Chapter 6 - THE TUNNEL UNDER THE SHOPPING CENTER
At midnight, the shopping center was empty.
Neon signs glowed above locked stores.
Daniel’s childhood home had once stood beneath the west parking structure.
Now only a faded photograph proved it existed.
Natalie and Julian entered through a maintenance door.
Both wore hidden transmitters.
Federal teams waited outside the tunnel network.
Victor had disabled interior cameras and demanded no visible police presence.
He waited beneath the parking structure beside metal shelves filled with document boxes.
A gasoline drum stood near the entrance.
So did a detonator.
Victor Kane looked ordinary.
That made him more frightening.
No mask.
No dramatic anger.
Just a dark jacket and a rifle.
“You came.”
Natalie looked at the records.
“Those are the originals?”
“Enough to make every courtroom in California busy for twenty years.”
Julian stepped forward.
“Give me the detonator.”
Victor laughed.
“Your mother said you would become emotional.”
“My mother is in custody.”
“Your mother built everything you have.”
“She built it from stolen property.”
Victor looked at Natalie.
“You did this to him.”
“No. I showed him.”
Victor raised the rifle.
“Where is Evelyn’s memory card?”
“Federal evidence.”
“Copies?”
“Many.”
The answer angered him.
He pointed toward a laptop.
“Transfer the files.”
Natalie approached.
The screen showed a secure Blackwell server containing offshore accounts.
Victor wanted Natalie’s federal contact credentials.
He believed she could access the evidence cloud.
“I don’t have that access.”
“You have three minutes.”
Julian moved closer.
“She is telling the truth.”
Victor struck him with the rifle stock.
Julian fell.
Natalie did not move.
“Two minutes.”
Julian wiped blood from his mouth.
“Victor, my mother will sacrifice you.”
“She already paid me.”
“She paid everyone. Then she kept evidence against them.”
Victor glanced toward the document boxes.
Julian continued.
“Mason kept records. Evelyn kept records. You think Victoria did not?”
The uncertainty lasted one second.
Natalie used it.
She kicked the detonator beneath the shelves.
Julian lunged.
Victor fired.
The bullet struck a pipe.
Steam exploded through the tunnel.
Federal agents entered.
Victor grabbed Natalie and pressed the rifle beneath her jaw.
“Back away!”
Julian stood between them and the agents.
“Let her go.”
Victor smiled.
“You spent months controlling her. Now you want to be a hero?”
Julian looked at Natalie.
She saw shame.
Not redemption.
Not yet.
But shame was a beginning.
Victor tightened his grip.
“The gasoline ignites if my hand leaves this trigger.”
Natalie felt the pressure of a switch beneath his thumb.
The entire archive could burn.
Agent Reed lowered his weapon slightly.
“What do you want?”
“A vehicle. Clear road. No tracking.”
“Not happening.”
“Then the records disappear.”
Daniel’s voice came through a maintenance speaker.
“These records survived thirty years because people like you believed fire erased ownership.”
Victor looked upward.
Daniel had entered a control room above the tunnel.
He activated the sprinkler system.
Water flooded the floor.
The gasoline spread but could no longer ignite easily.
Victor pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
The detonator shorted.
Natalie drove her elbow backward into his ribs.
Julian tackled him.
Agents rushed forward.
Victor fired once.
The bullet struck Julian.
He collapsed.
Natalie dropped beside him.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Victor was restrained.
Julian looked at Natalie.
“I’m sorry.”
She pressed both hands against the wound.
“For what?”
“All of it.”
Paramedics entered.
The records survived.
Julian’s pulse did too.
But before he lost consciousness, he whispered one final warning.
“My mother has another copy.”
“Where?”
May you like
His eyes closed.
“In your house.”
