Chapter 16 - The Last Station
The train did not slow when it entered the mountain.
That frightened Emily more than the gun in Evelyn Voss's lap.
Outside the windows, darkness swallowed everything except the occasional emergency lamp flashing against concrete walls. Brandon remained handcuffed to the table opposite Evelyn. His prison uniform showed beneath the coat someone had thrown over him during the transfer.
Emily kept one thumb against the black stone of her bracelet.
The signal was gone.
But the marker had already been sent.
Evelyn watched her.
"You still believe your father will come."
"I know he will."
"That confidence nearly killed him once."
Brandon glanced between them.
"You brought us here to discuss Abraham?"
"No."
Evelyn reached beneath her seat and placed a small tablet on the table.
A video appeared.
Emily stopped breathing.
Margaret Vale sat beside a window.
Older.
Thinner.
Alive.
Her mother's silver-brown hair hung to her shoulders. A blanket covered her knees.
Then Margaret began singing the same lullaby echoing through the tunnel.
Emily stepped closer.
"Mom?"
The woman on the screen raised her head.
"Emily."
Brandon whispered a curse.
Evelyn smiled.
"Still certain about the funeral?"
Emily's heart pounded hard enough to hurt.
She remembered Margaret's final breath.
The cold hand beneath hers.
The hospice physician.
Howard crying in the hallway.
The coffin.
The grave.
Every memory collided with the impossible image in front of her.
"Where was this recorded?"
"Today."
"Prove it."
Evelyn's smile faded slightly.
"You really are Margaret's daughter."
The train suddenly began braking.
Metal screamed against metal.
Ahead, enormous steel doors opened.
Beyond them stood an abandoned military platform filled with armed men.
The train stopped.
Evelyn rose.
"Welcome to Palisade."
The doors opened.
Emily heard footsteps approaching.
Then another sound came through the tunnel behind them.
A vehicle engine.
Old.
Heavy.
Familiar.
Evelyn turned toward the darkness.
For the first time, she looked uncertain.
Far behind the train, two headlights appeared.
Brandon laughed softly.
Emily did not.
May you like
She knew those headlights.
The battered blue truck was coming.
