CHAPTER 12 – Level B4
No one spoke.
The words hung in the air like smoke.
Level B4 has been occupied... for the last twelve years.
Richard Ashford stared at the hotel manager.
"That's impossible."
"I ordered every entrance to B4 sealed after the renovation."
The manager nodded nervously.
"I know, sir."
"I checked the maintenance records myself."
"And?"
"There are no maintenance records."
"None."
"It's as if B4... was removed from the hotel's official blueprint."
Detective Laura Bennett frowned.
"But someone has been using it."
"Yes."
The manager swallowed.
"Regularly."
Richard looked toward his chief of security.
"How many people know this level exists?"
"Officially?"
"Only four."
"You."
"The former chief engineer."
"My predecessor."
"And..."
He hesitated.
"Theodore Hawthorne."
The room fell silent.
Vivienne tightened her grip on her father's arm.
"So Theodore had access to a hidden level beneath the hotel?"
Richard nodded slowly.
"When this hotel was built..."
"B4 wasn't meant to be a storage floor."
"It was designed as a secure archive."
"For confidential corporate records."
"And after the merger?"
"I shut it down."
"Or at least..."
He looked toward the manager.
"I believed I had."
Detective Bennett turned to her officers.
"We're going down."
One officer interrupted.
"Detective..."
"The elevator won't respond."
"Try the stairs."
"There aren't any."
Everyone looked at the hotel manager.
"What do you mean there aren't any?"
"The architect designed B4 with only one access point."
"The executive elevator."
"So if the elevator is disabled..."
"You're trapped."
The manager nodded grimly.
"Exactly."
Richard walked to the elevator control panel.
He removed the silver owner keycard from his wallet.
The same card Chloe had laughed at earlier that evening.
He inserted it into the hidden slot.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
The screen flashed red.
ACCESS DENIED
Richard frowned.
"My credentials have been overridden."
The cybersecurity director stepped forward.
"Sir."
"Someone changed the ownership permissions."
Richard's jaw tightened.
"Can you reverse it?"
"Maybe."
"But it'll take time."
"How much?"
"Twenty minutes."
Vivienne glanced at the clock.
"It feels like we don't have twenty minutes."
Just then...
Samuel slowly walked toward the elevator.
"I remember something."
Everyone turned.
"Theodore once showed me a trick."
He knelt beside the elevator door and removed a small brass plaque.
Behind it was a tiny mechanical keyhole.
Richard's eyes widened.
"I completely forgot..."
Samuel smiled faintly.
"Theodore never trusted electronics."
"He always built a manual backup."
Richard looked at the chief engineer.
"Do we still have the emergency key?"
The engineer shook his head.
"It disappeared years ago."
A soft voice interrupted them.
"I think I know where it is."
Everyone turned toward Dominic.
He looked embarrassed.
"When I was twelve..."
"My father gave me an old brass key."
"He told me..."
"'Never throw this away.'"
"I still have it."
Richard stared at him.
"You've had it all these years?"
Dominic nodded.
"I thought it was just a keepsake."
Twenty minutes later...
Dominic returned from his home carrying a small wooden box.
Inside lay an antique brass key engraved with a single letter.
T
Samuel smiled.
"That's it."
Dominic handed it to Richard.
"You should open it."
Richard looked at him for a long moment.
"No."
He handed the key to Vivienne.
"If Theodore protected this place for you..."
"You should be the one."
Vivienne inserted the key into the hidden lock.
It fit perfectly.
She turned it once.
A deep metallic rumble echoed through the concrete walls.
The elevator doors slowly slid open.
Instead of a normal elevator cabin...
A second set of reinforced steel doors waited inside.
The words etched across them made everyone's blood run cold.
ASHFORD–HAWTHORNE ARCHIVE
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
Detective Bennett exchanged a glance with Richard.
"I've never seen this in any city records."
Richard quietly replied,
"Neither have I."
The inner doors unlocked with a loud hiss.
Cold air drifted out.
The lights inside flickered on automatically.
A long corridor stretched into darkness.
Dust covered the floor.
Yet one detail immediately caught everyone's attention.
There were fresh footprints.
Someone had walked through the corridor only minutes earlier.
Detective Bennett crouched beside them.
"Women's shoes."
Richard looked ahead.
"Rachel."
"No," Samuel whispered.
"Not Rachel."
He pointed farther down the hallway.
A second set of footprints overlapped the first.
Larger.
Made by a man's expensive leather dress shoes.
Vivienne frowned.
"So she wasn't alone."
Samuel slowly shook his head.
"No..."
"I've seen those shoe prints before."
Richard looked at him.
"Where?"
Samuel's face lost all color.
"At Theodore's funeral."
Silence filled the corridor.
Detective Bennett stood.
"That would make the second person..."
Samuel finished the sentence in a trembling voice.
"...the man who was supposed to be dead."
Just then—
A loud metallic door slammed shut somewhere deep inside Level B4.
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Then came the unmistakable sound of footsteps...
Walking toward them.
