Chapter 9 - The Basement Door
The academy looked different after midnight.
Without children and teachers, the elegant brick buildings resembled a deserted fortress.
Sarah approached from the rear.
She knew the campus layout from countless school events.
She also knew the security guard spent most nights watching television near the front entrance.
The perimeter fence was harder.
She climbed an old oak tree whose branches stretched above the wall.
Rain made the bark slippery.
Sarah nearly lost her footing twice.
Finally, she dropped onto the other side.
Her shoes landed quietly in wet grass.
She moved between shadows.
No alarms.
No movement.
The basement entrance sat behind the gymnasium.
Sarah reached it within five minutes.
Locked.
She removed her tools.
The deadbolt surrendered quickly.
Inside, the smell changed immediately.
Dust.
Heating oil.
Bleach.
Old paper.
Sarah closed the door.
She followed pipes through narrow utility corridors.
Henderson had given her simple directions.
Past the boiler.
Left at the laundry storage room.
Second steel door.
She found it.
Electronic keypad.
Sarah stared at the glowing numbers.
Then she remembered Henderson's final message.
Founding year.
She entered 1892.
The lock buzzed.
Sarah almost laughed.
Millions in tuition.
A four-digit password.
Inside, server racks blinked beneath fluorescent lights.
Sarah located the security archive.
She connected her drive.
Folders filled the monitor.
She searched by date.
Then time.
11:36 a.m.
Playground Camera 04.
Sarah opened the file.
There they were.
Lily.
Leo.
The bridge.
Her throat tightened.
She did not watch.
Not yet.
She began copying everything.
Forty percent.
Fifty-seven.
Seventy-one.
Then Sarah heard a door slam upstairs.
She froze.
Footsteps followed.
Not one person.
Several.
The steps were too coordinated to belong to janitors.
Sarah checked the transfer.
Eighty-three percent.
Voices echoed down the stairwell.
"Server room."
Sarah recognized the professionalism immediately.
Private security.
Marcus had moved his schedule.
They were not coming tomorrow.
They were here tonight.
Ninety-one percent.
The footsteps grew louder.
Sarah searched for another exit.
Nothing.
Ninety-seven.
The handle outside rattled.
Ninety-nine.
The screen flashed.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
Sarah ripped out the drive.
The outer door opened.
Flashlights swept through the corridor.
She spotted a ventilation panel above the server rack.
Sarah climbed.
She kicked the grate.
Metal crashed onto the other side.
"She's in there!"
Sarah pulled herself into the shaft.
Below her, the server-room door burst open.
A flashlight beam struck her boot.
A hand reached upward.
Sarah kicked backward.
Someone cursed.
Then she crawled into the darkness.
May you like
Behind her, a voice shouted words that confirmed everything.
"Get the drive!"
