Chapter 7 - Noah’s Dangerous Mission and the Narrow Escape in the Private Study
Saturday morning broke with the sound of thunder rumbling across Long Island Sound.
At 11:00 AM, an unexpected crisis threatened to derail the entire operation.
Claire had intercepted a panic-stricken phone call between Vanessa and Julian in the west gallery. Vanessa had realized that the physical laboratory analysis report Claire had printed was missing from the pantry wastebasket where Claire had originally disposed of the duplicate test envelope.
Suspicion was sweeping through the mansion like a wildfire.
“Margaret is tearing the staff quarters apart,” Claire whispered frantically into Ethan’s burner phone from the second-floor linen closet. “She thinks one of the maids found something. She’s demanding to search every staff locker and the carriage house!”
“Where is the encrypted flash drive containing the backup video files?” Ethan asked sharply.
“It’s inside my staff apron… but Margaret is heading toward the locker room right now! If she searches me, she’ll find the drive and the burner charger!”
Before Ethan could respond, a small voice echoed over the radio line.
“I have it, Mommy.”
It was Noah.
The six-year-old boy had slipped into the staff quarters through the narrow laundry chute. While Margaret was aggressively interrogating the junior maids in the main kitchen, Noah had reached into his mother’s locker, snatched the black USB drive, and stuffed it inside his sock.
“Noah, get out of there right now!” Claire gasped over the line.
Noah sprinted down the narrow basement corridor, his tiny sneakers making no sound against the concrete.
Suddenly, the heavy metal door at the end of the hall swung open. Margaret appeared, her face twisted with furious suspicion, holding a master set of brass keys.
“What are you doing down here, boy?” Margaret barked, her cold eyes narrowing as she blocked the exit. “Why aren’t you in the carriage house? What’s in your pockets?”
Noah stopped dead in his tracks. His little chest heaved with terror, but he remembered what Ethan had told him the night before: A king’s helper never bends to monsters.
Noah looked up at Margaret with wide, innocent tears. “I dropped my toy car in the laundry chute, Mrs. Margaret! I was trying to find it before my mom gets mad at me!”
Margaret glared at the boy, stepping forward and roughly grabbing his small shoulders. She patted down his empty pockets, finding nothing.
“Get out of my sight, you little parasite,” Margaret hissed, shoving him toward the stairs. “If I catch you in the main house again today, I’ll have your mother fired before the sun sets!”
Noah ran up the stairs, burst through the service door, and darted straight into Ethan’s master suite.
He threw his arms around Ethan’s legs, pulling the encrypted drive from his sock and handing it up.
“I got it, Mr. Ethan!” Noah sobbed quietly against Ethan’s knees. “The mean lady didn't find it!”
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Ethan knelt down on the hardwood floor, pulling the brave little boy into a tight, protective embrace.
“You are a true hero, Noah,” Ethan whispered, his voice thick with raw emotion. “You just saved all of us. Now, go stay with your mother in the north parlor. Tonight, the monsters are going to jail forever.”
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