“Annie? Are you okay?”
“I’m safe. But there’s an active hostage and explosives situation at First National Bank. I need to know if there are any underground connections to that building.”
There was a pause, and Annie imagined Carmen’s brow furrowing the way it had when she studied blueprints.
“The bank connects to the old courthouse,” Carmen said slowly. “There’s a sub-basement service tunnel. Built in the forties. Emergency evacuation route. It’s not on most public schematics.”
Annie’s pulse leaped. “Where does it enter the courthouse?”
“Basement level. Behind records storage. It’s sealed, but the access door should still be there.”
“Can you meet me there?” Annie asked. “Now.”
Another pause. “Annie…if there are explosives—”
“Then people don’t have much time,” Annie said gently. “And Jack Calloway is in that building.”
“I’ll be there in five minutes,” Carmen said. “I’m calling in backup.”
Annie ended the call and turned back to Agent Chen. “The courthouse connects underground. There’s a tunnel tothe bank’s substructure. If anyone can navigate a compromised structure and move people out, it’s the fire department.”
Chen considered that for a brief, charged moment. Then she nodded sharply. “All right. We’ll move. But the evidence goes now.”
Two agents stepped forward. Annie hesitated, fingers tightening around the straps, then forced herself to release them. “Promise me it won’t disappear,” she said quietly.
“It won’t,” Chen said. “And neither will you.”
They split at the garage entrance. Federal vehicles pulled away with the portfolio secured inside, while Annie and Chen headed on foot toward the courthouse, sirens and shouting echoing through the surrounding streets. Fairview no longer looked like her hometown. It looked like a city under siege.
As they ran, Annie’s thoughts returned to Eleanor—not as a victim, but as a woman who had stood at the edge of her own ending and chosen to act anyway. Eleanor had hidden the truth believing someone, someday, would be brave enough to retrieve it.
“Help me be brave enough,” Annie whispered.
The courthouse rose ahead of them, its old stone face calm and indifferent. Carmen’s engine was already pulling up, lights flashing. She jumped out before it fully stopped.
“Show me,” Annie said.
Carmen led them through a side entrance and down a narrow staircase into the basement. The air grew cooler, the walls thicker. Rows of shelving gave way to older brick and sealed doors. Carmen stopped in front of one, dust heavy on its surface.
“This is it.”
Together, they wrenched it open.
Darkness waited beyond.
Annie stepped forward, heart pounding, knowing with a terrible certainty that Jack was somewhere beneath her feet, standing inside a building wired to die.
And she was not going to leave him there.
***
Jack stood in the bank's main lobby, watching Sarah Mitchell's mercenaries position themselves around the room with military precision. The hostages—bank employees and customers who'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time—sat on the floor near the teller windows, their faces reflecting a mixture of terror and desperate hope.
But it was the electronic equipment that commanded Jack's attention. Laptops, communication devices, and what looked like remote detonation controls were set up on multiple desks throughout the room. This wasn't just a hostage situation—it was a command center for Something much larger and more destructive.
"Admiring our setup?" Sarah Mitchell asked, approaching him with that same cold smile. "We've spent considerable time and resources planning this operation."
"Planning to blow up a building full of innocent people?" Jack kept his voice steady despite the fury building in his chest. "That's what this is about, isn't it? You're not just trying to steal Eleanor's evidence—you're planning to destroy it completely, along with everyone who's seen it."
