Chapter 15 - The Secret of Locker 404
At 11:30 p.m., the Oakridge Central Bus Terminal was nearly deserted. Yellow fluorescent lights flickered over the worn linoleum floor as rain beat against the skylights.
Mason, Daniel, and Marshal Sarah Lin entered quietly, dressed in civilian clothes. They navigated the row of rusted metal storage lockers along the southern concourse until they found number 404.
Mason inserted the brass key into the lock. With a sharp metallic click, the latch yielded.
Inside sat a heavy, fireproof steel strongbox. Marshal Lin used a specialized lock-picking tension wrench to release the dual combination dials. The lid swung open.
Inside lay a stack of faded carbon-copy financial bonds, a registered offshore bank ledger, and an audio cassette labeled: *Thornton-Sterling Joint Escrow 2012.*
Marshal Lin quickly scanned the documents using her high-resolution camera scanner. "My God," she breathed. "Thornton didn't just invest in Sterling's logistics firm. Thornton owned forty percent of the toxic waste recycling plant that was poisoning the water basin. When Elliot Reed found the chemical serial numbers at the crash site, Thornton was the one who signed the judicial gag order that sealed your father's autopsy."
"He murdered my father with the stroke of a pen," Mason said, his blood running cold with fury.
Suddenly, the terminal's main power grid cut out with a deafening thud!
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The entire concourse was plunged into pitch-black darkness.
"Down! Now!" Daniel shouted, pulling Mason behind a reinforced concrete pillar as the sharp crack of a suppressed firearm echoed through the terminal, sending shards of tile exploding where they had stood a second before!
