Fire at the First Factory
Chapter 14 - Fire at the First Factory
The original factory contained paper pension files, early contracts, and the physical server backing up Horizon transactions.
Flames had already reached the second floor when Gabriel and Owen arrived.
Firefighters ordered them back.
June Holloway stood near the gate, shouting that Anna was inside.
She had gone to retrieve Evelyn’s original diary from Malcolm’s archive, believing it would prove the patriarch’s role. When alarms began, a security door locked behind her.
Owen ran toward the entrance.
Gabriel caught him.
“You do not become brave by ignoring fire.”
“She is my sister.”
“And she needs us thinking.”
They followed an old loading passage Gabriel remembered from childhood. Smoke lowered visibility to a few feet. Heat pressed through the walls.
On the archive level, they heard Anna striking a metal door.
Gabriel used a fire axe to break the lock mechanism. Owen pulled her into the passage as a ceiling panel collapsed behind them.
Anna held the diary inside her jacket.
“You came back,” she said.
Owen understood she was not speaking only about the fire.
They reached the loading bay seconds before flames cut off the tunnel.
Outside, Gabriel collapsed from smoke inhalation but remained conscious. Owen knelt beside him while paramedics fitted an oxygen mask.
Police found evidence of accelerant and security footage showing Victor entering the factory disguised as a maintenance contractor.
He had not escaped far.
A highway camera captured his vehicle heading toward Blackwater Bridge.
Evelyn, still hospitalized, heard the destination and asked for a phone.
Victor answered her call.
“You should have died nineteen years ago,” he said.
Evelyn’s voice remained steady.
“You have been living inside that sentence ever since.”
“What do you want?”
“To keep you talking.”
Police traced the call.
Victor realized too late.
He accelerated toward the bridge where the family lie began.
The road ahead was blocked by patrol vehicles.
Behind him, more lights appeared.
Victor stopped beside the repaired section of railing.
May you like
For years, he had imagined the bridge as proof he could survive anything.
Now it offered no exit.
