CHAPTER 12 — THE MAN BEHIND THE GLASS
Adrian’s vision blurred.
The control room temperature had reached 125 degrees.
He loosened his collar and kept both hands around the lever.
If he released it too soon, the building circuits could reconnect.
“Milo?” he called.
No answer.
Then the intercom crackled.
“I’m here!”
The boy’s voice sounded small through the speaker.
Adrian smiled despite the heat.
“You stopped it?”
“Yes.”
“Good job.”
“They can’t open the door.”
“I know.”
Milo pressed his face against the small glass window.
Adrian could barely see him through the steam.
“Don’t fall asleep,” Milo said.
“I’m not sleeping.”
“You closed your eyes.”
“I’m thinking.”
“Think with your eyes open.”
Adrian laughed weakly.
Outside, Jonah arrived with medical crews.
He studied the emergency panel.
“The locking system has a thermal release.”
Luis pointed at the temperature.
“It isn’t opening.”
“Because the temperature sensor was disconnected.”
Jonah opened the lower panel.
The sensor wire had been cut recently.
Marcus had prepared for this possibility.
“We can bypass it,” Jonah said. “But the door could release the stored pressure into the hallway.”
“How bad?” Luis asked.
“Bad enough to crush anyone standing in front of it.”
Milo heard them.
“Tell me what to do.”
Jonah turned.
“No.”
“You need someone small enough to reach behind the wall panel.”
“Milo, stop.”
“You said Mom ran back for the files because she wanted to save people.”
Jonah’s face broke.
Milo continued.
“I want to save him.”
Jonah knelt beside his son.
“For eight months, I stayed alive because I believed I would see you again. I won’t lose you now.”
“You won’t.”
Milo hugged him once.
Then he crawled into the narrow service opening beside the door.
Jonah guided him by voice.
“Find the yellow wire.”
“There are three.”
“The one with a blue stripe.”
Milo found it.
“Pull it loose and touch it to the copper bar.”
Inside the room, Adrian dropped to one knee.
“Milo,” he whispered.
The boy pressed the wire against the bar.
The warning light turned green.
“Move away!” Jonah shouted.
Milo rolled back through the service opening.
Luis pulled him clear.
The steel door exploded outward with a blast of hot air.
Medical crews rushed in.
Adrian lay unconscious beside the lever.
Milo broke free from his father and ran to him.
“Adrian!”
A medic checked for a pulse.
For two terrible seconds, no one spoke.
Then the medic looked up.
“He’s alive.”
Milo began to cry.
But across the hallway, Marcus Kane was smiling as agents dragged him away.
“You saved the building,” Marcus called.
May you like
His eyes locked on Adrian.
“But you still lost the company.”
