Chapter 73: The Monastery

The gates opened with a groan that echoed across the mountains.

Ancient iron scraped against ancient stone, the sound swallowed by the fog before rolling back toward the helicopters like a warning.

No one spoke.

The countdown continued to tick relentlessly across every display.

01:58:41

01:58:40

01:58:39

Aaron Mercer’s voice had disappeared.

Only the silence remained.

The lead helicopter banked lower, circling once above the monastery.

From above, the structure looked impossibly old.

The main chapel crowned the highest ridge, its weathered bell tower cracked down the middle. Ivy climbed over broken walls like veins reclaiming forgotten flesh. The eastern wing had long since collapsed into the mountainside, leaving piles of stone scattered across narrow paths.

Nothing moved.

No guards.

No vehicles.

No lights except the single window glowing near the chapel.

Too quiet.

Roman stared through the window.

"I don’t like it."

Theo gave a nervous laugh.

"I’ve known you for all of... what, a week?"

Roman didn’t answer.

Theo continued anyway.

"And hearing you say that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence."

"It wasn’t meant to."

The helicopters touched down one after another in a clearing below the monastery.

The instant the landing skids met the ground, Adrian’s security team moved with practiced precision.

Two squads spread toward the tree line.

Another secured the landing zone.

Snipers climbed nearby rock formations.

Drones lifted into the air, disappearing into the fog.

Within seconds, the quiet mountain clearing had become a military operation.

Allison stepped onto the ground.

Cold mountain air rushed into her lungs.

It smelled different from the coast.

Pine.

Wet earth.

Ancient stone.

There was something else too...

Something metallic.

Old.

Like rust and rain.

She frowned.

Lucian immediately noticed.

"What is it?"

She looked toward the monastery.

"I don’t know."

She closed her eyes for a moment.

"It feels..."

Roman watched her carefully.

"...familiar."

Adrian looked over.

"You’ve never been here."

Allison slowly opened her eyes.

"I know."

The answer unsettled everyone.

Especially Roman.

Because he’d heard those words before.

Twenty years ago.

From Susanna.

Harold approached the front steps cautiously.

"The architecture hasn’t changed."

Dorian laughed quietly.

"It has."

Harold looked back.

"What?"

"The monastery."

Dorian pointed toward the bell tower.

"It wasn’t built to keep people out."

His finger lowered toward the foundation.

"It was built to keep something in."

Silence settled over the group.

Theo looked from the tower to the dark windows.

"I officially hate this place."

Roman drew a flashlight from his belt.

"Stay close."

"No one separates."

His eyes settled on Allison.

"Especially you."

She nodded once.

"I’m not planning on wandering off."

Theo muttered, "Please don’t. We’ve already rescued you twice."

Allison shot him a flat look.

"I’m adding that to the list of things you’ll regret saying."

He grinned.

"There she is."

Despite everything, Lucian smiled.

That tiny exchange eased the tension just enough for everyone to breathe.

As they climbed the worn stone steps, Allison’s attention drifted.

Something wasn’t right.

Not the silence.

Not the fog.

The stairs.

She stopped.

Everyone behind her halted immediately.

Roman looked over.

"What?"

Allison crouched beside one of the steps.

Her gloved fingers brushed away years of moss.

Then more dirt.

Then she froze.

"There are grooves."

Lucian knelt beside her.

"What kind?"

She traced the stone carefully.

"These aren’t cracks."

Roman joined them.

His expression changed the instant he saw them.

"No..."

Harold stepped forward.

"What is it?"

Roman ran his hand across the stone.

"They’ve been used."

Theo frowned.

"They’re stairs."

Roman slowly shook his head.

"No."

His voice became quiet.

"They’re tracks."

Everyone looked at him.

Roman stood.

His eyes moved from the steps... to the enormous monastery doors.

Then back again.

"These doors..."

A long pause.

"...open much farther than this."

Allison’s pulse quickened.

She followed the grooves with her eyes.

They didn’t stop at the entrance.

They disappeared beneath the stone floor inside.

Like something incredibly heavy had been rolled through these doors...

Again.

And again.

And again.

Not once.

For years.

She looked up at Roman.

"What fits on tracks that size?"

Roman didn’t answer immediately.

His face had gone pale.

When he finally spoke, it was almost a whisper.

"The archives weren’t upstairs."

He looked toward the dark entrance.

"They were moved."

Lucian’s hand instinctively found Allison’s.

"You figured that out before any of us."

She barely heard him.

Her eyes remained fixed on the floor.

Because something else suddenly clicked.

She looked toward the drainage map on her tablet.

Then toward the mountain.

Then back at the grooves.

"No..."

Adrian immediately recognized the look on her face.

"What?"

Allison stood so quickly the others took a step back.

"We’re in the wrong place."

The wind howled through the broken bell tower.

Roman stared at her.

"What do you mean?"

Allison pointed toward the west side of the mountain.

"The monastery..."

Her voice steadied with growing certainty.

"...isn’t the destination."

She looked each of them in the eye.

"It’s the distraction."

The group fell silent.

And somewhere deep beneath the mountain...

A heavy steel door slammed shut.

The echo reached them three seconds later.

BOOM.

Not an explosion.

Not a cave-in.

A door.

A massive one.

The sound rolled through the mountain beneath their feet, vibrating through the ancient stone until even the loose gravel on the monastery steps trembled.

No one spoke.

Everyone felt it.

Theo slowly looked down.

"...Tell me that wasn’t underground."

Roman’s expression darkened.

"It was."

Another deep vibration pulsed beneath the monastery.

Not as loud this time.

Like an enormous locking mechanism finishing its cycle.

Allison didn’t take her eyes off the western slope.

"It’s moving."

Lucian followed her gaze.

"What is?"

"The operation."

She turned to Roman.

"Aaron wanted us to come through the front."

Roman nodded once.

"Go on."

She pointed toward the worn grooves carved into the stone.

"Those tracks are old."

Everyone looked back down.

"They weren’t made this week."

She crouched again, brushing more moss away with her glove.

The grooves were smooth.

Polished.

Years of use had rounded the edges.

"They’ve been used hundreds of times."

Harold slowly knelt beside her.

His eyes widened.

"...She’s right."

He traced the groove with one finger.

"The weathering..."

His voice became quieter.

"...this wasn’t one shipment."

Allison looked toward the mountain.

"It was a route."

Roman felt something click.

Not just in the investigation.

In Allison.

She wasn’t guessing.

She was building a picture.

Just like Susanna.

Just like...

Roman pushed that thought away.

Not yet.

⸻

Adrian studied his daughter.

He remembered teaching her chess when she was ten.

She never rushed a move.

She sat quietly.

Watched everyone else’s mistakes.

Then suddenly—

Checkmate.

She’d always been like that.

Patient.

Observant.

She simply hadn’t believed those qualities mattered.

Anthony Morrison had spent years convincing her she was ordinary.

Standing here now...

Watching her direct the room...

Adrian silently promised himself something.

Anthony would never get another chance to define who Allison was.

Never again.

⸻

Roman stood.

"Everybody hold."

The teams immediately stopped.

Security froze in place.

No one entered the monastery.

No one left.

Roman looked toward Allison.

"What are we missing?"

She closed her eyes.

Not dramatically.

Simply thinking.

She replayed everything.

Aaron’s message.

The monastery.

The countdown.

The glowing window.

The tracks.

The drainage tunnels.

The map.

Then...

She opened her eyes.

"The light."

Theo blinked.

"...The light?"

She nodded.

"Aaron is too careful."

Lucian immediately understood.

"He wanted us to see it."

"Exactly."

She pointed toward the chapel tower.

"If you’re hiding someone..."

She looked toward Adrian.

"...would you leave the only visible light on?"

"No."

He answered immediately.

Roman smiled.

"What would you do?"

"I’d make people think she’s there."

Silence.

Then Allison continued.

"The light isn’t for us."

Everyone looked confused.

"It’s for surveillance."

Elias frowned.

"Meaning?"

"If someone is watching this monastery..."

She looked around.

"...they need confirmation we entered."

Roman slowly nodded.

"So the light tells whoever is watching that we’ve arrived."

"Yes."

Theo’s face fell.

"...Which means someone else knows we’re here."

Almost as if the mountain itself responded—

A red laser briefly swept across the fog.

Then disappeared.

Lucian’s head snapped toward the tree line.

"Sniper."

Adrian’s security detail instantly moved.

Weapons raised.

Positions taken.

Silence.

Nothing.

The laser never returned.

⸻

Gabriel stepped closer, Clara safely behind the security perimeter.

She clutched Simone’s hand tightly.

Her little face had gone pale.

Allison immediately walked over and crouched.

"Hey."

Clara looked at her.

"I don’t like this place."

"I know."

"It feels mean."

The words made Allison’s heart squeeze.

Children noticed things adults ignored.

She smiled gently.

"We’re going to leave."

"When?"

"As soon as we find my mom."

Clara thought about that.

Then quietly asked—

"Will your mommy be scared?"

Allison’s smile disappeared.

"...Probably."

Clara nodded sadly.

"My daddy came."

Gabriel looked away.

Emotion flickering across his face.

"So..."

Clara continued.

"...You’ll go get yours."

Allison reached out and gently squeezed her hand.

"I will."

⸻

Roman watched the exchange.

Then looked toward Lucian.

"She keeps grounding everyone."

Lucian smiled softly.

"That’s Allison."

Roman nodded.

"Don’t let her forget that."

Lucian looked surprised.

Roman rarely spoke emotionally.

The older man folded his arms.

"I spent too many years watching good people believe the worst about themselves."

His eyes drifted toward the monastery.

"I’m done watching."

⸻

Dorian suddenly raised his head.

"Wait."

Everyone looked at him.

His expression had changed completely.

Panic.

Real panic.

"I know this mountain."

Roman narrowed his eyes.

"You’ve remembered something."

Dorian cursed under his breath.

"I didn’t transport the ledger here."

Silence.

"I transported prisoners."

The air left the room.

"What?"

Dorian rubbed both hands over his face.

"I never saw them."

His breathing quickened.

"They were kept below."

He pointed toward the western ridge Allison had identified earlier.

"Not under the monastery."

Another pause.

"There was..."

He swallowed.

"...another entrance."

Allison’s eyes widened.

"The drainage tunnel."

Dorian nodded immediately.

"Hidden inside an old watermill."

Roman looked at Allison.

Then toward the mountain.

Then back again.

A slow smile appeared.

Not because he was happy.

Because his niece had just beaten every investigator in the room.

Including him.

"You were right."

Allison blinked.

"What?"

"The monastery was the distraction."

Lucian couldn’t stop smiling.

Neither could Adrian.

Not because the situation had improved.

Because Allison had done it.

She hadn’t followed.

She had led.

⸻

Elias’s tablet suddenly vibrated.

He frowned.

"Movement."

Roman stepped beside him.

The satellite image refreshed.

Heat signatures.

Three.

Then five.

Then twelve.

None inside the monastery.

All moving beneath the western ridge.

Toward the drainage tunnel.

Aaron hadn’t been waiting inside.

He’d been waiting underneath them the entire time.

Roman looked toward Allison.

"You just saved us from walking into an empty building."

Theo whistled.

"That’s hot."

Lucian gave him a look.

Theo shrugged.

"I meant intellectually."

Simone rolled her eyes.

"Sure you did."

Despite the danger, Allison laughed.

A real laugh.

Short.

Unplanned.

Lucian looked at her.

That sound...

He realized he had missed it.

More than he’d admitted.

She caught him looking.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You smiled."

"I know."

She smiled back.

For one tiny moment...

The mountain.

The countdown.

The conspiracy.

All disappeared.

Then Adrian’s radio crackled.

A strained voice burst through the speaker.

"Sir!"

Everyone froze.

The guard sounded terrified.

"We found another entrance."

Roman stepped forward.

"Report."

Static.

Heavy breathing.

Then—

"...there’s blood."

Silence.

The guard continued.

"Fresh blood."

Allison’s heart stopped.

"Is there anyone there?"

The answer came after a painfully long pause.

"...Yes."

Another pause.

"We found..."

Static swallowed the next words.

Then one sentence broke through.

"...we found Mrs. Croft’s bracelet."

Allison was already running before anyone could stop her.

"ALLISON!"

Lucian took off after her.

Roman cursed.

Adrian shouted orders.

Security surged toward the western ridge.

And hidden somewhere beneath the mountain—

Someone smiled.