Chapter 14 - The Final Cipher
The masked man grabbed Sarah’s arm, binding her wrists with brutal efficiency. Sophie screamed, kicking and fighting as the second man reached for her.
“Don't touch her!” Sarah cried out.
Mr. Bell struggled to his feet, blood trickling from a cut above his eye, his gaze frantically sweeping the desk. His hand brushed against the heavy iron key. He remembered what Clara had written in the margin of the microcassette case: The key opens the floor.
Without hesitating, Mr. Bell slammed the iron key down onto a brass floor vent beneath the heavy oak desk. With a sharp, mechanical groan, a hidden spring-loaded latch gave way. A section of the hardwood floor slid sideways, revealing a dark, concrete-lined panic room built deep beneath the foundation of the old Victorian house—complete with an active, automated recording system wired directly to the federal attorney general’s secure server.
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Judge Harrison’s arrogant smile vanished instantly. He lunged across the room, shouting for the guards to stop him, but it was too late.
Mr. Bell slammed his palm onto the red emergency broadcast button inside the concealed compartment.
