Chapter 12 - THE ROOM OF NAMES
The courthouse had been built over an older foundation.
Sadi remembered that now.
The room where she had hidden as a child had not been beneath the blue house. It had been beneath the courthouse.
Her father had taken her there after witnessing Rafael kill the judge. He had hidden the evidence in a maintenance room beneath the basement.
The blue house had only been a distraction.
Victor listened without interrupting as she described the memory.
They stood inside a private conference room at the estate, surrounded by maps and photographs.
Elias marked the courthouse’s underground passages.
“There’s an old service tunnel beneath the western foundation,” he said. “It was sealed after a flood.”
“Can it be opened?” Victor asked.
“Yes.”
“Then we go tonight.”
Sadi looked at him. “Rafael will expect that.”
“Good.”
“You’re going to use me as bait again.”
“No.”
“You said I was part of the plan.”
“You’re part of the truth.”
“That sounds like a prettier way to say bait.”
Victor stepped closer. “You are not going into that building alone.”
“I’m going in because I’m the only one who remembers where the room is.”
“I will be beside you.”
“You can’t promise you’ll protect me from everything.”
“I can promise I’ll try.”
The words were quiet.
Sadi wanted to be angry, but she was too tired.
At midnight, they entered the courthouse through the underground tunnel.
Victor, Elias, and four men moved ahead.
Sadi followed with the metal box hidden beneath her coat.
The tunnel smelled of wet earth and rust. Pipes crossed the ceiling. Water dripped onto the concrete.
At the end stood a wall of broken bricks.
Sadi touched it.
“This is where I hid.”
Victor examined the wall. “There’s a door.”
“Behind the bricks.”
The men cleared the passage.
A narrow room appeared.
Inside were shelves filled with boxes, ledgers, tapes, photographs, and official documents.
A small table stood in the center.
Sadi recognized the wooden box immediately.
Her father had hidden it here.
Victor moved toward the shelves.
Elias began photographing the records.
Sadi found a folder marked with her father’s initials.
Inside were financial documents and a list of names.
The list included judges, police commanders, hospital administrators, and city officials.
Every person had received payments from Rafael.
At the bottom was a final name.
Victor Costello.
Sadi stared.
Victor saw it.
“What does it say?” he asked.
She handed him the page.
His face remained unreadable as he read.
“Your father believed I was involved,” he said.
“Were you?”
“No.”
“But he wrote your name.”
“He wrote everyone’s name.”
“Why would he include you?”
“Because I was Rafael’s nephew.”
Sadi studied him.
The distrust she had tried to bury returned.
Victor took the folder and opened another page.
His name was circled.
Beside it, her father had written:
Protect Victor from Rafael. He is being used as the heir.
Victor’s fingers tightened around the paper.
Sadi saw the pain in his face again.
“You didn’t know,” she said.
“No.”
“He was trying to protect you.”
Victor looked at the documents. “He died for that.”
A sound echoed from the tunnel.
Elias raised his weapon.
The lights went out.
Someone locked the door from outside.
Then smoke began pouring through the cracks.
Sadi coughed.
Victor grabbed her hand. “Stay with me.”
The smoke thickened quickly.
Elias shouted, “There’s another exit!”
They moved toward the far wall.
A steel door appeared behind a row of shelves.
Victor kicked it open.
The room beyond was dark.
They entered just as flames rose behind them.
Rafael’s voice echoed through the hidden chamber.
“You found the room of names.”
Victor turned.
Rafael stood at the end of the passage with a pistol aimed at Sadi.
Behind him were two men holding Nora’s daughter and an unconscious Sam.
Sadi’s heart stopped.
Victor stepped in front of her.
Rafael smiled. “You always did stand between danger and everyone else.”
“Release the children.”
“You have something I want.”
Sadi touched the cassette beneath her coat.
Rafael’s gaze fixed on her.
“The recording.”
Victor whispered, “Don’t give it to him.”
Rafael heard.
He nodded toward Sam.
One of the men pressed a blade against the boy’s arm.
Sam opened his eyes.
“Sadi,” he whispered.
She stepped forward.
Victor caught her wrist.
Sadi looked at him.
If she refused, Sam could die.
If she obeyed, Rafael could erase every piece of evidence.
Then she saw the room’s old ventilation system.
A narrow metal pipe ran above Rafael’s men.
Sadi remembered the cleaning chemicals stored in the courthouse basement.
Bleach.
Industrial solvent.
A spark from the damaged electrical panel.
She whispered to Victor, “When I move, shoot the lights.”
He stared at her.
“Trust me.”
Victor nodded once.
Sadi pulled the cassette from her coat.
Rafael smiled.
She raised it above her head.
“Come get it.”
Rafael took one step.
Sadi threw the cassette toward the ventilation pipe.
It struck the metal, bounced behind the men, and landed beside the electrical panel.
Victor fired.
The lights exploded.
Sadi kicked the nearest man’s knee.
Victor seized Rafael.
Elias grabbed the children.
Smoke filled the chamber.
Sadi found Sam and pulled him toward the exit.
Behind her, Victor and Rafael crashed against the wall.
Rafael shouted, “You’ll never know what your father did!”
Victor answered, “I know what you did.”
The courthouse began to shake.
The fire had reached the old supports.
Sadi dragged Sam into the tunnel.
Victor emerged seconds later, blood running from his temple.
Rafael was gone.
The cassette remained somewhere behind them.
The ceiling collapsed.
Victor grabbed Sadi and pushed her forward as stone fell around them.
They reached the surface just before the tunnel caved in.
Sadi collapsed against the courthouse wall.
Sam was alive.
The little girl was alive.
But the room of names had been buried.
Victor stood in the smoke, staring at the rubble.
May you like
Rafael had escaped.
And the only recording that could destroy him was lost beneath the courthouse.
