Chapter 6 - The Maintenance Tunnels
Arthur crawled furiously through the low-ceilinged metal conduit, the sharp edges of galvanized steel scraping against his forearms through his rolled-up sleeves. Dust filled his lungs, making him cough quietly into the crook of his elbow, but he didn't dare slow down. Behind him, the faint echo of heavy boots striking the concrete maintenance shafts signaled that Principal Harrison’s security detail had already figured out his escape route and poured into the subterranean labyrinth.
The air grew steadily warmer as he approached the central boiler intersection beneath the main administrative wing. This was the old part of the school, built decades before the modern tech upgrades and security domes had been installed. Here, physical ledgers, architectural blueprints, and paper archives were traditionally stored away from digital tracking. Arthur knew that if Evelyn Vance had been running this grade-rigging scheme for years, the digital servers would only show what she wanted them to show. The real paper trail—the original admissions forms, the historical grade alterations, the suppressed disciplinary records—would be locked away in the sub-level vault just beneath the boiler room.
He dropped silently out of a rusted side vent, landing softly on a bed of dry gravel in the sprawling basement archive. The only illumination came from a dim green exit sign flickering at the far end of the long, concrete-lined hallway.
Arthur clutched the stolen solid-state drive in his jacket pocket with one hand while pulling out his personal smartphone with the other. The screen glowed brightly in the gloom, displaying an incoming notification from an unknown local number. He swiped it open.
“Meet me by the greenhouse exit,” the message read, unsigned. “Bring the drive. They’re locking down the east wing.”
Arthur frowned, his thumb hovering over the keypad. Who could possibly know he was down here, let alone where he was heading? Was it a trap set by Harrison, or had someone else inside the school finally decided to turn against the administration?
Before he could type a reply, a sharp metallic click echoed down the hallway behind him. A heavy flashlight beam cut through the darkness, illuminating the swirling dust particles in the air just twenty yards away.
“He’s down here! Cut him off at the junction!” a gruff voice shouted.
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Arthur turned and sprinted toward the green exit sign, his shoes skidding across the loose gravel as the sound of pursuing footsteps rapidly closed the distance behind him.
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