Chapter 16 - the girl in the safe house
Daniel reached the surface of the abandoned sanatorium just as the first federal vehicles broke through the outer gates.
Behind him, Margaret and Evelyn were being helped through the ruined lobby.
Marcus was shouting into his radio.
Agents were searching the trees.
Helena Vale was gone.
Again.
Daniel barely noticed.
His phone was still in his hand.
Caroline had called from the safe house.
Noah was missing.
Mrs. Grayson was missing.
And a six-year-old girl Daniel had never seen before had appeared inside the house asking whether Noah was her brother.
Daniel called Caroline again.
She answered immediately.
“Tell me exactly what’s happening.”
Her breathing was fast.
“Lucy is with me. The girl is with me.”
“Where’s Noah?”
“I still don’t know.”
“What about Grayson?”
“No.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
The photograph he had taken from the underground ward was still folded inside his jacket.
EMILY GRAYSON.
Six years old.
The missing twin.
“Caroline.”
“Yes?”
“Look at the girl.”
“I am.”
“Blonde hair?”
“Yes.”
“Gray-green eyes?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Her name is Emily.”
The child must have heard him through the phone.
Her voice came from somewhere near Caroline.
“How do you know my name?”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“Because I found your picture.”
Silence.
Then Emily whispered, “Was it in the bad place?”
Daniel looked back at the sanatorium.
“Yes.”
Caroline stopped breathing.
Daniel said, “Emily, where is Mrs. Grayson?”
“She told me to hide.”
“Why?”
“Because the doctor came.”
Daniel froze.
“What doctor?”
Emily did not answer.
Then Lucy’s voice came through.
“Daddy?”
“I’m here.”
“There’s somebody in the wall.”
Daniel’s blood went cold.
Caroline shouted something.
A door slammed.
Then Daniel heard a boy crying.
“Noah!”
Caroline’s voice changed completely.
She found him.
Thirty seconds later she returned to the phone.
“He was behind a panel in the laundry room.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
Daniel already knew.
“Mrs. Grayson?”
“Yes.”
When Daniel arrived two hours later, federal agents surrounded the safe house.
Noah sat on the sofa beneath a blanket.
Emily sat beside him.
They were not touching.
They simply stared at one another with the strange, careful attention of children who recognized something they did not understand.
Mrs. Grayson stood across the room.
For the first time since Daniel had known her, she did not look like the calm nanny who had raised Lucy.
She looked frightened.
Old.
And guilty.
Daniel placed Emily’s photograph on the table.
“Explain.”
Mrs. Grayson looked at the image.
Her face broke.
“I wondered when you would find that.”
“You knew who she was.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Noah was her brother.”
“Yes.”
“You worked in my house for five years.”
“Yes.”
“You raised my daughter.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“And all that time you knew Halcyon?”
Mrs. Grayson lowered her eyes.
“I knew it before you did.”
Caroline stood beside Daniel.
Lucy was upstairs with Margaret.
Noah refused to leave Emily.
Marcus remained near the door.
Mrs. Grayson finally sat down.
“My first name is Grace.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“You think your first name is what I need?”
“No.”
Grace looked at Emily.
“Six years ago Evelyn brought me a newborn child.”
Everyone turned toward Evelyn.
Evelyn went pale.
Grace continued.
“She told me that if Helena found the baby, she would use her against Amelia.”
Emily stared at Evelyn.
“You gave me to Grandma Grace?”
Evelyn began crying.
“Yes.”
Grace closed her eyes.
“I was supposed to move Emily through Halcyon.”
Daniel stared.
“You worked for them.”
“For eleven years.”
Caroline stepped forward.
“In what capacity?”
“Placement.”
The word poisoned the room.
Grace looked at Noah.
“I moved children between identities.”
Daniel’s fists tightened.
Grace saw it.
“I know what that makes me.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why should I believe anything you say?”
“Because Margaret found me.”
Daniel looked at his mother.
Margaret nodded.
“I recruited Grace to help me dismantle the network from inside.”
Daniel felt exhausted by the endless layers.
Grace continued.
“I hid Emily instead of transferring her. Margaret created the Grayson identity. I became her guardian.”
“And then you came to work for me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To watch Lucy.”
Daniel stopped.
“Watch her for whom?”
Grace looked at Caroline.
Then at Margaret.
“For both sides.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“What does that mean?”
“Margaret knew Helena had created a file on Lucy before she was born.”
Caroline closed her eyes.
Daniel saw it.
She already knew.
He turned toward his wife.
“You knew that part.”
Caroline did not answer.
“Caroline.”
She whispered, “Not everything.”
“Then what?”
Before she could answer, Marcus’s phone rang.
He listened.
His expression hardened.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“The federal medic who arrived at the safe house forty minutes before the breach used a stolen credential.”
Daniel looked at Grace.
“You hid Noah because of him.”
“Yes.”
“You recognized him?”
“No.”
“Then how did you know?”
Grace reached into her pocket.
She placed a small metal disk on the table.
Three intersecting circles.
Halcyon.
“He dropped this outside Noah’s room.”
Marcus picked it up.
Grace looked at Daniel.
“I knew they had found us.”
Daniel turned toward Caroline.
“One question.”
Caroline looked terrified.
He spoke slowly.
“Why was Lucy on Halcyon’s list before she was born?”
Caroline stared at him.
May you like
Then she said the words Daniel had been waiting six years to hear.
“Because Helena knew your mother was alive.”
