Chapter 8 - The Truth Above Floor Forty-Three
Roman grabbed the elevator doors before they closed completely.
His security men pulled them apart.
"Nobody gets inside," he ordered.
But Evan suddenly screamed.
"Mom!"
I turned.
He was staring at the elevator ceiling.
"The sound!"
Roman looked up.
The same metallic vibration returned.
Then a sharp click.
Something inside the elevator shifted.
Roman immediately pulled us backward.
The elevator doors closed.
The cabin rose.
Then stopped.
Roman's security chief stared at the display.
"There's no forty-fourth floor."
Roman looked at him.
"Exactly."
The hotel officially had forty-three floors.
But the elevator had just gone above them.
A hidden floor.
I understood why the old plans had been incomplete.
Roman looked at the security chief.
"Can we access it?"
"Not from here."
Evan stepped forward.
"I can."
Everyone looked at him.
He pointed at the emergency panel.
"The button."
Roman stared.
Evan continued.
"Mr. Ortega said the elevator only opens if the emergency system knows you're supposed to be there."
Roman looked at the yellow recall button.
Then at the hidden microphone.
"How?"
Evan pointed toward the old control room.
"There's another button."
We returned to B-17.
Evan walked directly to the wall.
He pressed a small section.
Nothing happened.
Then he pressed again.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a brass key.
Roman took it.
The key had one number.
He inserted it into a hidden lock beside the old elevator controls.
A green light appeared.
The elevator began descending.
Then stopped at B-17.
The doors opened.
Beyond them was not the hotel.
It was a private corridor.
Roman stepped inside.
I followed with Evan.
The corridor led to a large office.
The walls were covered with photographs.
Roman.
Me.
Evan.
Trent.
Daniel.
Marcus.
Hundreds of images.
Years of surveillance.
Roman stared at them.
"This is everything."
I walked toward one wall.
There was a photograph of me entering the hotel on my first day.
Another showed Evan sleeping in a staff room.
Another showed me carrying him after a night shift.
I felt tears in my eyes.
Someone had watched our entire lives.
Roman saw something else.
A photograph of Daniel.
Taken yesterday.
Roman froze.
"He's here."
A voice came from behind us.
"Yes."
We turned.
Daniel Ortega stood in the doorway.
Older.
Thinner.
But alive.
Evan immediately recognized him.
"Mr. Ortega."
Daniel smiled sadly.
"I'm sorry, Evan."
The boy ran toward him.
I caught him before he reached Daniel.
Roman stared.
"Explain."
Daniel looked at Roman.
"I've been trying to protect you."
"For three years?"
"For three years."
"You let me believe you were dead."
"If they knew I was alive, they would have killed everyone connected to me."
Roman's eyes shifted toward me.
"And Meera?"
Daniel looked at me.
"She was never supposed to be part of this."
I shook my head.
"But I was."
Daniel nodded.
"Because Evan saw something."
"What?"
Daniel looked at Evan.
"The night you started working here, your son saw Marcus enter this building."
Roman's expression changed.
Evan was three years old.
He remembered almost nothing from that age.
But apparently he remembered enough.
Daniel continued.
"Marcus was the one controlling the sabotage."
Roman stepped forward.
"Where is he?"
Daniel looked toward the office window.
"He has been closer than you think."
Suddenly the lights turned off.
A door slammed somewhere behind us.
Daniel whispered:
"He's here."
Roman's security team drew closer.
A voice came through the office speakers.
"Hello, Roman."
Roman froze.
The voice continued.
"You've spent three years looking for me."
Roman stared at the speaker.
"Marcus."
A quiet laugh came through.
"Your little friend found the truth."
Daniel stepped toward the control panel.
The voice continued.
"But you still haven't asked the most important question."
Roman's eyes narrowed.
"Which is?"
"Why did I need Evan to press the button?"
Silence.
Then every screen in the office turned on.
The same image appeared.
A live view of the hotel lobby.
Marcus was standing there.
And beside him stood Trent.
Roman's face became cold.
But then the camera moved.
Another person entered the frame.
Roman stopped breathing.
It was someone he trusted.
Someone who had been beside him all night.
The screen went black.
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And Daniel whispered one sentence:
"Roman, don't turn around."
