Chapter 13 - THE ROOM BENEATH THE BASEMENTAt 2:17 the following morning, Emma, Martha, and Jonathan stood outside the sealed basement.
The door had not been opened in decades.
Dust covered the lock.
The security system claimed the room was empty.
But Emma noticed something strange.
There were fresh scratches around the door handle.
Someone had been there.
Recently.
Jonathan used the master key.
The door opened with a long metallic groan.
Inside, the basement smelled of dust, concrete, and old paper.
There were no machines.
No computers.
No secret vault.
Only shelves filled with boxes.
Martha picked up the nearest one.
“Most of these records are from the early years of Hartwell Technologies.”
Jonathan opened another.
“Financial documents.”
Emma walked farther into the room.
She stopped.
On the far wall was a chessboard.
Unlike the one in the tower, this one was enormous.
The pieces were carved into the wall.
And one piece was missing.
The black knight.
Emma stepped closer.
Behind the empty space, she noticed a small opening.
She reached inside.
Her fingers touched metal.
She pulled out a small silver key.
Jonathan stared at it.
“What does it open?”
Emma looked around.
Then she noticed a tiny symbol carved beneath the chessboard.
A crown.
A knight.
And a single letter.
M.
Martha suddenly stepped backward.
“No.”
Emma turned.
“What?”
Martha was staring at the wall.
“I’ve seen that symbol before.”
“Where?”
Martha’s face had gone pale.
“In your father’s old office.”
Jonathan looked at her.
“What did you see?”
Martha took a breath.
“Your father once told me that Minerva was not just a project.”
Emma frowned.
“What was it?”
Martha hesitated.
Then she said:
“It was a plan.”
Before anyone could ask another question, the lights went out.
A sound echoed from the darkness.
Footsteps.
Someone was running through the basement.
Jonathan immediately turned on his flashlight.
“Stay here!”
He ran toward the sound.
Emma looked at the chessboard.
The missing black knight was no longer missing.
It had been placed on the floor.
May you like
And beneath it was another message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE PAST BURIED.
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