Chapter 50 - The Drainage Labyrinth
I turned back in the opening, looking through the half-opened hatch.
Standing ten feet away in the swirling smoke, illuminated by the orange inferno consuming the main turbine hall, was Thomas Sterling.
His clothes were torn, his silver hair was matted with dried river mud, and half of his face was bruised purple from the impact with the gorge rocks. But his hand was steady. In his grip was an old, engraved Colt Python—the revolver our grandfather had given him when he took over the family firm.
"You always were your mother's daughter," Thomas said, his voice completely level despite the flames roaring around him. "Weak. Sentimental. You thought you could take the money and expose the company?"
"It wasn't a company, Thomas," I said, my voice steady, staring into the barrel of the revolver. "It was an extermination network. The samples Vance was keeping in the sub-level of the garage—they were the same ones you used on Mom."
Thomas’s cold blue eyes didn't even flicker. "Your mother refused to understand that progress requires sacrifice. She wanted to turn the research over to the Department of Justice. I did what was necessary to preserve this family’s legacy."
"You destroyed this family," I said.
Thomas slowly cocked the hammer of the Python. "The biometric transfer will reverse itself in seven minutes if your pulse ceases, Rachel. That’s how the offshore ledger works. Hand me the drive, step out of the pipe, and Vance can take the blame for everything. You have my word as a Sterling."
"Your word is worth as much as the frosting on that cake," I said.
I didn't dive into the tunnel. Instead, I kicked the rusted support strut that held the massive circular hatch propped open.
The strut snapped. The two-ton iron bulkhead dropped like a guillotine.
May you like
*BANG!*
The revolver discharged at the exact instant the hatch slammed shut with a deafening, final *CLANG*, the heavy steel reverberating like a cathedral bell. The bullet ricocheted violently off the iron face, whining into the darkness.
