Chapter 9 - THE ABANDONED THEATER
The Sterling Theater had been closed for twelve years.
Its gold ceiling peeled above rows of dusty red seats. Rain leaked through broken skylights, and the old stage smelled of mold and wet wood.
Emma entered carrying the red box.
A microphone clicked on.
“Place it center stage,” Isabella's voice ordered.
Emma obeyed.
William and Ortiz watched through hidden cameras from a building across the street. Police teams surrounded the block, but Daniel had warned that motion sensors were connected to explosives near the hostages.
Emma reached center stage.
A spotlight blinded her.
Isabella stepped from behind the curtain in a black coat.
“You clean up beautifully,” she said.
“Where are Martin's wife and daughter?”
“Alive.”
“Let me see them.”
The curtain rose.
They were tied to chairs above the stage on an old scenery platform. Daniel stood beside them with a gun.
Emma placed the box down. “The evidence is yours.”
Isabella opened it and removed the flash drive.
“You made copies.”
“No.”
“You are a terrible liar.”
She nodded to Daniel.
He pressed the gun to the teenager's head.
Emma's heart hammered, but her voice stayed steady. “Grace made automatic copies. Killing them changes nothing.”
That was partly a bluff.
Isabella studied her.
Then a second figure emerged from the wings.
Dr. Vale.
He carried a portable burner and dropped the flash drive into the flame.
Plastic curled. Smoke rose.
“Now the original is gone,” he said.
Emma looked at the red box.
Grace had hidden a second memory card inside the wooden lining. Ortiz had removed it before Emma entered.
Isabella kicked the empty box away. “Where is William?”
“Waiting to see whether you can keep one promise.”
Isabella stepped close. “William never kept promises. Grace learned that. You will too.”
A crash sounded beneath the stage.
Daniel turned.
William burst through a trapdoor and slammed into him.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Police rushed the side doors.
Vale grabbed Emma and held a blade to her throat.
Isabella ran toward the rear exit.
Emma drove her heel onto Vale's foot and threw her head backward. His grip loosened. She tore free.
Above them, the old scenery platform shuddered.
One support cable snapped.
Martin's wife and daughter screamed as the platform tilted over the stage.
May you like
William was still fighting Daniel directly beneath it.
The second cable began to tear.
