Chapter 10 - The Road Under Water
Ethan stole nothing.
He signed out a county rescue truck with a volunteer firefighter who remembered his name.
"Your dad built half this town," the man said.
Ethan looked at him.
"That's the problem."
Lily climbed in beside him. Claire refused to stay behind.
Ruth stayed with Mia and handed Ethan an old brass key.
"Control cabinet. Red door."
Rain sheeted across the windshield.
Halfway to the pump station, they found a sedan angled into a ditch.
The driver's door hung open.
Claire pointed.
"That's Thomas's car."
They followed footprints through knee-deep water toward the concrete station.
Inside, warning alarms screamed.
One turbine was already cycling.
Thomas stood at the control panel with a gun.
"Stop."
Ethan froze.
Thomas looked at Claire.
"You should have stayed gone."
Claire held up the blue ledger.
"You should have burned this twenty-two years ago."
His face changed.
He raised the gun.
Lily saw the red emergency lever behind him.
She moved left.
Thomas tracked her.
"Rachel had the same look," he said. "Always thinking she could fix people."
Lily's hands went cold.
"You killed my mother."
"I gave her chances."
That was enough.
Ethan moved.
Thomas fired.
The shot hit the ceiling.
Claire slammed the ledger into his wrist.
The gun skidded under a console.
Lily yanked the emergency lever.
The turbine screamed and stopped.
For one second, all they heard was rain.
Then Thomas smiled.
"Too late."
A second alarm began flashing.
REMOTE OVERRIDE ACTIVE.
Ethan stared at the screen.
Someone else had opened the gate from another location.
The authorization name appeared beneath the alert.
May you like
WADE MERCER.
Claire whispered, "He's still alive too."
