Chapter 15 - The Call From the Dead
The next morning, Elaine disappeared from the rehabilitation center.
Her room showed no signs of violence.
The window remained locked.
Security footage displayed a nurse entering at 3:12 in the morning and leaving eight minutes later pushing an empty wheelchair.
No employee matched the nurse’s face.
At 3:24, every camera in the building failed for exactly ninety seconds.
When the system returned, Elaine was gone.
Madeline stood inside the empty room while Agent Reed examined the bed.
A single white envelope lay on the pillow.
Madeline’s name appeared in Elaine’s handwriting.
She opened it.
Inside was a train ticket to Washington, dated for the following evening, and a handwritten message.
Maddie,
Arthur was never the beginning.
He was the lock placed in front of the door.
I am sorry I allowed you to believe winning his trial would make you safe.
Do not follow me unless you are prepared to learn why your life was chosen before you were born.
Bring Nora.
Do not bring Vivian.
Trust the judge who has no courtroom.
Mom
Madeline read the note twice.
Sophie stood in the doorway with Rebecca.
“Grandma left again?”
Madeline folded the message.
“She may have been taken.”
Nora entered behind them.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Nora held up her wrist.
A red light blinked beneath her skin.
“They activated my old tracker at three fourteen.”
“Who?” Reed asked.
“Mother.”
“You can track her?”
Nora shook her head.
“She can track me.”
Madeline looked at the train ticket.
Washington.
The highest court in the country.
The judge who had no courtroom.
Her phone rang.
The caller identification displayed an impossible name.
Elaine Mercer.
Madeline answered.
“Mom?”
For several seconds, there was only breathing.
Then a man spoke.
“Mrs. Mercer, your mother is safe.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone who knew her before Helixor.”
“Put her on the phone.”
“I cannot.”
“If you hurt her—”
“We did not take Elaine. She came willingly.”
Madeline signaled Reed to trace the call.
He shook his head. The signal bounced through dozens of locations.
“What does she want?” Madeline asked.
“To finish what she began.”
“Against whom?”
The man paused.
“You believe Arthur Vale stole your home, your daughter, and your mother’s company.”
“He did.”
“No. Arthur was paid to make you believe those things belonged to you.”
Madeline’s grip tightened.
“What are you talking about?”
“The Mercer Trust contains three hundred million dollars because that was the amount required to make everyone look at the money.”
“Instead of what?”
“Instead of the bloodline.”
Nora stepped closer.
The man continued.
“Elaine was not chosen because she was a scientist. She became a scientist because she was chosen.”
“Chosen by whom?”
“You will receive an address in Washington.”
The line crackled.
Before Madeline could speak, Elaine’s voice came through.
“Maddie, listen to me.”
“Mom, where are you?”
“Do not trust the court records.”
“What records?”
“The ones naming your father.”
Madeline froze.
Her birth certificate listed no father.
Elaine had always said he died before Madeline was born.
“Who was my father?”
Elaine began to answer.
A loud sound interrupted her.
The man returned to the line.
“Come to Washington alone, or the truth dies with her.”
The call ended.
Agent Reed checked the trace.
“It originated from inside a federal building.”
“Which one?”
He turned the screen toward her.
The signal had come from the Supreme Court of the United States.
Rebecca sat down slowly.
Nora removed a thin metal object from beneath the skin of her wrist.
The tracker opened like a tiny capsule.
Inside was a strip of microfilm.
Elaine had hidden something inside Nora years earlier.
Madeline held it beneath the lamp.
The film contained a list of names.
Judges.
Senators.
Scientists.
Military officials.
At the bottom appeared one final entry.
MADELINE ROSE MERCER - ACTIVE SUCCESSOR.
Beside her name was a date.
The date was three years before she was born.
Sophie looked up at her.
“Mama, what does successor mean?”
Madeline could not answer.
Outside the hospital window, a black government vehicle stopped at the curb.
Four agents stepped out.
They did not wear FBI badges.
The leader looked directly toward Madeline’s window and raised a phone.
Her phone rang again.
This time, the caller identification read:
THE JUDGE.
Madeline answered.
A woman’s voice spoke calmly.
“Your mother has caused enough damage.”
“Who are you?”
“You already know my name. You simply do not know what I am.”
The agents entered the building.
The woman continued.
“Bring me the microfilm, Madeline, and Sophie lives a normal life.”
“And if I refuse?”
A live video appeared on Madeline’s screen.
It showed Elaine sitting inside a dark chamber beneath an enormous carved seal.
Behind her stood Arthur Vale.
He was supposed to be inside a maximum-security federal prison.
Arthur leaned toward the camera.
“You should have listened when I told you this was not over.”
The feed cut to black.
Someone began pounding on the hospital room door.
Nora looked at Madeline.
Rebecca reached into her bag for the revolver she had not carried since Arthur’s conviction.
Agent Reed drew his weapon.
Sophie grabbed Madeline’s hand.
“Mama…”
The door lock began to turn.
Madeline slipped the microfilm into the pendant around her neck.
Then she looked at her daughter, her sister, and the people who had survived the first war with her.
“Whatever happens next,” she said, “we do not run separately.”
May you like
The door opened.
And the woman standing on the other side had Elaine Mercer’s face.
