Chapter 20 - The Second Red Eye
The flash of police strobe lights painted the cracked concrete walls in erratic pulses of crimson and blue. Paramedics were rushing down the ramp, accompanied by federal agents brandishing search warrants.
Sterling and Vanessa were being dragged away in heavy metal handcuffs. Vanessa was hysterically screaming curses at Ethan, her immaculate face smeared with soot, tears, and ruined makeup.
"It's over, buddy," Ethan whispered soothingly to Noah, wiping the sweat from the boy's forehead. "Nobody will ever hurt you again. Daddy's got you."
Noah didn't look at Ethan.
The four-year-old child remained frozen in Margaret’s arms, his small arm trembling as he pointed a tiny finger past the server racks, toward the pitch-black ventilation shaft that led deep into the abandoned sub-tunnels beneath the river.
"Grandma..." Noah whispered, his voice trembling with a terror that made Margaret’s spine turn to ice.
Margaret turned to look where the boy was pointing. "What is it, sweetheart? The bad people are caught."
"No," Noah whimpered, shrinking back into her coat. "Not the bad lady. The other lady."
Ethan froze. "What do you mean, Noah? What other lady?"
"The lady from the screen," Noah whispered. "She was here. She took the other piece."
Margaret and Thomas exchanged a horrified glance. Thomas instantly drew his service weapon, clicking on his tactical flashlight and sweeping the beam into the gaping mouth of the subterranean vent.
The concrete dust around the vent opening had been recently disturbed. Fresh footprints—small, slender, female running shoes—led away from the lab, disappearing deep into the subterranean maintenance tunnels that connected to the public subway system two miles away.
And on the floor, right inside the entrance of the dark tunnel, lay a second, identical micro-storage drive.
Beside it, carved into the concrete wall with a razor blade, was a fresh, chilling message written in handwriting Margaret would recognize anywhere:
*“THANK YOU FOR DECRYPTING IT, MOTHER. NOAH IS NEXT.”*
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Sitting directly above the carved message, attached to the cold steel conduit, a tiny, unfamiliar red lens blinked twice.
Then it powered down, plunging the tunnel into total, suffocating darkness.
