Chapter 704
Chapter 704:
Alistair kicked the metal plate inward, revealing a gaping mouth of darkness that breathed out the stale, cold scent of a century-old basement.
“We’re in,” Alistair whispered, retracting the tool.
I followed Liam into the cramped tunnel. The air inside was stagnant, thick with the smell of mold and old secrets. I brushed my hand against the rough, damp brickwork of the narrow passage. Beneath our boots, a layer of crushed coal dust crunched softly, literal cinders left over from the estate’s industrial past.
“Up ahead,” Alistair whispered, killing his flashlight.
A faint, flickering orange glow spilled from a grate in the ceiling further down the corridor.
We moved with the silence of ghosts. As we neared the grate, voices drifted down, one shrill and terrified, the other booming with manic authority.
“You ungrateful little parasite!” Mr. Hayes’s voice echoed, distorted by the stone acoustics. “I gave you everything! And you feed our data to that Kensington boy p>
“I didn’t! I swear!” Parker’s voice was a high-pitched sob. “Please, Dad, put the lighter down p>
Liam didn’t wait. He found the iron rungs leading up to the grate and ascended rapidly. With a heave of his shoulders, he dislodged the heavy iron cover. It clattered onto the stone floor of the basement above, the sound like a gunshot.
Liam hauled himself up, Alistair and I close behind.
We emerged into a sprawling wine cellar converted into a makeshift interrogation room. Parker was zip-tied to a heavy wooden chair in the center of the room, his face bruised. Standing over him, holding a silver Zippo lighter and a can of accelerant, was Mr. Hayes.
“Liam!” Parker screamed, his eyes widening in disbelief.
Mr. Hayes spun around, his face twisting into a snarl. “You. You’re like a cockroach p>
“Step away from him, Hayes,” Liam said, his voice low and dangerous. He already had his gun drawn, leveled at the older man’s chest.
“Or what? You’ll shoot me in my own home?” Hayes laughed, flicking the lighter open. The flame danced dangerously close to the puddle of gasoline at Parker’s feet. “I’ll burn it all down. The evidence, the boy, the legacy. The Syndicate cleans up its messes p>
𝖨𝗻𝗌𝘵𝘢𝗻𝗍 𝗮c𝘤𝘦𝗌𝘀 𝘰n b𝖾.𝘤𝗈𝗆
“We aren’t the only ones here,” Alistair said calmly, stepping into the light. He held up his phone. “Chief Liu breached the front gate two minutes ago. Listen p>
Above us, the heavy thud of battering rams against the main doors reverberated through the floorboards, followed by the unmistakable shout of “POLICE! SEARCH WARRANT p>
Hayes’s confidence fractured. He looked at the lighter, then at the ceiling, then at the dark mouth of a service tunnel behind the wine racks.
“This isn’t over, Kensington,” Hayes spat.
He threw the open lighter, not at Parker, but at a stack of old newspapers near the wall, creating a sudden wall of fire to cover his escape. He bolted for the tunnel.
“Get Parker!” Liam shouted, holstering his weapon to grab a fire extinguisher from the wall.
I rushed to Parker, slicing his zip ties with a pocketknife Alistair handed me. “We have to move. Now p>
By the time we dragged a sobbing Parker up the stairs and into the main hall, the foyer was a swarm of SWAT officers. Mr. Hayes had vanished into the labyrinthine tunnels beneath the estate, leaving his children to face the consequences.