Chapter 14 - The Tunnel Of Fire
Alexander heard Victoria running ahead.
The narrow tunnel curved beneath the city.
Red emergency lights flashed along the walls.
02:12.
Alexander increased his speed.
"Victoria."
She fired backward.
The bullet struck brick near his shoulder.
He kept moving.
01:53.
The tunnel opened onto an underground bridge crossing an ancient drainage channel.
Victoria stood in the center.
She held the real Blackwood signet ring.
Alexander stopped.
He stared at it.
"How did you get that?"
Victoria smiled.
"Your wife wasn't the only person I framed."
Alexander suddenly understood.
His safe had been accessed weeks earlier.
Thomas had been hired only after the plan was already underway.
Someone within the household had duplicated his keys.
Victoria threw the ring into the air and caught it.
"You inherited everything."
She stepped backward.
"The company."
"The estate."
"The name."
"The family."
Alexander watched the timer on a wall panel.
01:21.
"You could have had a life."
"I wanted mine back."
"It was never yours."
Victoria's smile vanished.
She raised the gun.
Alexander moved as she fired.
The shot grazed his arm.
He crashed into her.
The weapon fell into the drainage channel.
Victoria struck him with the ring clutched in her fist.
Alexander caught her wrist.
00:52.
"Come with me."
She laughed.
"You still think you can save everybody."
"No."
Alexander looked at her.
"But I'm giving you one chance."
Victoria stared at the darkness behind him.
Her hatred won.
She pulled a knife.
Alexander blocked the attack.
The knife dropped.
00:30.
A blast shook the tunnel.
The first charges had begun detonating.
Stone fell from the ceiling.
Alexander grabbed Victoria.
She fought him.
"Let me go."
Another explosion erupted.
The bridge cracked.
Victoria slipped.
Alexander caught her wrist.
She hung above the drainage channel.
For one second, the cousins stared at each other.
"Take my hand."
Victoria looked at Alexander's other hand reaching down.
Then she looked at the signet ring still trapped between her fingers.
She chose the ring.
Victoria twisted away trying to keep it.
Her fingers slipped from Alexander's grip.
She fell into the darkness.
Alexander shouted her name.
There was no answer.
00:08.
He ran.
The tunnel collapsed behind him.
Fire and stone chased him toward the station.
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Sarah saw him emerge through the smoke.
Then the entire underground world exploded.
