Chapter 11 - FORTY-TWO FLOORS UP
Daniel called building security.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Sophie’s stomach dropped.
“Get us back to Manhattan.”
The SUV tore down the wet highway.
Madison sat beside her mother in another vehicle.
Sophie watched the city lights grow larger through the rain.
At 2:06 a.m., Daniel finally reached a night supervisor.
“Lock Sophie’s office.”
A pause.
“What do you mean the system is down?”
Sophie looked at him.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“All executive-floor cameras are offline.”
“Again?”
“Yes.”
“Victor?”
“Has to be.”
They reached Sterling Crown Tower at 2:31.
The lobby was nearly empty.
Two security guards stood near the elevators.
One had blood running from his forehead.
Daniel rushed to him.
“What happened?”
“Guy came through the garage.”
“Victor Vale?”
The guard shook his head.
“His driver.”
Evan.
Sophie looked toward the elevator display.
One car was moving.
Floor 31.
Going up.
Daniel hit the call button.
Nothing.
“He disabled the lobby controls.”
Sophie ran toward the stairs.
Daniel cursed.
“Not again.”
They climbed.
Ten floors.
Twenty.
Sophie’s legs burned.
Her shoulder screamed from the earlier fight.
She kept moving.
Floor 37.
At 41, they heard footsteps above.
Sophie slowed.
Daniel put a finger to his lips.
They reached the executive floor.
The stairwell door stood open.
Sophie’s office was at the end of the hall.
The door had been forced.
Inside, drawers were overturned.
Furniture ripped apart.
The package lay open on the desk.
Empty.
“No.”
Sophie searched the floor.
Nothing.
Daniel checked the hallway.
“He got it.”
Sophie looked at the window.
Then she noticed something.
A small strip of torn cardboard near the bookshelf.
She picked it up.
The package had contained a false bottom.
Under the cardboard was a handwritten message.
SOPHIE — TRUST NO DIGITAL COPY. ORIGINALS ARE IN THE PLACE YOUR FATHER TAUGHT YOU TO LOOK WHEN PEOPLE LIED.
Daniel frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Sophie stared at the words.
Then remembered.
She was nine years old.
Her father had taken her into his first hotel during construction.
He had pointed to the steel framework.
“When people lie,” he told her, “ignore the walls. Look at what’s holding them up.”
Sophie turned toward the architectural model across her office.
Sterling Crown Tower.
A four-foot replica her father had built personally.
She ran to it.
Lifted the base.
Nothing.
Daniel crouched beside her.
“Wait.”
One support column felt loose.
He twisted it.
A narrow compartment opened.
Inside was a flash drive.
Sophie almost laughed.
“Got you.”
Then a voice came from the doorway.
“No.”
They turned.
Evan stood there.
Gun in his hand.
May you like
Rainwater dripping from his jacket.
“You really didn’t.”
