Chapter 5 - The Glass Labyrinth
Red emergency lights flashed violently against the white marble corridor.
The loud, rhythmic screech of the alarm echoed off the walls. Heavy, fire-proof steel doors began descending automatically at both ends of the hallway, sealing floor eighty-five off from the rest of the hotel.
Julian bolted out of the office into the corridor. "Vane! What happened?!"
Vane was already sprint-running down the hall, his hand pressed to his ear piece, his sidearm drawn from his holster. "Main electrical panel in the basement was sabotaged! Thermite charges! Someone blew the hotel's private server rack!"
"The children!" Julian shouted, turning back toward the office door.
He slammed his hand against the digital lock panel. The screen flashed bright red: SYSTEM OVERRIDE - LOCKDOWN IN EFFECT.
"Dammit!" Julian snarled, raising his heavy leather-soled shoe and kicking the wooden door with all his strength. The frame cracked, but the steel deadbolt held fast.
Through the small reinforced glass window in the door, Julian looked inside.
The four children were no longer sitting on their chairs. They were standing in a circle in the center of the room. One of them reached under her pink organza dress, pulling out a small, metallic cylinder no larger than a lipstick tube. She twisted the top.
A thick, dense plume of sweet-smelling white smoke erupted from the tube, filling the office in seconds.
"Gas!" Julian yelled, pulling his shirt collar up over his nose and mouth. "Vane, shoot the lock!"
Vane raised his pistol and fired three heavy shots into the steel panel. Sparks flew, smoke erupted, and the door swung open.
Julian lunged into the smoke-filled room, coughing violently. He reached blindly toward the center of the floor, his hands searching for the small bodies of the girls.
His fingers touched only cold wood.
The room was empty.
Julian turned toward the back wall. A hidden service panel—used by hotel maintenance to access the air conditioning ducts—lay open, its heavy brass screws lying neatly on the floor.
"They're inside the ventilation shafts!" Julian gasped, waving the smoke away from his eyes. "How could five-year-old children open a high-pressure duct lock?!"
"They aren't five-year-old children, Mr. Sterling," a voice spoke behind him.
Julian spun around.
Standing in the doorway of the smoke-filled room was not Vane, nor Richard Vance.
It was a woman. She wore a pristine white lab coat over a dark turtleneck sweater. Her hair was dark, pulled back into a tight, severe bun. Her face was pale, thin, and lined with sharp, intellectual lines.
Julian froze. His eyes widened in horror.
May you like
"Clara..." he breathed.
The woman offered a faint, cold smile that didn't reach her pale green eyes. "Hello, Julian. You look handsome in white. Just like the night you bought my silence."
