It happened without warning. The music stopped mid-note, the refrigerator motors fell silent, and a quiet mechanical clunk traveled through the walls. For one enormous instant, the room held its breath. Then people began talking all at once, asking whether a breaker had tripped and whether the storm had taken the county power lines.
Battery-backed emergency lights came on several seconds later, spreading a pale white wash over the tables. It flattened faces and stripped warmth from the room, making familiar photographs on the walls look like pictures recovered from some other life. The sound of the rain grew louder without the music to conceal it.
Ronan was already at the front door. He tested the handle, pulled back the interior bolt, and tried the door again. It did not move. He called Cutter over, and they checked it once more without forcing anything that might make an already compromised exit worse. The outer locking mechanism had engaged and would not release.
"Kitchen?" Ronan asked.
Mara was halfway there. She returned a minute later with an expression that answered the question before she spoke. "Same problem. The secondary door's locked at the exterior frame."
Garrett heard her and looked across the room toward the crowded tables. "Tell me we have a way out."
"We have windows," she replied. "And we have sixty-three people who know how to follow directions. That's enough to begin with."
The statement was more reassuring than Eli felt. He watched a middle-aged member guide an older friend toward a chair after the man stood too quickly in the darkness. He watched Boone walk from table to table telling people to keep their seats until Ronan gave instructions. A few men complained about the interruption, but the complaints quieted as they noticed that Ronan had stopped smiling and Mara was examining the windows instead of the lights.
Cutter's phone vibrated. Hamish had sent another message: Roads flooding. Crews mobilizing. Do not rely on immediate arrival.
Ronan read it, then turned to Eli. "Do you know if that machine is why the doors locked?"
"The diagram suggests they're connected," Eli answered. "But I don't know what else the new system is controlling."
Ronan gave a small nod. "That's an honest answer."
The words mattered because Eli had been afraid of admitting uncertainty. He had already begun imagining that if he failed to know something important, sixty-three adults might suffer for it. The burden was too large for him, and Ronan seemed to recognize that without making a speech about it. He placed one hand briefly against the boy's shoulder.
"Remember what Cutter told you," he said. "This is not yours to carry alone."
Then Ronan climbed onto a low step at the end of the hall and spoke in a voice that reached every table without becoming a shout.
"Listen carefully. We have a problem with the building's electrical and access systems. We've contacted emergency services. I need everyone to stay with the group they arrived with, follow Mara's instructions, and make room for anybody who needs assistance. We're going to move out in an organized way, and nobody is going to improvise a shortcut."