Chapter 5 - The Thirtieth Floor

"What does that mean?" Claire asked.

A crash sounded on Nina's end of the call. A door banged open.

"Nina?"

"Someone's here," Nina whispered. "Get the copy out. Don't trust the—"

The connection died.

Ethan reached for the phone. Claire jerked it back. "You don't get to make one more decision for me."

"Fine. Then here's information. Pike has access to every camera in the tower. We can't stay in the stairwell."

The lights flickered twice. A panel slid open behind the shelving, startling them both.

A woman in coveralls stepped through. She had a shaved undercut, tired eyes, and an electrician's flashlight clenched between her teeth.

"I'm Lena Cho," she said. "Building systems. Your alarm tripped an outside monitoring service. Pike can't erase that log. He can erase you, though, so move."

Claire hesitated. "How do you know my name?"

"Because I sent Ruth the maintenance records she used to build her case."

Lena led them through a narrow service passage. Pipes clicked overhead. The siren had stopped, leaving a silence somehow worse.

"Riverbend was a death trap," Lena said. "My dad delivered groceries there. After the fire, he found fourteen names scratched into the sidewalk by the families. They painted over them the next morning."

"My brother was one," Claire said.

Lena looked back. "Tommy Bennett? Blue bike?"

Claire stopped walking. "You knew him?"

"He gave my dad his coat during a snowstorm. Dad kept asking about him for years."

They emerged into a maintenance control room. Monitors showed every elevator, loading bay, and emergency exit in Vale Tower. Lena pulled up a recording from the garage: a black van rolling out at 8:41 p.m., Ellie visible through the rear window.

"That's her," Claire said, touching the screen.

Lena zoomed in on the driver's profile. His face was hidden, but a silver watch flashed as he turned the wheel.

Ethan leaned close. The blood drained from his face.

"I gave him that watch," he said.

"Who?" Claire asked.

"My mother's security chief. Damon Pike."

On another monitor, an elevator opened behind them. Four armed men stepped onto the thirtieth floor.

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Lena locked the control-room door.

"They found us," she said.