Adventure of Dallas Fontaine 2

The service office smells like dust, ozone, and old paper left too long in a damp drawer. The purge bar on the monitor is dead. The inner door latch has clicked, and now the room feels one breath away from collapse.

The lock path is still open, but someone just ran for the back room.

From the inner doorway, a figure slips through the thin slice of light and bolts deeper into the office. A shoulder flashes, a hand clutching a slim data case, then the door swings wide on its own protest.

Jackson squares to the fleeing doorway, ready to cover Dallas. The maintenance man sags against the console, shaken, while the monitor keeps a cold, half-lit record of what was almost erased.

Dallas slips through the hanging inner door before the operative can vanish into the back room. Jackson holds the office line, and the maintenance man stays pinned to the console, too scared to move.

The back room is tighter than the office, lined with shelves, ledgers, and a half-open file cabinet. The fleeing figure skids to a stop at the far desk, data case clutched tight.

Dallas closes the distance fast enough to cut off the desk side. The operative freezes, trapped between him and the wall of files.

The data case is now in Dallas’s reach, and the operative’s shoulder sags as the fight drains out of the room.

Dallas takes the data case cleanly from the operative’s grip, pinning it against his coat before the man can snatch it back. The room goes still except for the dead glow of the locked console.

Jackson’s jaw tightens in the doorway, but he keeps his weapon low. The maintenance man swallows hard and stares at the floor, hearing every word.

Dallas flips the case in his hand. A sharp edge bites his palm and leaves a thin cut, but the latch and seal are intact.

For a beat, nobody moves. The operative’s voice drops to a hoarse whisper, as if saying the rest costs him something.

Dallas closes his fingers around the data case and the question lands flat in the cramped room. Jackson does not interrupt. The maintenance man keeps his eyes down, breathing through his nose like he is bracing for impact.

Dallas presses harder, and the operative folds under the pressure of the silence. He jerks his chin once toward the open inner door, then away, as if even that glance feels dangerous.

The maintenance coat man lets out a shaky breath, almost relieved to be ignored. Jackson shifts aside in the doorway, giving Dallas a clear path while keeping his eyes on both men.

Dallas turns from the confession and heads for the service office back room. Jackson keeps the doorway open, and the maintenance coat man stays planted by the console, too shaken to move.

Dallas slips into the back room and catches the bride’s father before he can be dragged anywhere else. The data case thumps against his ribs as he plants himself between the hostage and the door.

The older man is alive, tied to a chair and rattled, but present. Dallas cuts the bindings with a quick knife flash, then pulls him up by the arm.

A chair leg scrapes hard on the floor, loud enough to carry. Jackson’s posture tightens in the doorway outside.

Dallas gets the father to his feet and half-drags him toward the threshold. His shoulder catches the door frame, fresh pain flaring through the old bruise.

The back room is open, the captive is free, and the console behind them stays dead. Jackson holds the line while Dallas steadies the rescued man and waits for the next move.