Chapter 5 - TEN MINUTES TO SAVE LILY
“Mr. Sparks said you'd come.”
I stared at the girl's face on my phone.
Four years had changed her.
Lily Mercer was twelve now.
Her cheeks were thinner, and her expression carried a sadness no child should have to know.
But those were the same brown eyes.
The same freckles.
And the same red bracelet I'd tied around her wrist.
Below the picture, the countdown reached nine minutes.
Dominic leaned over my shoulder.
“What happens when that reaches zero?”
“I don't know.”
The screen displayed a controller status beneath the timer.
NORTH ANNEX — AUTOMATIC PURGE SEQUENCE.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Dominic, that isn't a camera system.”
“What is it?”
“It's connected to industrial equipment. The software is old, but the control labels look like the system my father was working on.”
I enlarged the display.
Three outputs were listed.
Ventilation.
Door release.
Fire suppression.
The third was highlighted.
Dominic reached for his phone.
“I'm sending men.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“There's a child in that room.”
“And we don't know what the system is about to do. Sending armed men into an electrical emergency could make everything worse.”
Dominic stopped.
It was the first time I'd seen him genuinely consider an order before giving it.
I looked at Dr. Bennett.
“Can he leave?”
“Absolutely not. He just suffered a serious seizure.”
Dominic started to argue.
The doctor raised a hand.
“Your condition is not negotiable.”
I turned toward Rosa.
“Do you know that room?”
She studied the camera feed.
“The old carriage house.”
“On the estate?”
“Yes. Behind the greenhouse.”
“Is there an entrance from outside?”
“A maintenance door near the eastern wall.”
I grabbed my tool bag.
Dominic caught my wrist.
“Penny.”
“What?”
“Don't go alone.”
I pulled free.
“Then send someone who can take instructions.”
He looked toward the taller guard who had accompanied us.
“What is your name?”
“Ethan Brooks, sir.”
“Can you follow Miss Hodge's directions without asking Caleb Mercer first?”
Ethan looked embarrassed.
“Yes, sir.”
“Then go.”
We ran.
My truck was waiting near the ambulance entrance.
Ethan climbed into the passenger seat.
I drove faster than I ever had in my life.
The countdown kept shrinking.
Seven minutes.
Six.
I knew enough about industrial controls to recognize the danger.
A purge sequence could activate ventilation or extinguishing equipment.
Depending on the system and the room, that could create a serious hazard.
But the display didn't tell me exactly what would happen.
And I wasn't going to gamble with Lily's life.
As we approached the estate, I called Rosa.
“Where's the carriage house breaker panel?”
“Behind the old laundry room.”
“Can you get there?”
“Yes.”
“Don't touch anything yet. Just find the panel.”
At the security gate, Ethan showed his identification.
The guard hesitated.
“Mr. Mercer ordered the grounds closed.”
Ethan leaned out the window.
“Mr. Moretti overruled him.”
The gate opened.
We drove toward the greenhouse.
The carriage house stood beyond it, a brick building with dark windows and ivy climbing its eastern wall.
I parked beside the maintenance entrance.
Three minutes remained.
The door was locked.
Ethan reached for his pistol.
“Don't shoot the lock,” I snapped.
“I wasn't going to.”
“Good. Because I don't need another electrical problem.”
I examined the door.
An old mechanical latch had been fitted beneath a newer electronic lock.
I knew that arrangement.
I'd worked on dozens of similar retrofits.
I pulled my wrench from the bag.
The same wrench that had broken Dominic's bedroom door.
My father would have laughed.
That tool's going to outlive both of us, Peanut.
He'd called me Peanut until the day he died.
I shoved the wrench behind the latch plate.
Metal groaned.
Ethan pulled with me.
The plate tore loose.
We pushed inside.
The air smelled of dust and hot wiring.
A narrow hallway led to a storage room.
The door was open.
Lily sat in a chair beside my father's toolbox.
Her hands weren't tied.
But her expression told me she was terrified.
“Lily!”
She jumped.
Then she stared.
“Penny?”
I ran toward her.
She stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
I wrapped my arms around her.
For one precious second, I forgot the timer.
Then the control panel beeped.
00:01:38.
“Come on,” I said. “We're leaving.”
Lily pulled away.
“We can't.”
“Why?”
“Grandpa said the doors will lock if I leave before the test finishes.”
Ethan looked toward the hallway.
“Where is your grandfather?”
Lily shook her head.
“He left.”
I grabbed her hand.
“Then he was wrong. We're going.”
The hallway lights flashed red.
A heavy metal shutter dropped across the entrance.
Ethan jumped backward.
“What the hell?”
I pulled Lily behind me.
The controller displayed sixty seconds.
I looked toward the ceiling.
Ventilation grilles.
A suppression nozzle.
Warning labels on the wall.
I didn't recognize the exact equipment, and I wasn't about to improvise with unknown machinery.
I grabbed my phone.
“Rosa, I'm inside. Is the breaker panel labeled?”
“Yes.”
“Read me the labels.”
“Carriage lights. Greenhouse. Laundry. North Annex.”
“Don't touch North Annex. Is there an emergency shutoff nearby?”
A pause.
“There's a red switch marked SYSTEM ISOLATION.”
I looked at the control screen.
The system's drawings in my father's album came back to me.
Emergency circuit must remain independent.
That meant the shutdown equipment should have been designed to function separately.
“Rosa, is there anyone trained on that equipment?”
“Mr. Salazar. The grounds engineer. He's here.”
“Put him on.”
A man's voice came through.
“Miss Hodge, I'm looking at the panel.”
“Do you recognize the isolation switch?”
“Yes. I've tested it during annual inspections.”
My shoulders loosened slightly.
“Does it shut down this equipment safely?”
“Yes. It should stop the test sequence while keeping the emergency release powered.”
“Then activate it now.”
Thirty seconds.
A loud mechanical hum filled the room.
Lily began crying.
I knelt beside her.
“Look at me, sweetheart.”
“I'm scared.”
“I know.”
“Grandpa said I had to stay.”
“You're not in trouble.”
The hum grew louder.
Twenty seconds.
Then the lights went out.
The display died.
The shutter stopped moving.
For one terrifying moment, nobody spoke.
A small green emergency light illuminated the hallway.
Ethan tried the door.
It opened.
“Clear!”
I lifted Lily into my arms.
She was almost too big to carry, but I didn't care.
We hurried into the cold night air.
Only when we reached the truck did Lily begin shaking.
I wrapped my coat around her shoulders.
“It's over.”
She looked at me.
“No, it isn't.”
I sat beside her.
“What do you mean?”
She glanced toward the carriage house.
“Grandpa said the machine was only supposed to test whether the locks worked.”
“Why?”
“Because he said bad people might come.”
Ethan crouched nearby.
“Lily, did your grandfather bring you here tonight?”
She nodded.
“Did he say why?”
“He said Mr. Moretti was asking questions again.”
My stomach tightened.
“Does your grandfather keep you here all the time?”
“No. We move around.”
“Where?”
“Different houses. Sometimes hotels.”
“Why?”
Her mouth trembled.
“Because people think I'm dead.”
I took her hand.
“Who told you that?”
“Grandpa.”
“Did he say why?”
Lily looked down at her bracelet.
“He said if they knew I was alive, the man who killed Uncle Anthony would come for me.”
Ethan and I exchanged a glance.
“Lily,” I asked softly, “what happened the night of the warehouse fire?”
She went silent.
Then she whispered, “Mr. Sparks saved me.”
I couldn't breathe.
“My father?”
She nodded.
“He carried me out when there was smoke.”
Tears blurred my vision.
“What happened after that?”
“He went back inside.”
“Why?”
“Because Uncle Anthony was still there.”
I pressed my hand over my mouth.
For four years, I'd believed my father died because somebody failed to maintain an electrical system.
He died trying to save another human being.
Maybe more than one.
“Lily, did you see who started the fire?”
She nodded slowly.
I felt Ethan move closer.
“Who?”
Lily looked toward the mansion.
Then she said something that made the cold seem to pass straight through my coat.
“Uncle Anthony started it himself.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“He told Mr. Sparks to take me outside. Then he pulled the red handle.”
“Why would he do that?”
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Grandpa was coming.”
Before I could ask another question, Lily reached beneath her sweater.
A small silver necklace hung around her neck.
Attached to it was a brass key.
“Uncle Anthony gave me this,” she whispered.
“He said not to give it to Grandpa.”
I looked at the tiny number engraved on the key.
41172\.
The same numbers hidden inside Anthony's watch.
May you like
Then Lily took my hand.
“Penny, your dad told me there was one more person inside that building. And Grandpa made everyone promise never to say her name.”
