Chapter 4 - Locker 317
The timer beneath Dominic’s chair showed four minutes.
His hands were tied behind him. Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow, but his eyes remained alert.
“Sophie, leave.”
She locked the storage-room door behind her.
“No.”
“It’s pressure-sensitive. If you touch the chair, the timer accelerates.”
“Where’s Caldwell?”
“Watching.”
A security camera above the lockers turned toward them.
Caldwell’s voice came through a speaker.
“Place Michael’s drive inside the slot.”
A metal compartment opened beside Locker 317.
Sophie held up the flash drive.
“Release Dominic first.”
“You aren’t negotiating.”
“Then you don’t get the evidence.”
Caldwell reminded her that Lily was vulnerable. Sophie’s heart seized, but Dominic spoke firmly.
“Lily is safe.”
“How do you know?”
“Evelyn took her somewhere even I don’t know.”
Caldwell could not attack a location Dominic could not reveal.
Sophie examined the bomb. Michael had taught her basic emergency procedures when they were young. Never touch an unknown device. Identify the trigger. Search for a secondary mechanism.
Three wires ran beneath the timer, but one was newer than the others.
Dominic followed her gaze.
“It’s designed to make you think you can disarm it.”
“Can I?”
“No.”
“Encouraging.”
The timer dropped below three minutes.
Sophie approached the camera.
“You want the drive because it contains names.”
“Correct.”
“But you don’t know if it’s encrypted.”
Silence.
Michael had always used family memories as passwords. Their mother’s lullaby. Their father’s favorite saying. Lily’s name, perhaps, though he had died before her birth.
Sophie realized Caldwell needed more than the device.
He needed her.
She inserted the drive into the slot.
The timer stopped.
Dominic closed his eyes briefly.
“Sophie.”
“I’m not giving him the password.”
A monitor illuminated. Files appeared, all locked.
Caldwell ordered her to enter the code.
Instead, Sophie typed a message.
UPLOAD ALL FILES TO PUBLIC SERVERS.
The screen requested a password.
She remembered Michael’s letter: Remember what Dad used to say about Mom’s lullaby.
Their father had always kissed their foreheads after the song and said, Courage is love refusing to run.
Sophie typed the phrase without spaces.
The files opened.
Caldwell cursed through the speaker.
Sophie pressed upload.
The timer resumed—now at thirty seconds.
The door unlocked, and armed men entered.
Dominic kicked one attacker’s knee despite being tied to the chair. Sophie seized the fallen man’s gun and slid it across the floor.
Dominic caught it and fired at the bomb’s remote receiver mounted on the wall.
Sparks erupted.
The timer froze at seven seconds.
Vincent and Evelyn rushed into the room with Dominic’s remaining guards. A violent struggle filled the corridor, but within moments Caldwell’s men were disarmed.
Vincent cut Dominic free.
The upload reached ninety-eight percent.
Then the station lost power.
Everything went black.
Emergency lights came on.
The drive was gone.
One of Caldwell’s men had taken it during the fight.
Dominic tried to follow, but his injured leg buckled. Sophie caught his arm.
“Let them go,” Vincent said. “The station is surrounded.”
“They’ll kill Caldwell’s courier before we reach him,” Dominic replied.
Sophie checked the monitor.
The upload had stopped at ninety-eight percent, but a smaller message remained.
AUTOMATIC BACKUP SENT.
“To where?” Dominic asked.
Sophie smiled for the first time since entering the station.
“My email.”
Michael had known her better than Caldwell ever could.
The evidence included transport records, bank transfers, audio recordings, and photographs linking Caldwell to an international trafficking operation.
But one file remained encrypted separately.
Michael_Final_Recording.
Sophie’s hand trembled over the keyboard.
Dominic turned away.
“You don’t have to listen tonight.”
“Yes, I do.”
Michael appeared on-screen inside a dark military vehicle. Noise thundered around him. His face was dirty, but he was alive.
“Soph, if this reaches you, things went bad.”
Sophie covered her mouth.
Michael explained that Dominic had warned him the mission was dangerous. Dominic had offered to go himself, but Michael refused because his military credentials gave him access.
“This was my choice,” Michael said. “Don’t let Romano carry it like a sentence. He’ll try. He’s dramatic that way.”
A broken laugh escaped Sophie through her tears.
Michael continued.
“Caldwell knows about you. Dominic wanted to move you somewhere safe, but I told him you’d fight him.”
Dominic lowered his head.
“I asked him for one promise. If I don’t make it home, he protects my little sister without controlling her life.”
Sophie looked at Dominic.
He had fulfilled only half the promise.
Michael smiled sadly into the camera.
“And Soph? If you ever have kids, tell them their uncle was brave. Even if that’s not completely true. I’m scared right now.”
Gunfire sounded.
Michael looked toward the vehicle door.
“I love you. Live well enough for both of us.”
The recording ended.
Sophie wept silently.
Dominic remained several feet away, giving her the space he should have given from the beginning.
“You didn’t kill him,” she said.
“I sent the request that placed him there.”
“He chose to go.”
“That doesn’t erase my responsibility.”
“No. But guilt isn’t the same as guiltiness.”
Their eyes met.
Before either could say more, Evelyn’s phone rang.
She answered, listened, and went pale.
“What happened?” Dominic demanded.
Evelyn looked at Sophie.
“The safe house was attacked.”
Sophie’s blood turned cold.
“Where’s Lily?”
May you like
Evelyn could barely speak.
“They took her.”
