CHAPTER 5 - Room 0B
576 Words
The hallway felt like it existed outside the law.
No signage. No friendly “Emergency Exit.” Just silence and red light and the soft hum of power running to places the public wasn’t supposed to imagine.
Naina’s skin prickled. “This is illegal.”
Rafe’s mouth twisted. “Illegal is a word for people without money.”
He walked to a door marked only by a small metal plate:
0B
He didn’t knock.
He pressed his badge to the reader.
The door clicked.
Naina’s heart slammed.
“Wait,” she whispered. “You have access.”
Rafe’s jaw clenched. “I have access to everything.”
He pushed the door open.
The room was empty—no furniture, no windows, just a metal drain in the floor and a chair bolted to the concrete.
And on the chair sat a scarf.
Meera’s scarf.
Naina knew it instantly—soft green, frayed edge, the one she stole from Naina in college and never gave back.
Naina’s throat closed.
Rafe stepped in, eyes scanning.
Naina rushed to the chair and grabbed the scarf, clutching it to her chest like it could turn into her sister by force of will.
“She was here,” Naina whispered.
Rafe’s face was tight. “Recently.”
Naina spun on him. “Where did she go?”
Rafe’s gaze flicked to the drain. “They clean.”
Naina’s stomach turned. “Who is ‘they’?”
Rafe didn’t answer.
Instead he walked to the wall and traced his fingers along a seam Naina hadn’t noticed.
A panel popped open.
Inside was a small shelf.
On it sat a phone.
Not Meera’s phone.
A burner.
Rafe picked it up carefully like it might bite.
The screen lit.
One message.
YOU’RE LATE.
Naina’s blood ran cold.
Rafe stared at the message, then at Naina.
“They knew I’d come,” he said quietly.
Naina’s voice shook. “They wanted you to find this.”
Rafe’s jaw clenched. “They wanted me to bring you.”
Naina stepped back instinctively.
Rafe lifted both hands slightly—no sudden moves.
“I didn’t know,” he said.
Naina’s eyes narrowed. “You’re head of security. You didn’t know there’s a k********g room beneath your building?”
Rafe’s face tightened with something like shame. “I knew there were rooms. I didn’t know Meera was the one they’d put in one.”
Naina swallowed hard. “So you’re not with them.”
Rafe’s eyes held hers. “I’m not.”
A beat.
Then the burner phone rang.
Rafe stared at it.
Naina whispered, “Don’t answer.”
Rafe didn’t listen.
He hit accept and put it on speaker.
A voice came through, calm, amused—female.
“Rafe,” the voice said. “Good. You found the room.”
Naina’s blood ran cold.
Rafe’s jaw clenched. “Where is she?”
The voice laughed softly.
“You mean Meera?” she asked. “Or the other one?”
Naina’s stomach dropped. “Other one?”
Rafe’s eyes snapped to Naina. Confusion, then dread.
The voice continued, almost gentle.
“You have ten minutes to return what Meera stole,” she said, “or you’ll get a body instead of a sister.”
Rafe’s voice went low. “What did she steal?”
The voice smiled through sound.
“Truth,” she said.
Then the call ended.
And somewhere above them, the elevator began to descend again.
- Writer
