Chapter 14 - SITE CCelia did not tell the federal officers about Gabriel’s call.
She told herself it was because she needed time to verify the image. The truth was simpler.
She did not trust anyone.
Not after federal uniforms had hidden Gabriel’s soldiers. Not after Rebecca Lane had manipulated an FBI response. Not after Vincent’s security codes had been used against his own family.
Celia showed the video only to Margaret, Tommy, Evelyn and Pike.
Margaret watched it three times.
“That’s Daniel.”
“He looks twenty years older.”
“He is twenty years older.”
“But we buried him.”
“We buried a sealed casket.”
Margaret pressed her hand to her mouth.
“I never saw his body. Simon said the injuries were too severe.”
Tommy looked toward the ambulances.
“Boss needs to know.”
“Vincent is under arrest and being taken into surgery,” Celia said. “He can’t help us.”
“He can always help.”
“Tonight, Vincent’s version of helping shut down an entire city and nearly drowned dozens of prisoners.”
Tommy’s expression hardened.
“He did what was necessary.”
“No. He did what he knew. There’s a difference.”
Pike studied the video background.
“Site C may refer to Lakeside Behavioral Center, but the building has been abandoned since 2016.”
“Officially abandoned,” Evelyn said.
Judge Cross approached using a rescue blanket as a coat.
“I was held there before they transferred me to the vault.”
Everyone turned toward him.
“Can you get us inside?” Celia asked.
“There is a service entrance beneath the eastern wing.”
Pike shook his head.
“We need a federal tactical team.”
“Gabriel controls parts of the federal response,” Celia replied.
“Not everyone.”
“We don’t know who.”
Judge Cross looked toward the skyline.
“Gabriel’s power depends on secrecy. The prisoners are alive. His network is being exposed. He will not remain at Site C long.”
Celia checked the memory card.
“We go now.”
Margaret grabbed her arm.
“You are not walking into another trap.”
“He has Dad.”
“And if you bring the card, he will have all three of you.”
Celia looked at her mother.
For twelve years, Margaret had survived by remaining silent. Celia understood the fear now, but she could not inherit it.
“I spent half my life believing he chose to leave us,” Celia said. “I need him to know I came.”
Tommy secured weapons from a hidden compartment inside one of the Romano emergency vehicles.
Pike objected.
“I cannot accompany armed civilians into a hostage situation.”
Tommy handed him a radio.
“Then stay here.”
Pike took the weapon offered to him.
“I didn’t say I was staying.”
They left Chicago in an unmarked medical van while the city’s shutdown slowly eased. Vincent’s people restored bridge access and freight movement after Tommy transmitted authenticated orders.
Celia watched traffic begin moving again.
One command had stopped the city.
Another allowed it to breathe.
Power that large should never belong to one person.
The abandoned hospital stood near Lake Michigan, surrounded by dead trees and a rusted fence. Its windows were dark except for a single light on the upper floor.
Judge Cross directed them to a drainage tunnel beyond the rear parking lot.
They entered through a broken grate.
The tunnel led beneath the eastern wing, where old medical pipes ran along concrete walls.
Margaret carried a pistol despite Celia’s objections.
“I spent twelve years being afraid,” she said. “I’m finished.”
They reached a staircase.
Fresh footprints marked the dust.
Tommy examined them.
“Six men. Maybe eight.”
“Gabriel?” Celia asked.
“One person uses a cane or support.”
“My father.”
At the top of the stairs, they entered an old surgical ward.
Beds remained beneath stained sheets. Patient restraints hung from metal rails.
A television turned on by itself.
Gabriel appeared on the screen.
“Leave the weapons.”
Tommy aimed at the camera.
Gabriel continued.
“Celia may proceed to the third floor with the card. Everyone else stays.”
“No,” Margaret said.
The screen changed.
Daniel sat inside a room with a pressure device strapped around his neck.
A digital timer displayed ten minutes.
Gabriel held up a remote.
“If anyone except Celia crosses the stairwell, the device activates.”
The screen went dark.
Celia removed the memory card from her pocket.
Tommy caught her wrist.
“He will kill you both.”
“He needs the card.”
“Once he has it, he needs nothing.”
Celia handed Tommy her phone.
“Record everything the cameras send. Find another way upstairs.”
She placed the card inside her sleeve.
Margaret hugged her tightly.
“Your father would tell you not to go.”
“He carved a message saying I always find the light.”
“He also built tunnels.”
Celia looked at Judge Cross.
“Find me one.”
She climbed alone.
The second floor contained abandoned patient rooms. Names had been scratched from the doors.
On the third floor, Gabriel waited at the end of a long corridor.
No guards were visible.
Daniel sat behind him inside a glass treatment room.
He looked smaller than the father in Celia’s memories. His hair was white, his face scarred and his left arm twisted against his body.
But when he saw her, he stood.
“Cece.”
Only her father had called her that.
Celia’s chest tightened painfully.
“Dad.”
Gabriel extended his hand.
“The card.”
“Release him first.”
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
“I’m holding the only copy of the evidence.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Vincent gave it to you?”
“He trusted me.”
“Vincent trusts emotional impulses. That is why he always loses.”
Celia looked toward her father.
“Did you build the vault?”
Daniel nodded slightly.
“Did Gabriel keep you here?”
“Yes.”
“Did he order Elena’s death?”
Gabriel’s smile vanished.
Daniel answered.
“Yes.”
A red light appeared on the pressure device.
Gabriel lifted the remote.
“One more unauthorized answer, and your daughter watches you die.”
Celia removed the memory card.
Gabriel stepped closer.
She dropped it onto the floor and crushed it beneath her shoe.
The plastic snapped.
Daniel stared at her.
Gabriel’s face changed from confidence to disbelief.
“You foolish girl.”
“That wasn’t the evidence.”
Celia held up her empty phone case.
“The card was copied before we left Chicago.”
It was a lie.
But Gabriel did not know that.
He struck her.
Celia fell against the wall.
Gabriel pulled a gun.
“Who has the copy?”
“Every major news organization in America.”
He pressed the barrel against her forehead.
“You inherited your father’s talent for disappointing powerful men.”
Behind the glass, Daniel lifted his damaged arm.
A small device had been hidden beneath his sleeve.
He pressed a button.
The corridor lights died.
A wall panel opened behind Celia.
Her father had built another tunnel.
Tommy reached through and pulled her inside as gunfire erupted.
Margaret and Pike fired from the hidden passage.
Gabriel retreated into the treatment room and grabbed Daniel.
The pressure device began counting down.
Sixty seconds.
Celia crawled through the opening.
“Dad!”
Daniel looked toward a red pipe above the ceiling.
“Cece, remember the house on Maple Street?”
She did.
Her father had taught her how to shut off the gas whenever her mother complained about the old stove.
Red valve.
Quarter turn.
Celia saw a red emergency valve beside the treatment room.
She ran toward it.
Gabriel fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Celia reached the valve and turned it.
Compressed air released from the pressure device. The locking mechanism opened around Daniel’s neck.
He tore it free.
Tommy charged into the room.
Gabriel fired twice and escaped through a side door.
Pike followed.
Celia reached her father.
For one second, neither moved.
Then Daniel touched her face with his good hand.
“You got so tall.”
Celia began crying.
“You missed a lot.”
“I know.”
Before they could say more, Pike shouted from the next room.
“He’s heading for the roof!”
Tommy pursued him.
Daniel grabbed Celia’s wrist.
“Let him go.”
“He’ll come back.”
“He isn’t trying to escape.”
“What is he doing?”
Daniel looked toward the lake.
“Gabriel placed explosives beneath the hospital years ago.”
A deep rumble moved through the floor.
“He’s going to bury the evidence,” Daniel said.
May you like
The walls began to crack.
“And everyone inside it.”
