Chapter 14 The Hidden Safehouse
Chapter 14 — The Third Key
The explosion shattered the front gate.
Smoke rolled across the driveway as black SUVs stormed through the entrance.
At least twenty armed men poured out.
Not a single police siren followed.
Samuel looked at the security monitor.
"They're here."
Daniel didn't move.
His eyes remained fixed on the two brass keys lying on the table.
"If there are three keys..."
"...which one is real?"
Harold answered quietly.
"Richard never trusted anyone with that answer."
Another explosion rocked the mansion.
The front doors shook violently.
Charlie was gone.
The house felt strangely empty without his voice.
Olivia grabbed Daniel's arm.
"We have to leave now."
Samuel nodded.
"The underground tunnel."
Harold stopped them.
"No."
They all turned.
"The tunnel is exactly where they'll expect us to go."
Daniel frowned.
"Then what?"
Harold walked toward the massive stone fireplace in the library.
He reached beneath the wooden mantel.
A hidden latch clicked.
The fireplace slowly rotated sideways.
Behind it...
Another passage.
Older.
Narrower.
Covered in dust.
Samuel stared.
"I've lived here three years..."
"...and never found this."
Harold smiled faintly.
"Because Richard built it himself."
Gunfire erupted downstairs.
The front doors finally gave way.
Voices echoed through the mansion.
"Search every room!"
"They're still inside!"
Samuel immediately led Olivia into the passage.
Daniel picked up both brass keys.
Harold stopped him.
"No."
Daniel looked confused.
Harold gently removed one of the keys from his hand.
"You only need one."
"Which one?"
Harold smiled.
"I honestly don't know."
Daniel stared at him.
"What?"
Richard had trusted Harold with everything.
Harold slowly closed Daniel's fingers around the remaining key.
"I was never supposed to know."
"He separated the truth so completely..."
"...that even I couldn't betray him."
Daniel looked down at the key in his palm.
He had no idea whether he held the real one...
Or the fake.
Harold quietly placed the other key into his own pocket.
"If they catch us..."
"...they'll never know which one matters."
Daniel suddenly understood.
Harold wasn't carrying the spare key.
He was becoming the decoy.
Gunfire echoed much closer now.
Samuel shouted from inside the tunnel.
"They're coming!"
Harold smiled warmly.
The same smile Richard Brooks used to wear.
"Go."
Daniel hesitated.
"They'll kill you."
Harold nodded once.
"Probably."
"But Richard saved my life thirty-five years ago."
"I've been borrowing time ever since."
Heavy boots thundered through the hallway outside.
The library doors burst open.
Masked gunmen flooded into the room.
Harold calmly stepped away from the fireplace.
He raised both hands.
One of the soldiers immediately spotted the brass key.
"There!"
"The key!"
Every weapon turned toward Harold.
No one noticed Daniel, Olivia, and Samuel disappearing into the hidden passage.
The last thing Daniel saw before the stone fireplace sealed shut...
Was Harold smiling at the men surrounding him.
Then...
He deliberately dropped the key onto the floor.
The gunmen lunged for it instantly.
Above the chaos...
A familiar voice echoed through the mansion.
Not Charlie's.
Richard Brooks'.
Hidden speakers suddenly came alive throughout the house.
"If you're hearing this..."
"...you're already too late."
The entire mansion went dark.
