CHAPTER 10 — THE TRAIN BENEATH THE CITY
The stone gate rumbled shut behind them.
For a brief moment, absolute silence filled the underground chamber.
Then a low mechanical hum echoed through the darkness.
Lights flickered to life along an abandoned railway stretching farther than Amelia could see.
The tracks looked nearly a century old.
Yet the rails were spotless.
As if someone had been maintaining them all along.
Nathan stepped forward.
"My father called this the Quiet Line."
"He built it beneath the city decades ago."
"For emergencies."
A small electric railcar rolled toward them without a driver.
Its headlights pierced the darkness.
As the doors slid open, a familiar voice greeted them.
"Good evening, Miss Brooks."
Amelia froze.
It was Ethan's voice.
Not live.
An artificial intelligence built from thousands of hours of his recordings.
"I knew one day," the calm voice continued, "you would need a guide after I was gone."
The railcar accelerated into the tunnel.
Screens on the walls illuminated automatically.
Images flashed by.
Hospitals Ethan had secretly funded.
Schools rebuilt after hurricanes.
Families rescued from bankruptcy.
Children who had become doctors, engineers, and teachers because someone had quietly paid their tuition.
Nathan smiled.
"My father never measured wealth by what he owned."
"He measured it by how many strangers smiled because of him."
Suddenly, every screen turned red.
SECURITY BREACH
The Quiet Line had been compromised.
Someone else was using the underground railway.
Someone coming from the opposite direction.
May you like
Fast.
Very fast.
