Chapter 10 — The World Wakes Up
Chapter 10 — The World Wakes Up
Within minutes, the first calls arrived.
A federal judge demanded answers.
A senator’s office reported the archive to the Department of Justice.
Three police officers abandoned Nicholas’s network and contacted internal affairs.
The machine he had built began collapsing around him.
Nicholas grabbed Grace.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“I gave people their lives back.”
“You gave them chaos.”
Nathan stepped between them.
“You’re finished.”
Nicholas laughed.
“You still think this ends in a courtroom?”
He pressed a button on his watch.
An alarm sounded.
FACILITY DECONTAMINATION IN FIVE MINUTES.
Steel doors sealed across every corridor.
Dr. Shaw’s voice came through the speakers.
“You were warned not to open the archive.”
Grace looked upward.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere your mistakes cannot reach me.”
Gas began seeping through vents.
Nathan lifted Margaret.
“We need another exit.”
Margaret pointed weakly toward a maintenance corridor.
They ran.
Nicholas followed because the doors had trapped him too.
Grace found emergency masks inside a cabinet. There were only three.
Nathan handed one to Margaret.
Grace gave another to him.
Nicholas seized the third.
Nathan grabbed his wrist.
“Give it to Grace.”
Nicholas smiled.
“She chose you. You save her.”
The brothers struggled.
Grace found a fire extinguisher and smashed a vent cover. Clean air rushed faintly through the shaft.
“Go!” she shouted.
Nathan pushed Margaret inside first.
Grace followed.
Nicholas tried to enter after her, but Nathan blocked him.
The two brothers stared at each other through the gas.
“You ruined my life,” Nicholas said.
Nathan shook his head.
“You spent your life blaming me for being loved.”
Nicholas attacked.
They fought beside the open shaft.
Grace reached back for Nathan.
“Nathan!”
Nathan struck Nicholas and climbed toward her.
Nicholas grabbed his ankle.
The countdown reached thirty seconds.
Grace reached through the opening and caught Nathan’s hand.
Nicholas clung to his leg.
For one terrible moment, all three hung above the gas-filled corridor.
Then Nicholas pulled a knife from his coat.
He raised it toward Nathan.
Grace kicked the blade away.
Nicholas lost his grip.
He fell into the smoke below.
Nathan stared after him.
No body was visible.
The countdown reached ten.
They crawled through the shaft as fire erupted behind them.
The facility exploded.
Grace, Nathan and Margaret emerged through a drainage tunnel into the cold night.
Emergency vehicles approached in the distance.
Grace leaned against Nathan.
For the first time, she allowed herself to believe it was over.
Then Nathan’s phone rang.
He answered.
A distorted voice said, “You saved the wrong brother.”
The call ended.
Grace looked at Nathan.
“What did he mean?”
Nathan’s face had gone pale.
May you like
“I don’t know.”
But Grace could tell he was lying.
