Chapter 13 - THE OLD PASSAGE
My mother hated modern systems she could not kick.
So she built one thing computers could not lock.
A steel service stair behind the boardroom wall.
Manual release.
No network.
I pressed the medallion into an old brass recess. The panel opened.
"Your mother was terrifying."
"Yes."
We moved the directors down the stair while Rachel stayed connected to investigators by satellite phone.
Simon refused.
Ethan took the transmitter from him.
"You're coming."
On Level B, Pike had sealed the founder vault electronically.
Mechanical override required two founder authorizations.
Mine.
And Evelyn's.
She had been dead twelve years.
"Mom's safe deposit key."
The head was stamped with the Bellmont sun.
Claire had been given Evelyn's secondary founder authority.
My mother trusted her.
Vanessa inserted the key.
I used the medallion.
Inside, the paper ledger remained where we left it.
Simon's face fell.
"Not everything important lives on a server."
Then a shot cracked in the corridor.
Everyone dropped.
Ethan pushed me behind the vault door.
Security officers returned fire. Pike ran. Simon bolted after him.
Vanessa shouted.
I grabbed her before she could follow. "No."
"My father is down there."
"And Pike is armed."
"He'll kill him."
The truth was ugly.
She still loved Nathan.
Maybe love survives facts longer than dignity does.
The tunnel ended near the old marina.
Pike had Simon by the collar. Nathan stood beside a black launch.
He had come back to the resort.
Seven years after burying me, my brother finally stood ten yards away.
Older.
Gray at the temples.
Still wearing our father's watch.
"Amelia."
I wanted rage.
"Dad."
Nathan looked at his daughter, then at Claire's key in her hand.
"You found her box."
"She told me what you did."
Then Pike raised his weapon toward Vanessa.
May you like
Nathan moved in front of her.
The shot hit him.
