Chapter 4

The lock cracked below.

“Leon, listen to me,” Ben’s recorded voice said. “If Walter finds out I kept this—”

A second impact shook the door.

Ava snatched the old phone from its wooden support. The recording continued playing, the screen displaying a date and time from the night of the collapse.

Ben drew a ragged breath through the speaker.

“The warning circuit didn’t fail. They shut it down at eleven fourteen. I saw the panel notice before the feed cut.”

Another voice answered, low and urgent.

Leon.

“Who gave the order?”

“I don’t know. But Walter came underground after. He…