Chapter 9 - The Prisoner Who Wasn't Afraid
Ethan stared at the photograph.
Elijah sat tied to a steel chair.
His face was bruised.
Blood stained the collar of his shirt.
Yet...
He was smiling.
Detective Laura Bennett enlarged the image.
"Something's wrong."
Samuel looked closer.
"What?"
"Look at the ropes."
Ethan frowned.
They appeared tight.
Too tight.
Until Laura enhanced the picture.
The knots weren't actually tied.
They were looped.
Loose enough for Elijah to escape whenever he wanted.
"He isn't a prisoner," Laura whispered.
"He's pretending to be one."
The satellite phone vibrated again.
A video call.
Unknown.
Ethan answered.
The screen came alive.
Elijah looked directly into the camera.
"You came."
Behind him stood three masked figures.
None of them noticed Ethan watching.
Almost as though Elijah wanted this call.
"Ethan."
"You must listen carefully."
A masked man struck Elijah across the face.
Blood ran from his lip.
Elijah never looked away from the camera.
"The Archive..."
"...isn't hidden inside Vault Twenty-Eight."
The masked man punched him again.
"Stop talking!"
Elijah laughed.
"You've already lost."
The feed suddenly cut.
Only one image remained.
Coordinates.
Bell Memorial Hospital.
Room 417.
...
Meanwhile...
Mariana drove alone through the mountains.
She had secretly left Elijah's vehicle during a fuel stop.
She knew Rodrigo would never expect her to disappear on foot.
Her phone rang.
Richard Bell.
She answered cautiously.
"You finally chose a side."
"I chose Ethan."
Richard chuckled.
"Did you?"
"I warned him."
"You also betrayed him."
Silence.
Richard continued.
"You still haven't told him why you married him."
Mariana stopped walking.
"You know."
"I know everything."
"Then tell him yourself."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
Richard's voice became strangely gentle.
"Because he would never forgive either of us."
The call ended.
Mariana looked toward the distant highway.
For the first time...
She wondered if Ethan would ever believe the truth.
...
At Bell Memorial Hospital...
Room 417 had been abandoned for decades.
Dust covered every surface.
Laura carefully pushed open the door.
Nothing.
An empty bed.
Broken cabinets.
Peeling wallpaper.
Samuel searched beneath the mattress.
"No."
Ethan noticed something unusual.
The room number.
His birthday.
April 17.
He walked to the old hospital bed.
A brass plate beneath the frame read:
Infant Recovery Unit.
He slowly knelt.
One wheel refused to move.
He pulled harder.
The bed slid aside.
Hidden beneath it...
A narrow steel hatch.
Laura smiled.
"Found it."
Samuel inserted the small brass key recovered from Arthur's notebook.
The hatch unlocked instantly.
A ladder descended into darkness.
Unlike Bell Manor...
This tunnel smelled clean.
Recently used.
Fresh footprints covered the dust.
Someone had been here within hours.
...
The tunnel ended beneath the hospital morgue.
Rows of refrigerated drawers lined both walls.
Every drawer carried a number.
Instead of names.
Samuel froze.
"They're birth records."
Laura frowned.
"For a morgue?"
"No."
Samuel pointed to the numbering system.
"They disguised the archive."
He opened Drawer 417.
No body.
Only thousands of sealed envelopes.
Each labeled with a child's name.
Birth date.
Fingerprint.
DNA sample.
Every envelope represented one infant.
One identity.
One life.
Ethan slowly opened the first file.
Inside rested a newspaper clipping.
Lottery Winner Dies in House Fire.
Another.
Young Billionaire Missing at Sea.
Another.
Technology Founder Vanishes Without Trace.
Every victim had one thing in common.
They had all become unexpectedly wealthy.
Laura whispered,
"The lottery..."
"...was selecting them."
Samuel nodded.
"And someone hunted them afterward."
At the very bottom of Drawer 417 lay a thick black folder.
Across the front someone had written:
Project Legacy.
Before Ethan could touch it...
The lights went out.
A woman's voice echoed through the underground chamber.
"I warned Arthur this day would come."
Emergency lights flickered on.
Standing twenty feet away...
The woman in white calmly watched them.
The Raven.
No guards.
No weapon.
No fear.
She looked directly at Ethan.
Then toward the black folder.
"Take it."
Samuel stepped protectively in front of Ethan.
"Who are you?"
The woman smiled sadly.
"I've protected your family..."
"...for sixty-three years."
Before anyone could ask another question...
Machine gun fire erupted from above.
Concrete rained from the ceiling.
Someone had found the entrance.
The Raven closed her eyes.
"They're here."
Laura drew her weapon.
"Who?"
The woman answered with only one word.
"Harvest."
The ceiling exploded.
May you like
Black-clad soldiers poured into the chamber from every direction.
The war had finally reached Ethan.
