Adam Crain's Arc

Chapter 8 of 8

They left the safe room two nights later, after Willem had mapped the patrols. The chief's private quarters sat past the last monitored corridor, behind a service hatch most of the bunker had forgotten. Willem went first. Adam followed with the bypass tool tucked under his jacket. They moved through the dark in the gap Willem had cut from the camera feed. Adam counted his breaths to keep them even. He had spent two years being careful about who he showed up for. Tonight he was showing up for this. The entrance was where Willem said it would be. A jagged rock formation jutted from the wall like a warning, all teeth and shadow, dressed up to look like ornament. Behind it sat a steel door with three locks and a reader plate. Willem pulled the handheld from his belt and clipped a lead to the plate. The screen glowed blue against his face. "Forty seconds," he said. Adam watched him work and felt his chest go warm in a way that had nothing to do with fear. "You keep saving me with that brain of yours," he said. "One of these days I'll catch up." Willem didn't look away from the screen. "You already did." Adam leaned in and kissed him at the corner of the mouth, quick, while the lock counted down. The door clicked. Inside, the air smelled of cold metal and someone's perfume. The front room held the file cabinets and the screens Willem had described, but the screens were dark. A light burned under the inner door. Adam heard a low laugh, then a man's voice, then quiet. He looked at Willem. Willem nodded once. They crossed the floor without sound. Adam turned the handle. Chief Hanover was on the couch with a guard in her lap. Her uniform jacket hung over the armrest. The guard's hand was at her collar. They broke apart when the door opened, and the chief's face went through three expressions before it settled on the one Adam had been waiting two years to see. She was afraid. The guard stood up fast and reached for nothing, because his belt was on the floor. "Sit down," Willem said. The guard sat down. Adam stepped inside and closed the door behind them. "You have footage of us," Adam said. "We have you. Pairing without sanction. Same rule, Chief. Same council." He let the silence do the next part. Hanover's hand moved toward the tablet on the side table and stopped when Willem lifted the bypass tool. "It's already copying," Willem said. It wasn't, yet, but it would be in a minute, and she didn't know which. Adam watched her count what she had left and come up short. "Your reign is over," he said. "We'll tell you what happens next."