He Thought His Mother Was Dead for 8 Years—Until She Appeared on Screen as a Gunman Threatened His Wife!

A deep mechanical rumble shook Meridian Tower. The elevator restarted, shooting toward the top floors. Mara slammed the emergency button, but Graham grabbed her wrist.

She drove her knee into his leg. He stumbled. She hit the door-release lever, and when the car stopped, she slipped into a smoke-filled service corridor.

Adrian was waiting near the stairwell, one hand clamped around his injured ribs. Behind him stood Evelyn, pale but steady.

“Where's Lily?” Mara shouted.

“Control room. Two floors up.”

Evelyn took Mara's shoulders. “I know what you think I did.”

“I know what you signed.”

“I will testify to every part of it. But first, help me stop the system.”

Mara studied her. She could accept the help without granting forgiveness.

“Show me.”

They climbed into an emergency control room filled with humming panels. Lily was at a terminal, trying to override the air purge. Tessa, the nurse they'd freed, had arrived with an evacuation team and was directing people down the stairs.

“Mara!” Lily cried.

Mara hugged her once, hard, then turned to the screen. “What's the problem?”

“The override requires two people in separate rooms,” Lily said. “One here. One at the mechanical relay by the roof.”

Adrian pointed to the ladder. “I'll go.”

“You're hurt,” Mara said.

“I'm still climbing.”

He started up. Mara followed before he could protest.

On the roof, the wind nearly knocked them off their feet. A metal housing stood near the edge. Adrian opened it with a wrench. Inside, a lever had been welded in place.

“Of course,” he muttered.

Mara took the wrench. “Can we break it?”

“Only if one of us holds the pressure line while the other cuts the weld.”

Below, a siren began its final countdown.

“Thirty seconds,” Lily said through the radio.

Adrian braced the pipe. Mara struck the weld until her arms ached. The metal snapped. The lever dropped, and the purge system shut down.