chapter 10:The Thirteenth Floor
824 Words
The containment alarm echoed through the laboratory.
A deep metallic tone.
Slow.
Relentless.
Elena's heartbeat quickened as thick steel shutters dropped over every window.
The laboratory was sealed.
Adrien rushed to the nearest exit and pulled at the handle.
Locked.
"There has to be another way out."
"There is," Elena said, staring at the illuminated floor plan on the wall.
A section of the building flashed red.
SUBLEVEL – RESTRICTED
Below it, another message appeared.
CONTAINMENT BREACH: SECTOR 13
Adrien frowned.
"There wasn't a Sector 13 on the building plans."
"Someone hid an entire level."
Before they could move, the speakers crackled.
Dr. Celeste Arden's calm voice filled the room.
"If you're hearing this, congratulations. You've reached the point where most investigators turn back."
The lights dimmed.
"You won't."
Her voice carried neither fear nor anger.
Only certainty.
"You deserve the truth."
A hidden panel slid open beneath one of the workstations.
Inside lay two access cards.
One marked E. MARLOWE.
The other...
A. VALE.
Elena exchanged a glance with Adrien.
"She knew we'd come."
Adrien picked up his card.
"No."
He turned it over.
"She expected us."
---
A concealed elevator opened behind the laboratory wall.
Neither of them touched the button.
It had already been called.
As they descended, the display counted downward.
-1...
-2...
-3...
Then the numbers disappeared.
The screen displayed only one word.
BELOW
The doors opened onto a long circular corridor lined with thick glass walls.
Behind each panel was an empty observation room.
Children's desks.
Books.
Drawings taped to the walls.
Tiny shoes left neatly beside beds.
The silence felt heavier than any crime scene Elena had ever entered.
She stopped before one drawing.
It showed a little girl holding hands with a little boy beneath a sky filled with stars.
In the corner, written in childish handwriting, were the words:
Friends forever, Elena.
Her breath caught.
"I know that handwriting."
Adrien looked at her.
"You remember him."
"Not clearly."
She touched the glass.
"But he was real."
---
At the end of the corridor stood a single black door.
Unlike the others, it had no handle.
Only a palm scanner.
Above it, engraved into the steel, were three words.
THE THIRTEENTH DOOR
Elena placed her hand on the scanner.
Nothing happened.
Adrien tried.
Still nothing.
Then, without warning, the system spoke.
Dual authorization required.
They looked at each other.
Slowly, they placed their hands on the scanner together.
A soft chime echoed through the corridor.
The door unlocked.
Cold air drifted out.
Inside was a circular chamber unlike anything they had seen before.
The walls were covered with shelves of sealed evidence boxes.
Each box carried a year.
1998.
1999.
2000.
Every year of Project Aster.
In the center of the room stood a glass case.
Inside rested a simple red notebook.
Across the cover, written in silver ink, were the words:
THE ORIGINAL RECORD
Elena carefully lifted the notebook from the case.
The first page contained only one sentence.
«Project Aster was created to protect the children... until someone changed its purpose.»
Adrien turned the page.
Photographs.
Research notes.
Letters.
Names.
Then he froze.
Near the bottom of one page was a signature he recognized instantly.
Victor Vale.
His uncle.
Adrien stared at it in disbelief.
"He knew."
The words barely left his lips.
"He knew from the beginning."
Before Elena could answer, a voice came from the darkness behind them.
"You've only discovered half the truth."
They spun around.
An elderly man stepped into the light.
His white lab coat was stained with dust.
His silver hair was unkempt, and his eyes were tired.
He raised both hands slowly.
"I'm unarmed."
Elena kept her weapon trained on him.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Professor Elias Rowan."
He looked at the red notebook in Elena's hands.
"I helped create Project Aster."
Silence settled over the chamber.
Then his expression filled with regret.
"We were trying to save gifted children."
He closed his eyes.
"We never imagined someone would turn our work into a weapon."
Before anyone could speak again...
A gunshot shattered the silence.
The bullet struck Professor Rowan in the shoulder.
He collapsed.
Elena instinctively moved toward him.
"Down!"
A second shot exploded through the chamber, shattering the glass case.
Adrien dragged Rowan behind a concrete pillar as alarms screamed through the underground facility.
Somewhere in the darkness, hidden beyond the rows of evidence boxes, a figure calmly worked the bolt of a rifle.
Click.
A voice echoed through the chamber.
"Leave the notebook... and you might live."
The voice was disguised.
But something about it made Elena's blood run cold.
She had heard it before.
Just not at a crime scene.
Not in a laboratory.
Somewhere much closer.
Somewhere she trusted.
And for the first time since the investigation began, Elena realized the enemy might not be hiding in the shadows.
The enemy might already be standing inside the Major Crimes Division.
- Writer
