Chapter 4 - THE ROOM BEHIND THE WALL
Luca had never hated the wheelchair more than he did in the three seconds after Maya screamed.
For twelve years, the chair had been an extension of him.
He had learned its angles.
Its weight.
Its limitations.
He had learned how to enter rooms without looking diminished.
He had learned how to face armed men while seated and make them feel smaller than he was.
But when his daughter screamed from another floor, none of that mattered.
He wanted legs.
Not eventually.
Not after rehabilitation.
Now.
“Elena, stay here.”
“Absolutely not.”
Another impact struck the study door.
Harris shouted orders beyond it.
The backup generator failed to engage.
That should have been impossible.
The Costello estate had redundant systems.
Someone had disabled them.
Luca turned toward Damian.
“Safe route.”
Damian stared.
“What?”
“You know the house.”
“So do you.”
“I know the house from twelve years ago.”
The admission burned.
Damian understood.
“Library passage.”
Elena frowned.
“What library passage?”
Luca moved toward the bookshelf.
“My father believed every house should have at least one way to leave a room without asking permission.”
“Of course he did.”
Luca pulled a carved wooden ornament beside the fireplace.
Nothing happened.
He pulled again.
Still nothing.
Damian pushed past him and pressed a panel beneath the shelf.
A hidden latch released.
Part of the bookcase opened inward.
“You changed it.”
“Father changed it.”
“When?”
“After your collapse.”
Luca looked at him.
Another question.
Another thing Damian had known.
No time.
“Go.”
Elena entered first.
Luca followed.
Damian closed the panel behind them.
The passage was narrow.
Dusty.
Barely wide enough for the chair.
A thin strip of emergency lighting glowed along the floor.
“Where does it come out?”
Elena asked.
“Second-floor linen corridor.”
Damian answered.
“Near Maya?”
“Thirty yards.”
Elena moved faster.
Luca followed until the wheels caught on a raised threshold.
He cursed.
Damian grabbed the back handles.
“Don’t.”
“You want to argue now?”
“I can move myself.”
“You also want to reach your daughter.”
Luca hated him for being right.
“Push.”
They moved.
The passage climbed gradually through the interior structure of the mansion.
Luca’s shoulders burned from helping over uneven sections.
His legs remained useless beneath him.
Except they were not useless.
Not completely.
That knowledge made every second worse.
Somewhere inside those muscles, signals existed.
Somewhere inside him was the ability to stand.
But the body could not be ordered to recover through anger.
They reached the upper panel.
Elena pressed her ear against it.
Nothing.
Damian opened it.
They emerged into darkness.
The corridor smelled faintly of smoke.
Elena ran.
“Maya!”
Luca followed as quickly as the chair allowed.
The door to Maya’s room stood open.
Her bed was empty.
The window was raised.
Elena stopped so suddenly Luca nearly struck her.
“No.”
She ran to the window.
The grounds below were dark.
“Maya!”
No answer.
Luca looked around.
The room was not disturbed.
No struggle.
No broken furniture.
The blanket had been pushed aside.
Her slippers were gone.
That mattered.
“She left the bed herself.”
Elena turned.
“How do you know?”
“Slippers.”
Maya would not have put them on if someone had dragged her away.
Damian entered.
“Where would she go?”
“The scream came from here.”
Elena looked toward the closet.
The door was cracked.
She pulled it open.
Empty.
Then Luca heard something.
Three taps.
Pause.
Two taps.
Pause.
Three taps.
He turned.
“What?”
Elena asked.
Luca raised a hand.
The tapping came again.
From the wall.
“Maya?”
Silence.
Then three taps.
Luca looked toward Damian.
“What is behind that wall?”
Damian frowned.
“Nothing.”
“Wrong answer.”
He moved toward the built-in wardrobe.
The tapping grew louder.
Elena pulled clothes aside.
A narrow wood panel sat behind them.
No visible handle.
Luca looked at Damian.
“You knew about the library passage.”
“I don’t know this one.”
Elena ran her fingers along the panel.
“Help me.”
Damian pressed one side.
Nothing.
Luca looked toward the decorative trim.
One section was cleaner than the others.
Recently touched.
“Top right.”
Elena pressed it.
The panel released.
Maya fell into her arms.
Elena dropped to her knees.
“Oh my God.”
Maya clung to her.
She was crying but unhurt.
Tommy appeared behind her.
Luca stared.
“What is he doing here?”
Tommy wiped his nose with his sleeve.
“Saving her.”
Maya looked at Luca.
“The bad man came upstairs.”
“What bad man?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see him?”
“No.”
Tommy interrupted.
“I did.”
Everyone turned.
Tommy looked frightened.
He was trying hard not to show it.
“What did he look like?”
Luca asked.
“Tall.”
“Hair?”
“Gray.”
“Age?”
“Old.”
“Clothes?”
“Suit.”
Luca looked at Damian.
That description fit half the men who attended one of Luca’s business dinners.
“What happened?”
Elena asked.
Tommy pointed toward the hidden room.
“I was downstairs.”
“You were what?”
Elena stared.
Tommy looked guilty.
“I came through the hedge.”
“At midnight?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“That is not an explanation.”
“I saw people by the trees.”
Luca’s attention sharpened.
“What people?”
“Two men.”
“Where?”
“By the old equipment shed.”
“What were they doing?”
“Waiting.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
Tommy looked at Maya.
“So I came inside.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“You entered a guarded estate in the middle of the night because you saw suspicious men.”
“Yes.”
“You understand that makes no sense.”
Tommy shrugged weakly.
“It worked.”
Luca almost admired him.
Almost.
“What happened after you came inside?”
“I went upstairs.”
“How?”
“Back stairs.”
“You know the back stairs?”
“Maya showed me.”
Elena looked at her daughter.
Maya became interested in the carpet.
Tommy continued.
“I heard somebody outside her room.”
“So?”
“I knocked on the other door.”
“What other door?”
“The little one.”
He pointed toward the hidden compartment.
Luca looked at Maya.
“You knew this room existed?”
“No.”
“Tommy found it.”
Tommy shrugged.
“The panel was open.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“Open?”
“A little.”
That was not accidental.
Someone had opened the hidden compartment before the blackout.
“Then what?”
“I told Maya somebody was outside.”
“So we hid.”
Maya took over.
“Then the man came in.”
“Did he say anything?”
“No.”
“He looked around.”
“I got scared.”
“So I screamed.”
Luca nodded.
“And he left?”
“No.”
Maya swallowed.
“He walked to the closet.”
Elena tightened her arms around her.
“Did he open it?”
“He tried.”
Tommy spoke.
“But I held the panel.”
“How?”
“There’s a latch inside.”
Luca looked into the hidden room.
It was approximately six feet deep.
Old shelves lined one wall.
Dust covered the floor.
Except near the rear.
There were footprints.
Adult footprints.
Recent.
Luca moved closer.
“What is this room?”
Damian looked pale.
“I don’t know.”
“You grew up here.”
“So did you.”
“I was walking then.”
The sentence came out sharper than Luca intended.
Damian flinched.
Luca regretted nothing.
Harris entered the bedroom with two guards.
“House is secure.”
“No.”
Luca pointed toward the hidden room.
“It isn’t.”
Harris stared.
“What is that?”
“Apparently another one of my father’s secrets.”
Harris crouched beside the footprints.
“Recent.”
“Yes.”
“Someone has been using it.”
“Yes.”
Harris looked toward Tommy.
The boy immediately became defensive.
“I didn’t make those.”
“I know.”
Harris shone a flashlight inside.
“There’s another door.”
Luca saw it.
At the rear of the compartment stood a narrow metal panel.
Harris opened it.
A staircase descended.
Cold air moved upward.
“Where does that go?”
Elena asked.
Damian shook his head.
“I have no idea.”
Luca looked at Harris.
“Find out.”
Harris drew his weapon.
Two guards followed him down.
Luca remained with Maya.
Elena checked the child repeatedly despite Maya insisting she was fine.
Tommy stood near the wall.
Luca looked at him.
“You did well.”
Tommy blinked.
“You mean it?”
“Yes.”
Tommy nodded once.
Then looked away before anyone could see how much the approval meant.
Five minutes passed.
Then Harris’s voice came over the radio.
“Luca.”
“What?”
“You need to see this.”
“Where are you?”
“Below the east wing.”
“What is there?”
Silence.
“Harris.”
“A room.”
Luca looked toward the narrow stairs.
The chair could not go down them.
Again.
The house itself seemed built to remind him what had been taken.
“What kind of room?”
Harris answered slowly.
“A medical room.”
Luca went cold.
“What?”
“Old equipment.”
“Locked cabinets.”
“Files.”
He paused.
“And photographs.”
“Of whom?”
Another silence.
“Of you.”
Luca gripped the chair.
“Bring everything upstairs.”
Harris hesitated.
“There’s too much.”
“How much?”
“Years.”
The word chilled Elena.
Luca looked at Damian.
His brother’s face had drained of color.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You recognize something.”
Damian stared toward the hidden stairway.
“My father used to disappear at night.”
“Where?”
“I thought the basement.”
Luca wheeled toward him.
“What else?”
“After you got sick, he spent hours in the east wing.”
“Doing what?”
“I never knew.”
Luca’s phone buzzed.
Emergency network had returned.
Aiden Mercer was calling.
Luca answered.
“Tell me.”
The toxicologist’s voice came through first.
“We have preliminary results from Dr. Shaw’s preserved sample.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“And?”
“It matches.”
“The same compound?”
“Yes.”
“Concentration?”
“Extremely high.”
“Enough to cause the original paralysis?”
“Almost certainly.”
Luca looked at Damian.
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
The toxicologist hesitated.
“We compared it to your most recent bloodwork.”
“And?”
“The concentration is lower now.”
“But there’s a problem.”
Luca felt Elena looking at him.
“What problem?”
“The compound has a metabolic half-life that makes your current level impossible if your last exposure was twelve years ago.”
Luca’s fingers went numb.
“How recent?”
“Based on what we’re seeing?”
The toxicologist took a breath.
“Within the last three weeks.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Damian stepped backward.
Luca stared at the people around him.
His doctors.
His guards.
His staff.
His family.
Someone had poisoned him twelve years ago.
And someone was still poisoning him now.
Then Harris’s voice came from the hidden stairway.
“Luca.”
He emerged carrying an old black ledger.
“I found this locked inside the medical cabinet.”
He placed it on the table.
The first page contained dates.
Dosages.
Symptoms.
Luca’s name.
Every entry had been meticulously recorded.
At the bottom of the final page was a handwritten instruction.
CONTINUE MAINTENANCE DOSING UNTIL SUCCESSION IS SECURE.
Below that were two initials.
D.C.
May you like
Everyone turned toward Damian Costello.
And for the first time since the blackout began, Damian looked genuinely terrified.
