“That tunnel was sealed years ago.”
“Not completely.”
Lena pointed toward the darkness.
“I’ve worked maintenance here for almost four years. There are old utility passages nobody uses anymore.”
Marcus studied her.
He had learned enough that morning to be suspicious of everyone.
“Why were you down here?”
Lena’s expression tightened.
“I was repairing a water line near the storage rooms. I heard voices.”
“Whose voices?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus looked at her carefully.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No,” Lena said. “But you don’t have time to decide whether you trust me.”
The answer irritated him.
Because it sounded exactly like something Eleanor would say.
Thomas glanced toward the tunnel they had entered through.
“Marcus, what if she’s right?”
Marcus looked at the security cameras mounted along the ceiling.
None were visible in this section.
That alone was enough to make him uneasy.
His radio crackled.
“Cole.”
Bennett.
Marcus didn’t answer.
Again.
“Officer Cole, respond.”
Thomas whispered, “What are you going to do?”
Marcus stared at the radio.
Then, slowly, he pressed the button.
“This is Cole.”
“Report to Security Control immediately.”
Marcus looked at Lena.
Her face had gone pale.
“Why?” Marcus asked.
A pause.
Then Bennett answered.
“Because Ms. Brooks has raised concerns regarding your conduct.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“What concerns?”
“Just report here.”
The radio went silent.
Marcus looked at Thomas.
“That doesn’t sound right.”
Thomas nodded.
“No.”
Lena stepped closer.
====================
Security Guard Blocked an Elderly Woman From the Executive Elevator—Then He Regret His Arrogance
====================
“I heard them.”
Marcus turned.
“The man with the briefcase?”
She shook her head.
“Both of them.”
Thomas frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Lena swallowed.
“There were two people in the room. The man with the briefcase and someone else.”
Marcus’s attention sharpened.
“What were they saying?”
“I couldn’t hear everything.”
“Tell me what you heard.”
Lena looked down.
“One of them said, ‘Bennett will take the blame.’”
Silence.
Marcus felt the meaning settle slowly into the room.
Thomas was the first to speak.
“So Bennett is being framed.”
“Maybe,” Marcus said.
Lena looked at him.
“You found his card, didn’t you?”
Marcus narrowed his eyes.
“How do you know that?”
Her face immediately changed.
She had said too much.
Marcus stepped closer.
“You were behind that door.”
Lena backed away.
“Yes.”
“And you knew we found the card?”
“I heard you.”
Marcus stared at her.
“What else did you hear?”
Lena said nothing.
Thomas moved between them.
“Marcus.”
But Marcus continued.
“You told us you found the cufflink after they left.”
“I did.”
“Then why didn’t you report it?”
Lena’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because I was scared.”
“Of whom?”
She looked toward the darkness again.
“That’s the problem.”
Marcus waited.
“I don’t know.”
That answer sounded honest.
Too honest to be useful.
Before Marcus could ask another question, a loud metallic bang echoed through the tunnel.
All three of them froze.
Another sound followed.
Footsteps.
Thomas immediately reached for his radio.
“Security—”
Static.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Marcus checked his own.
The same.
“No signal,” Thomas whispered.
Lena’s breathing became rapid.
“They found us.”
Marcus grabbed his flashlight.
“Who?”
Lena shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
The footsteps grew louder.
Marcus looked toward the narrow passage Lena had indicated.
“Go.”
Thomas stared at him.
“Are you serious?”
“Move.”
They ran.
The old utility passage was barely wide enough for one person. Rusted pipes forced them to duck as they moved through the darkness.
Behind them, another metallic sound echoed.
Someone had entered the tunnel.
Marcus kept Lena between himself and Thomas.
He still didn’t know if he trusted her.
But he knew one thing.
Someone wanted them found.
After several minutes, Lena stopped beside a concrete wall.
“There.”
Marcus looked.
There was nothing.
Just old pipes and cracked cement.
Lena reached behind one of the pipes and pulled a hidden lever.
A narrow section of the wall moved.
Thomas stared.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Lena pushed harder.
The opening revealed a small service corridor.
Marcus went first.
Thomas followed Lena.
As soon as they entered, Marcus pulled the wall shut behind them.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then Thomas looked at Marcus.
“Where does this go?”
Lena answered.
“Parking level three.”
Marcus checked his watch.
If they could reach the parking structure, they could access another security terminal.
He looked at Lena.
“You’re coming with us.”
She nodded.
“I wasn’t planning to leave.”
They moved forward.
But halfway down the corridor, Marcus stopped.
Something on the wall caught his attention.
A security camera.
New.
Recently installed.
Marcus approached it.
The small red light was blinking.
Thomas stared.
“This corridor isn’t supposed to be monitored.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Exactly.”
Someone had installed the camera recently.
Someone had been watching this passage.
Watching whoever used it.
Marcus suddenly remembered the man with the black briefcase.
The distraction in the lobby.
The erased access records.
The planted card.
And now this.
The evidence had not been hidden.
It had been placed where someone wanted it to be found.
Marcus reached up toward the camera.
Then stopped.
“Don’t touch it,” Lena whispered.
Marcus turned.
“Why?”
Lena pointed to the thin wire running along the wall.
It disappeared behind a metal panel.
Thomas followed it with his eyes.
Then his face changed.
“Marcus.”
Marcus crouched beside the panel.
There was a small electronic device attached to the wiring.
A transmitter.
Not part of the building’s security system.
Someone had created a private surveillance network inside Westbridge Center.