Chapter 9 - THE HOUSE OF LIES
Grant raised both hands.
“This warrant is false.”
The officer stepped forward.
“Turn around.”
Detective Ellis appeared behind us.
“Put your weapons down.”
The officer showed her a document.
“It came from a federal judge.”
Mara examined it.
“This judge retired three years ago.”
The officer looked confused.
Mara drew her weapon.
“Who sent you?”
The man reached inside his jacket.
Mara tackled him before he could pull out his gun.
The other officers backed away.
They had been hired through a private security company.
Their uniforms were convincing.
Their warrant was not.
Malcolm had created an entire police operation to stop us from reaching the factory.
We left through the hospital loading dock.
Nadia remained with Lily.
Mara drove.
Grant sat beside her.
I watched the countdown on my phone.
Four hours remained.
Plant Four stood beyond a rusted fence in a valley surrounded by dead trees.
The upper structure was gone.
Only a concrete foundation remained.
Grant found a concealed keypad beneath a metal panel.
He entered an old executive code.
Nothing happened.
I remembered Renata’s words.
The rabbit was a key.
“Lily’s yellow rabbit had a silver button on its stomach.”
Grant looked at me.
“What shape?”
“A flower.”
He studied the keypad.
One button displayed the same symbol.
He pressed it.
The ground trembled.
A section of concrete lifted slowly, revealing a ramp descending underground.
Cold air rose from below.
It smelled like metal and chemicals.
Mara called for backup.
The radio returned only static.
“They’re jamming communications.”
Grant found three emergency flashlights.
We entered.
The underground corridors were lined with sealed laboratory doors.
Old warning signs covered the walls.
TOXIC MATERIALS.
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
Grant stopped at one door.
Through the glass, we saw hundreds of barrels marked with false shipping labels.
“This is why Claire wanted to leave,” he said.
“What is it?”
“Chemical waste.”
“Our company was paid to dispose of it.”
“Malcolm buried it instead.”
Mara photographed everything.
“Claire found out.”
Grant nodded.
“She chaired the environmental foundation.”
“She must have discovered the payments.”
A loudspeaker clicked above us.
Malcolm’s voice echoed through the corridor.
“Welcome home, nephew.”
Grant looked up.
“Where is Helen?”
“Still alive.”
“Release her.”
“Bring me Lily.”
“She isn’t here.”
The lights flickered.
“Then Emma’s mother will die knowing her daughter chose another child.”
I ran toward the sound of machinery.
Grant grabbed my arm.
“That’s what he wants.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will when he kills you too.”
A metal door slammed behind us.
Gas hissed from the ceiling.
Mara covered her mouth.
“Move!”
We ran into a side chamber.
Grant sealed the door.
Through the glass, white gas filled the corridor.
My phone received another photograph.
My mother remained tied to the chair.
The clock beside her showed one hour.
Beneath the image was a message.
ASK HER WHAT CLAIRE SAID BEFORE SHE DIED.
I stared at Grant.
“My mother heard Claire’s last words.”
Before he could answer, someone knocked from inside the dark chamber.
Three slow knocks.
Then my mother’s voice whispered from behind a steel wall.
“Emma?”
I ran toward it.
“Mom!”
“Don’t open the door!”
Her voice was weak.
“It’s connected to the explosives.”
A red light appeared above the wall.
The countdown changed.
Fifty-nine minutes became five.
May you like
Malcolm’s voice filled the chamber.
“Let us see which woman Grant Callahan chooses to save.”
