Then they heard a door close somewhere down the corridor.
Richard looked toward the sound.
“Go.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
“Margaret.”
“No. If you're staying, I'm staying.”
Richard stared at her.
“You've never been good at following orders.”
“I learned from you.”
Despite everything, Richard almost smiled.
Daniel looked between them.
“I'm staying too.”
Richard sighed.
“Fine.”
He walked toward the hallway.
“Then we stay together.”
They moved carefully through the abandoned floor.
The emergency lights flickered.
Their footsteps echoed.
At the far end of the corridor, an old service door stood open.
Richard approached it.
He stopped.
There were fresh scratches around the lock.
Someone had forced it open recently.
Daniel crouched down.
“There are footprints.”
“How many?”
“At least two people.”
Richard looked at Margaret.
“Recent?”
Daniel touched the dust carefully.
“Within the last few hours.”
Richard opened the door.
Beyond it was a narrow stairwell.
They descended one floor.
Then another.
At the forty-sixth floor, Daniel stopped.
“Wait.”
Richard turned.
“What?”
Daniel pointed toward the wall.
A small red light was blinking.
“What is that?”
Daniel stared.
“I don't know.”
Richard approached.
It was a motion sensor.
But unlike the cameras, this device was new.
Richard looked at Daniel.
“Your security department didn't install this?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Daniel shook his head.
Richard touched the wall beside it.
A panel shifted slightly.
Behind it was a small electronic device.
Margaret whispered, “What is that?”
Daniel examined it.
“A transmitter.”
Richard's expression darkened.
“Can it send information?”
“Yes.”
“To where?”
Daniel looked at the wiring.
“Anywhere.”
Richard straightened.
“So someone is monitoring movement through the building.”