Chapter 8: The Room Beneath the Room
Richard stood in the rain with the revolver pointed toward our windshield.
For one terrible second, nobody moved.
Then Evelyn whispered, “Duck.””
The gun fired.
The windshield exploded into a spiderweb of cracks.
Evelyn slammed the accelerator.
Our car lurched forward.
Richard jumped aside as we shot past him.
Another gunshot cracked behind us.
I ducked instinctively, covering my head.
“Drive!”” I shouted.
“I am!””
Evelyn swerved around the SUV and onto the narrow road leading away from the motel.
Thomas twisted in his seat.
“Did he hit you?””
“No.””
I touched my face.
“I'm fine.””
Evelyn glanced at me.
“You're bleeding.””
I looked down.
A tiny piece of glass had cut my cheek.
It didn't matter.
“Turn around,” I said.
Thomas stared at me.
“We can't.””
“My son is there.””
“Yes.””
“Then we're going back.””
“No.””
His voice was firm.
“If Michael has Daniel, walking into that motel is exactly what they want.””
I looked at him.
“You're asking me to leave my son there?””
“No.””
He reached for the dashboard.
“I'm asking you to stop thinking like a mother for thirty seconds.””
I stared at him.
“That is the most ridiculous thing you've ever said.””
“I know.””
He pointed toward the rearview mirror.
“The black cars are following us.””
Evelyn looked.
“They've split up.””
“One is chasing us.””
“Two are headed toward the motel.””
Thomas nodded.
“That means they're moving everyone.””
“Everyone?”” I asked.
“Daniel. Michael. Rebecca.””
“And Richard?””
Thomas looked toward the road behind us.
“Richard is already where he needs to be.””
I didn't understand.
“Then why did he stop us?””
“To keep us away.””
“From what?””
Thomas looked at me.
“The room beneath Room 814.””
I felt a chill.
“Room beneath it?””
“Yes.””
“There is no room beneath 814.””
“There is.””
“How do you know?””
“Because that's where Michael kept the records.””
Evelyn's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“What records?””
Thomas looked at her.
“The ones proving who really owned Harper Holdings.””
“What else?””
“The people he paid.””
“For what?””
Thomas didn't answer.
I grabbed his shoulder.
“For what?””
He stared out the window.
“To make people disappear.””
My stomach twisted.
“You mean like you?””
“No.””
His voice became quiet.
“Like James.””
The car fell silent.
James.
The brother I had never known existed.
The teenage boy who allegedly died in a fire.
The missing business partner.
The forged company records.
Everything seemed to point backward toward the same darkness.
“Evelyn,” I said, “how far is the hotel?””
“Thirty-five minutes.””
“Too long.””
Thomas shook his head.
“We don't need the hotel.””
I looked at him.
“We need Daniel.””
“Yes.””
“So where are we going?””
Thomas pointed ahead.
“Back toward the old highway.””
Evelyn frowned.
“That's the opposite direction.””
“Exactly.””
We drove another ten minutes before Thomas asked her to pull over.
She stopped near an abandoned gas station.
He climbed out.
I followed.
“You're not leaving me here.””
“I wouldn't.””
He walked behind the building and stopped near a rusted utility box.
I watched him kneel.
He pulled a metal key from his coat.
My eyes narrowed.
“You've had that the entire time?””
He glanced at me.
“Yes.””
“What does it open?””
“Something I should have destroyed twenty years ago.””
He inserted the key into a hidden lock.
The metal panel swung open.
Inside was a narrow tunnel entrance.
I stared.
“You're joking.””
“No.””
Evelyn came closer.
“What is this?””
Thomas looked at both of us.
“An old service tunnel connecting the original hotel properties.””
My mouth fell open.
“You knew about this?””
“Yes.””
“And the room beneath 814?””
“Is accessible from here.””
He reached inside and pulled out three flashlights.
Then he handed one to me.
I looked at it.
“You knew we'd need these.””
“I hoped we wouldn't.””
“That isn't an answer.””
“No.””
He looked at the darkness.
“It isn't.””
We entered.
The tunnel smelled of wet concrete and rust.
Water dripped from the ceiling.
Our footsteps echoed.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Evelyn said, “Thomas.””
He stopped.
“What?””
“Why did you stay hidden for twenty years?””
He looked back.
“Because the first time I tried to expose Michael, three witnesses vanished.””
“Who were they?””
“People who worked for Harper Holdings.””
“And you?””
“I disappeared before I could become the fourth.””
“But Eleanor deserved to know.””
“I thought she deserved to live.””
I said nothing.
Because part of me understood.
And part of me wanted to hit him again.
We reached a rusted metal door.
Thomas inserted another key.
The lock clicked.
He opened it.
A narrow staircase rose into darkness.
At the top was a wooden panel.
He pushed it upward.
We emerged into a dusty room.
I recognized the wallpaper immediately.
Room 813.
“Beneath 814,” I whispered.
Thomas nodded.
I looked around.
There was a desk.
Two filing cabinets.
An old safe.
And a surveillance monitor.
The screen flickered.
Then came alive.
Images appeared.
The hotel.
The lobby.
The bridal suite.
My son's office.
My house.
I stepped backward.
“They've been watching us.””
Thomas nodded.
“Michael never stopped.””
Evelyn approached the monitors.
“These recordings are live.””
She pointed at one screen.
“That's the hotel ballroom.””
Guests were still there.
Some were leaving.
Others were clustered around the doors.
Then the image changed.
A hallway.
A door.
Daniel.
He was walking beside Michael.
My heart jumped.
“Where is he going?””
Thomas stared at the screen.
“Room 814.””
I moved toward the monitor.
“Can we contact him?””
“Not from here.””
Evelyn examined the equipment.
“Wait.””
She reached under the desk.
“There.””
A radio.
She switched it on.
Static.
Then a voice.
Michael.
“Daniel, you need to sign one document.””
Daniel answered.
“No.””
I clenched my fists.
Michael laughed.
“You already signed the first one.””
“I was lied to.””
“You were young.””
“I was twenty-three.””
“You were naive.””
“I wasn't stupid.””
Michael chuckled.
“Your mother never told you what your father left you.””
Daniel's voice hardened.
“My father left me nothing.””
“Oh, he left you plenty.””
A pause.
Then Michael said:
“The company.””
Daniel said nothing.
“You have no idea what you own.””
I looked at Thomas.
He was staring at the radio.
Michael continued.
“Your father made one mistake.””
“What?””
“He trusted the wrong person.””
I felt my skin prickle.
Daniel asked, “Who?””
Michael laughed.
“Your mother.””
Thomas closed his eyes.
I reached for the radio.
Michael's voice continued.
“She knew.””
Daniel sounded confused.
“Knew what?””
“That your father wasn't dead.””
I stared at Thomas.
Daniel said, “You're lying.””
Michael's voice became colder.
“Then ask him yourself.””
A metallic sound followed.
A door opening.
Then Daniel's voice.
“Dad?””
My breath caught.
Thomas stepped toward the radio.
“Daniel.””
Silence.
Then Michael said:
“Say hello to your father.””
The radio clicked off.
I looked at Thomas.
“He knows you're here.””
“Yes.””
“And he has Daniel.””
“Yes.””
“Then we're going up.””
Thomas grabbed my arm.
“No.””
I pulled free.
“You're not stopping me.””
“He wants you angry.””
“I am angry.””
“He wants you emotional.””
“I am emotional.””
“He wants you to walk into that room without thinking.””
I stared at him.
“Thomas, that man has my son.””
He looked at me.
And for the first time, I saw the fear he'd been carrying for twenty years.
“I lost James.””
His voice broke.
“I won't lose Daniel.””
I stepped closer.
“Then don't.””
Evelyn suddenly pointed at the monitor.
“Wait.””
She enlarged the screen.
There was another camera feed.
The underground room beneath 814.
Four figures.
Michael.
Daniel.
Rebecca.
And Richard.
Richard was holding the revolver.
But there was something else.
A fifth figure stood behind a glass partition.
I leaned toward the screen.
At first I didn't understand what I was seeing.
Then I did.
The man was old.
Thin.
Gray-haired.
His shoulders were bent.
He was wearing a hospital gown.
Thomas stared at the screen.
“No.””
I looked at him.
“Who is that?””
He didn't answer.
“Thomas?””
He stepped backward.
His face had gone white.
“That's impossible.””
“Who is he?””
Thomas whispered the name.
“James.””
I stared at the screen.
“The man you thought died in the fire?””
He nodded.
“But he's old.””
“I know.””
“Then he's been alive all these years.””
“Yes.””
Evelyn zoomed in.
James was standing behind the glass.
His wrists were bruised.
There was a scar above his eyebrow.
And around his neck hung a small silver pendant.
I recognized it.
Thomas had kept an identical pendant in the metal box at my house.
He had told me it belonged to his brother.
I turned toward him.
“You knew?””
“No.””
“You never knew he was alive?””
“No.””
His voice shook.
“I thought he died.””
On the monitor, James suddenly turned.
It was almost as though he could see the camera.
He walked toward the glass.
Then he raised his hand.
There was something written across his palm.
Evelyn paused the image.
Three words.
*DON'T TRUST ELEANOR.*
I stared.
“What?””
Thomas looked at me.
“I didn't write that.””
“Someone is trying to make us think you're the danger,” Evelyn said.
I shook my head.
“No.””
“Eleanor—”
“Look.””
I pointed to the screen.
There was blood beneath the writing.
James hadn't written it with ink.
He had written it with his own blood.
Then the feed changed.
Michael entered the room.
He walked toward Daniel.
Rebecca stood beside him.
Richard locked the door.
Michael placed a folder on the table.
“Sign it.””
Daniel refused.
Michael looked at Rebecca.
She walked over and whispered something into Daniel's ear.
His face changed.
He stared at her in disbelief.
Then she stepped back.
Michael smiled.
Whatever she'd said had worked.
Thomas turned toward the tunnel.
“We're going now.””
I grabbed his sleeve.
“What did she tell him?””
“I don't know.””
The radio crackled.
Daniel's voice came through, barely audible.
“Mom…”
I grabbed it.
“Daniel?””
“Mom, don't come here.””
My heart stopped.
“Why?””
“Because they have something you don't know about.””
“What?””
He breathed heavily.
“Dad isn't the only Harper who's been alive all these years.””
I looked at Thomas.
“What does that mean?””
Daniel whispered four words.
“Mom, you're not Eleanor.””
The radio went silent.
I stared at Thomas.
He looked just as confused as I was.
Then Evelyn noticed something on the desk.
A folder.
On its cover was a name.
*ELEANOR HARPER — ORIGINAL IDENTITY FILE*
Underneath it was a photograph.
My photograph.
May you like
But the name printed beneath it wasn't Eleanor.
And the date of birth wasn't mine.
