Elena did not take her eyes off me, but she raised the radio to her mouth.

“Caleb,” she said, her voice tighter now.

“Adrian is talking about a separate grid lockdown.”

“Does the main panel control the lower pumps?”

The radio crackled with static.

There was a long pause before Caleb answered.

“He’s trying to scare you,” Caleb’s voice came back, though he sounded less certain now.

“The house is on a single municipal feed.”

“There is no secondary grid.”

“He’s lying,” Caleb said.

“He’s lying because he knows he’s dead.”

I took a slow breath, my chest rising and falling.

I could feel the cold draft from the ventilation shaft behind me.

In my pocket, the phone vibrated twice more.

The second alert meant the service elevator in the east wing had been activated.

Nora was moving fast.

She was heading toward the central control room on the main floor.

“If Caleb is so sure,” I said, “tell him to try to open the main vault door from his terminal.”

“Tell him to try to override the perimeter wall.”