Chapter 8 - The Hidden Compartment
The digital display changed from red to a steady, pale blue. The humming sound in the walls died down, replaced by the heavy, rhythmic thrum of the emergency ventilation fans kicking in overhead.
"He bypassed the lock," Brian breathed, collapsing against the edge of the steel table. "The remote uplink just opened the main drainage valve."
"Don't move yet," Miller warned, keeping her weapon raised until the air monitors on the wall dropped from hazardous red to safe green. "That old bastard doesn't give up that easily. He’s played us twice already."
We waited in the tense silence for three full minutes while the fans cleared the residual vapor from the room. As the air grew clearer, the smell of almonds faded, replaced by the damp, earthy scent of the old stone foundation.
"We need to get upstairs," I said, thinking of Chloe in the ambulance. "The paramedics said she’d need observation for at least twelve hours, but I want to be with her."
"Go," Brian said, squeezing my shoulder. "I’ll meet you out there as soon as I secure the logs from this terminal. Miller needs to bag the physical evidence before the state troopers take over jurisdiction."
As I turned toward the stairs leading out of the workshop, my foot caught on a slight unevenness in the floorboards near the base of the main support pillar. I looked down. Unlike the rest of the poured concrete basement, this small section was covered by an iron grating that had been painted to match the floor.
"Brian, look at this," I called out, kneeling beside the grate.
May you like
Brian walked over, brushing a layer of fine white dust off the metal. "It’s an access hatch. But the blueprints didn't show anything below the sub-basement."
With a sharp pull, the heavy iron plate lifted away, revealing a dark shaft descending into the earth. Inside, illuminated by the faint amber glow of my phone's flashlight, was a series of wooden crates stamped with the logo of an international shipping firm from the early nineteen-eighties—long before Brian and I had even met.
