Chapter 8 - The Courthouse
The courthouse was dark except for the clock tower.
11:18 p.m.
Forty-two minutes until Christmas.
Father Michael parked in an alley.
Cross checked the street. “Too quiet.”
Adrian nodded. “That’s because they’re already inside.”
Claire looked at Noah. “Then why are we going in?”
“Because the archive is probably past ninety percent.”
“And because Lena might be there,” Claire said.
Adrian didn’t answer.
She hated how much his silence still told her.
Father Michael opened a utility door with an old brass key.
“Judges think priests know everything,” he whispered. “Sometimes they’re right.”
They entered the basement.
Mia held Claire’s hand.
Adrian walked ahead with Cross.
The corridor smelled like paper and boiler heat.
At the records room, Adrian moved a filing cabinet and revealed a keypad.
He entered a code.
Red light.
Again.
Red.
Cross frowned. “Changed.”
Adrian looked toward Claire.
“Noah.”
“No.”
“I just need his hand near the scanner.”
“No needles?”
“No needles.”
She stepped closer.
Adrian gently supported Noah’s wrist.
His hands trembled.
Claire had never seen Adrian’s hands tremble.
The scanner turned green.
The wall opened.
Inside was a narrow operations room filled with dead monitors.
One screen flickered awake.
ARCHIVE ACCESS: 96%.
Adrian sat at the terminal and started typing.
Cross watched the door.
Claire stood behind Adrian with Noah.
“Can you stop it?”
“I can try.”
“That wasn’t reassuring.”
“Nothing about tonight is.”
Mia suddenly tugged Claire’s dress.
“There.”
She pointed toward a ventilation grate.
Claire heard it too.
A woman crying.
Adrian stopped typing.
“Mia?”
The girl ran toward the sound.
Claire caught her before she reached the hall.
Adrian opened the door carefully.
Across the corridor, a courtroom holding cell stood open.
Inside sat a woman with dark hair streaked with gray.
Her face was bruised.
Her wrists were zip-tied.
Mia screamed, “Mom!”
Lena Hart looked up.
Her eyes found Mia first.
Then Adrian.
Shock crossed her face.
“Adrian?”
He moved toward her.
Cross grabbed his coat.
“Trap.”
Lena shook her head violently.
“No, don’t come closer!”
A red light blinked beneath her chair.
Bomb.
Mia began sobbing.
Adrian crouched twenty feet away.
“Lena, listen to me. Can you move?”
“No.”
“Pressure trigger?”
She nodded.
Adrian looked at the timer.
02:14.
Claire’s lungs stopped working.
Lena stared at him.
“You have a son.”
Adrian looked back at Claire.
“Yes.”
Lena gave a broken smile.
“Then you finally understand why I lied to you.”
Adrian’s voice turned quiet.
“About Mia?”
Lena looked at the little girl.
“She isn’t yours.”
May you like
Then she looked at Cross.
“She’s his.”
