Chapter 7 - The Clockwork Key"Search the floor!" Marcus screamed, pulling a black semi-automatic pistol from his coat pocket. "They couldn't have used the elevators! The codes are locked!"
In the dark utility corridor behind the kitchen, Savannah was crouching behind a industrial ventilation duct, holding her hand tightly over Leo’s mouth.
Leo’s body was trembling violently. The flashing lights and loud noises had pushed him into a severe autistic meltdown. His eyes were wide, unseeing, filled with the exact same horror from two years ago.
"Leo," Savannah whispered into his ear, her voice shaking with fear. "Leo, look at me. Look at the gears."
She pulled the small wooden music box from her pocket. But it wasn't just a toy.
She reached into the base of the mechanism, pressed a small brass pin, and twisted the bottom plate. The wooden housing popped open, revealing not a music cylinder—but a small, metallic flash drive encased in fireproof titanium.
The baby keepsake box.
Clara hadn't hidden the drive at the beach house. She had hidden it inside the music box she gave her son—the only object Leo never let go of, even during the fire.
"He wants to see how things connect when they're broken," Savannah whispered to herself, tears falling down her face.
Leo stared at the exposed flash drive. The sight of the interlocking brass gears seemed to anchor him. Slowly, his breathing began to slow down. He reached out his small fingers and touched the tiny titanium cylinder.
Suddenly, heavy footsteps echoed down the narrow utility corridor.
"Over here!" a mercenary shouted.
Savannah grabbed Leo's hand and pulled him into the service elevator shaft—a narrow, dusty space housing the manual maintenance lift. She shoved Leo into the small wooden car and slammed the iron gate shut.
"Savannah!" I yelled, staggering into the corridor, covered in blood, having overpowered the mercenary guarding me using a heavy bronze statue from the foyer.
"Julian! Catch!" Savannah threw the titanium drive across the corridor.
I caught it in mid-air.
Behind her, Marcus appeared from the smoke, his face twisted in psychotic fury. He raised his gun and pointed it directly at Savannah's chest.
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"It ends here," Marcus hissed.
BANG.
