Chapter 14 - Beneath the Solmere
The original Solmere Hotel had opened in 1928.
Three generations of the Vale family had expanded it.
Charlotte believed she knew every story about the building.
She was wrong.
Alexander led Charlotte and Daniel into a private elevator hidden behind the wine cellar.
There were no numbered buttons.
Only a keyhole.
Alexander inserted a small silver key.
The elevator descended below basement level four.
Charlotte watched the floor indicator disappear.
"What's in the vault?"
Alexander didn't answer immediately.
"Records."
"What kind?"
"Northstar records."
Daniel looked at him.
"You kept intelligence files beneath a hotel?"
"We kept leverage."
The elevator stopped.
Steel doors opened.
A corridor stretched ahead.
At the end stood a massive circular vault door.
Alexander entered a code.
The locks rotated.
Inside were thousands of boxes.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
Contracts.
Charlotte walked between shelves.
"What am I looking at?"
"Forty years of secrets."
Daniel opened one box.
His expression darkened.
Government payments.
Offshore accounts.
Weapons contracts.
Election financing.
Charlotte turned to her father.
"This could destroy people."
"That's why everyone wants it."
"Mother knew?"
"Eventually."
Charlotte looked at him.
"And she wanted to destroy it."
Alexander nodded.
"She believed no family should have this much power."
For the first time, Charlotte understood why Eleanor had been killed.
Not simply because she discovered financial theft.
She had threatened a machine built on secrets.
Daniel examined a terminal.
"Someone accessed this vault recently."
Alexander moved closer.
"When?"
"Three days after Eleanor died."
Charlotte's skin went cold.
"Rebecca?"
Daniel shook his head.
"Access code belongs to Victor."
A loud metallic sound echoed behind them.
The vault door began closing.
Alexander ran toward it.
Too late.
The door sealed.
Lights turned red.
A screen activated.
Victor appeared.
His shoulder was bandaged.
He was smiling.
"You really should stop entering locked rooms, Charlotte."
Daniel drew his weapon.
Victor laughed.
"I'm not inside."
Charlotte stepped toward the camera.
"What do you want?"
"The archive."
"You can't have it."
"I already do."
Computers throughout the vault began transferring files.
Daniel rushed toward the server rack.
Victor continued.
"Northstar buyers are waiting."
Alexander shouted.
"Stop the transfer!"
Charlotte noticed temperature indicators dropping.
Victor smiled.
"And because I'm sentimental, I've arranged something special."
A warning alarm sounded.
OXYGEN SYSTEM OFFLINE.
Daniel looked upward.
"He's sealing ventilation."
Victor's smile widened.
"You have approximately sixteen minutes."
The screen went black.
Alexander began searching the walls.
"There must be a mechanical release."
Charlotte looked around.
Her mother had wanted the archive destroyed.
Then she noticed a red box labeled EMERGENCY PURGE.
"Father."
Alexander turned.
Charlotte placed her hand over the switch.
"If I activate this, what happens?"
His face changed.
"The servers burn."
"The records?"
"Destroyed."
"The vault door?"
"It may release after the purge."
Daniel checked the oxygen level.
"May?"
Alexander looked at Charlotte.
"This archive represents decades of power."
Charlotte thought about Eleanor.
The warning.
The empire wasn't worth saving if saving it turned Charlotte into them.
Charlotte pulled the switch.
Alexander shouted.
"Charlotte!"
Flames erupted inside the server containment units.
The transfer stopped.
Sprinklers exploded.
May you like
Alarms screamed.
And somewhere above them, Victor Hale watched forty years of blackmail disappear forever.
