I pressed the keys.

Four. Eight. Nine. Two.

The light turned green with a soft click, and the heavy doors slid open.

Inside, the elevator was cold and smelled of bleach.

I stepped inside and pressed the button for the sub-basement.

The elevator shuddered, then began its slow descent into the earth.

I watched the floor indicator light blink.

G. B1. B2.

The elevator stopped with a heavy thud, but the doors did not open immediately.

A red light began to flash on the control panel above my head.

A mechanical hum filled the small metal box, followed by the sound of a lock grinding into place.

My phone buzzed in my hand.

I looked down at the screen, my breath catching in my throat.

It was an alert from the estate’s automated security network.

The screen read: *Incursion detected. Sub-level quarantine initiated.*

The light above the keypad remained a solid, angry red.

I tapped my earpiece.

“Marcus, do you copy?” I said.

My voice was a low whisper in the metal cage of the elevator.

The static buzzed for a second before his voice came through.