Chapter 11 - A Call From Under the Mountain
Marcus had found the lower level.
"Open up, Jonas," he shouted through the door. "Victoria says she only wants the files."
"And you believe her?" Evelyn called.
"I believe she'll bury all of us if she has to."
Mara leaned close to Clara. "He isn't lying about that. I've watched her ruin people for less."
The door buckled under a second blow. Jonas took them through a service passage too narrow for the guard's equipment. At the far end, an old red telephone hung beside a weather-station control box.
"The emergency line runs outside the estate network," he said. "June and I arranged it before they cut off the main roads."
Clara picked up the receiver. A woman answered on the second ring.
"FBI field office. Agent Sofia Ortiz."
"My name is Clara Reed. I'm under Westmere Estate. There are people in tanks. My father was supposed to be dead."
A short silence followed.
"Clara," Ortiz said, "June sent me material last month. We have been looking for the entrance. Tell me exactly where you are."
Clara described the shaft, the oak, and the service lift. Ortiz promised a team was approaching the north gate. She didn't promise they would get through in time.
"We need the original archive," Ortiz said. "Without it, Victoria's lawyers will claim the facility was abandoned research."
"It takes both of us to release it," Clara said.
"Then keep your sister alive."
Metal screamed from the corridor behind them. Marcus had forced the medical door.
Before Clara could hang up, Ortiz said, "One more thing. We traced a transfer from your aunt's apartment the day she died. June sent a second packet to this estate."
May you like
"What packet?"
"A death certificate," Ortiz said. "With your name on it."
