Chapter 14 - The Drive Behind the Steel Panel
Flames climbed the front of the blue cabinet.
Claire dropped to her knees beside Rebecca and pulled at the rope around her wrists.
The knot was tight.
Smoke filled the room.
Daniel struggled with Victor near the desk.
Victor was stronger, and Daniel’s body had not recovered from the drugs.
He drove an elbow into Daniel’s ribs.
Daniel fell against the wall.
Victor reached for the cabinet handle.
It burned his palm.
He cursed and stepped back.
Rebecca coughed.
“The drive is not inside the drawer.”
Claire looked at her.
“Where is it?”
“Behind the back panel.”
Claire freed one of Rebecca’s hands.
Together, they pulled the chair away from the flames.
Daniel rose again and blocked Victor.
“You poisoned me,” he said.
Victor smiled through the smoke.
“I only finished what your mother started.”
Daniel froze.
Claire heard him.
So did the backup transmitter still clipped beneath Daniel’s shirt.
Outside, Detective Mason heard every word.
Victor continued, believing the fire would destroy the recording.
“Margaret put the sedative in your coffee. I added the cardiac suppressant after you reached the hospital.”
Daniel’s face changed.
His mother had not simply approved the plan.
She had begun it.
Victor swung at him.
Daniel ducked and drove his shoulder into Victor’s chest.
They crashed into the cabinet.
The steel panel bent outward.
A small black drive fell onto the floor.
Claire saw it.
So did Victor.
Both moved at once.
Victor shoved Daniel aside and reached down.
Claire grabbed the metal fuel container and swept it across the floor, knocking the drive away from his hand.
It slid beneath Rebecca’s chair.
Rebecca trapped it beneath her shoe.
Mason and the agents burst into the room wearing smoke masks.
“Hands where I can see them!”
Victor grabbed Claire and pulled her against him.
He pressed a broken piece of metal near her throat.
“Back away.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Mason raised his weapon but held his position.
Victor dragged Claire toward the emergency exit.
“You ruined everything,” he whispered into her ear.
Claire looked at Daniel.
His hands were empty.
His body was shaking.
But his eyes were fixed on the hand holding her.
Daniel gave her a tiny signal.
Tap.
Tap.
May you like
Claire understood.
👉 Daniel had no weapon and barely enough strength to stand—but the old signal told Claire exactly when to fight back.
