Chapter 13 - Fire in the Archive
Mason’s vehicle reached the archive building just as smoke began curling beneath the loading door.
“Call the fire department,” Mason ordered.
Daniel tried to step out.
Claire held him back.
“You can barely stand.”
“Rebecca may be inside.”
“So are federal agents. Let them do their job.”
An explosion of glass sounded from the second floor.
Flames appeared behind a row of windows.
Mason and two agents entered through the loading bay.
Claire remained beside Daniel, but then she heard something through the open doorway.
A woman screaming.
“Help!”
Daniel moved first.
Claire caught him before he fell.
“You are not going in there.”
“I know the building layout.”
“So tell the firefighters.”
He pointed toward the eastern wall.
“The office is behind that side. There is an exterior emergency door, but it locks automatically.”
Claire looked at the heavy steel door partly hidden behind vines.
She ran toward it.
Daniel followed as quickly as his weakened body allowed.
They reached the emergency door.
A keypad blinked red.
Daniel entered his old executive code.
ACCESS DENIED.
“Victor removed me,” he said.
Claire examined the frame.
A narrow gap showed smoke moving behind the door.
Daniel pulled the false funeral key from his memory.
“The archive locks were never upgraded. The old master key pattern matches the deposit key.”
“But Victor has the decoy.”
Claire touched her empty necklace.
Mason had the real key.
Inside, Rebecca screamed again.
Daniel grabbed a landscaping stone and struck the keypad cover.
It broke open, exposing wires.
Claire remembered the emergency override procedure from years of visiting Daniel at the lab.
She crossed the yellow and black wires.
The lock clicked.
They pulled the door open.
Smoke rushed over them.
Daniel covered Claire’s mouth with his sleeve.
They moved down a narrow hall.
At the back office, Victor stood over Rebecca with a lighter in his hand.
He turned as Daniel entered.
For the first time, Victor looked truly terrified.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
Daniel stepped between Victor and the door.
“You tried.”
Victor threw the lighter toward the spilled fuel.
Claire kicked the metal container aside.
The lighter struck the floor.
A thin line of flame raced toward a stack of documents.
Rebecca shouted.
“Blue cabinet! The drive is in the blue cabinet!”
Victor lunged toward it.
Daniel grabbed him.
May you like
Both men crashed against the desk.
👉 The encrypted drive was only feet away—but the fire reached the cabinet before either man could open it.
