Chapter 13 - THE MINE BENEATH THE MOUNTAIN
Snow began falling as they approached the Vale mine.
Rose carried the ledgers inside a metal case.
Adrian wore a concealed transmitter Daniel had designed to function below ground.
Nora entered the ventilation shaft thirty minutes before them.
The narrow passage tore her sleeves and scraped her palms.
She moved slowly through darkness, guided by the mine map and the sound of distant machinery.
Below her, voices echoed through the tunnels.
Victor had brought Lily into an underground office.
The little girl sat tied to a wooden chair.
Captain Brand stood near the entrance.
Dr. Warren had somehow escaped custody during a staged hospital transfer.
He prepared another syringe.
Lily stared at it.
“What is that?”
“Something to help you sleep,” Warren said.
“I do not want it.”
Victor raised one hand.
“Not yet.”
He needed Lily conscious until Rose surrendered the ledgers.
Nora crawled above the office through an iron ventilation grate.
She could see Lily directly below.
Lily’s cream-colored rabbit rested on a table.
Victor had sewn something into it again.
Nora remembered the tracking device.
This one could be explosive.
At the eastern entrance, Adrian and Rose entered the mine.
Victor’s guards searched them.
They removed Adrian’s visible weapons but missed the transmitter sewn into his coat.
Victor appeared on a monitor.
“Mother.”
Rose stared at the screen.
“You always were a coward.”
Victor smiled.
“And you always confused recklessness with courage.”
“Release Lily.”
“Bring the ledgers to the central chamber.”
Rose and Adrian were escorted deeper underground.
Nora quietly removed the ventilation grate.
She lowered herself into the office behind Warren.
Lily saw her.
Nora raised one finger to her lips.
Lily remained perfectly still.
Nora moved toward the chair.
Before she could reach it, a voice sounded behind her.
“You should have stayed invisible.”
Captain Brand stood in the doorway.
He aimed his pistol at Nora’s chest.
Lily screamed.
Nora threw herself behind the table.
Brand fired.
The bullet struck the cream-colored rabbit.
A metallic device inside it began beeping.
Victor’s voice came through the intercom.
May you like
“Elias, what have you done?”
The countdown displayed thirty seconds.
