“I Fixed My CEO’s Broken Fence — Then She Personally Thanked Me Over Dinner”
Chapter 5
We went to Indiana that afternoon.
Victoria insisted on driving herself.
I sat in the passenger seat, staring through the windshield as Chicago disappeared behind us.
For the first hour, neither of us spoke.
Then Victoria said:
“You can still walk away.”
“Can I?”
“Yes.”
“Would you?”
“No.”
I smiled.
“Then neither will I.”
She looked at me briefly.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“I know.”
“Why are you?”
I thought about my father.
“I’ve spent fifteen years believing his death was ordinary.”
“And now?”
“Now I think I owe him the truth.”
Victoria nodded.
The old manufacturing plant stood outside a small Indiana town.
It had been abandoned for years.
Broken windows.
Rusting machinery.
Tall weeds.
We entered through a side door.
Victoria carried a flashlight.
I carried a tool bag.
“You brought that?”
“Old habits.”
We found the entrance to the underground facility beneath a concrete platform.
The door was hidden under layers of dust.
My engineering background helped us identify the locking mechanism.
Within minutes, the door opened.
A stairway descended into darkness.
Victoria looked at me.
“Ready?”
“No.”
She laughed quietly.
“Good.”
We went down.
The facility was enormous.
Concrete corridors.
Steel doors.
Old electrical systems.
Some lights still worked.
We entered the first room.
Empty shelves lined the walls.
The second room contained filing cabinets.
The third contained computers.
Most were dead.
One wasn’t.
A small red light blinked.
Victoria stopped.
“That shouldn’t be running.”
I approached.
The computer displayed a login screen.
“Can you access it?”
“Maybe.”
I examined the hardware.
The system was old.
But the security wasn’t sophisticated.
I found a maintenance port.
Within minutes, the system unlocked.
A directory appeared.
Victoria stood behind me.
“What’s inside?”
“Records.”
I opened one.
My father’s name appeared.
Then hers.
Then mine.
Victoria went completely still.
“What?”
I opened the file.
It contained surveillance reports.
Photographs.
Financial information.
Medical records.
Everything.
Someone had been monitoring our families for years.
I scrolled.
There was one section titled:
PROJECT FENCE.
Victoria frowned.
“Project Fence?”
I opened it.
The first line made my blood run cold.
Objective: Maintain controlled access to Whitmore family assets.
The second line:
Primary threat: Victoria Whitmore.
Then another name.
Daniel Reed.
Victoria stared at me.
“Why you?”
I didn’t know.
Then I saw another file.
Father: Thomas Reed.
My father’s photograph appeared.
Under it was a report.
Thomas Reed had been one of the original engineers who helped construct the underground facility.
He had later attempted to expose the operation.
That’s why he had been killed.
I stepped backward.
“No.”
Victoria touched my arm.
“Daniel.”
I shook my head.
“My father didn’t have a heart attack.”
The report confirmed it.
He had been poisoned.
The death had been disguised.
I felt sick.
Then another file opened automatically.
It contained a recent photograph.
Victoria.
Taken yesterday.
Then me.
Taken this morning.
Someone was monitoring us in real time.
Suddenly the lights went out.
Victoria grabbed my arm.
“Daniel.”
“Stay close.”
A metallic sound echoed down the corridor.
A door closing.
Someone was inside.
I grabbed my flashlight.
We heard footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Coming toward us.
Victoria whispered:
“How many exits?”
“Two.”
“Which one?”
“Both are behind him.”
The footsteps stopped.
Silence.
Then a voice echoed through the corridor.
“Mr. Reed.”
I froze.
I knew that voice.
It belonged to my former supervisor.
Mr. Collins.
