Chapter 12 - THE HOUSE BENEATH THE LIGHTHOUSE
Michael Carter’s ledger contained coordinates.
Olivia had always assumed they were shipping references.
Adam recognized them.
“They’re local.”
One coordinate pointed toward an abandoned lighthouse north of Black Harbor.
Victoria begged them not to go.
That guaranteed they would.
They waited until dawn.
Snow had stopped.
Margaret stayed at the house with Noah.
Olivia initially refused to leave him.
Then Margaret showed her the underground storm room built beneath Michael’s property.
Reinforced steel door.
Independent air system.
Emergency radio.
“If anyone comes,” Margaret said, “we hide.”
Dylan looked at Olivia.
“You should stay.”
She stared at him.
“Do not start deciding things for me.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
Adam interrupted.
“She should come.”
Dylan looked at him.
“Why?”
“Michael left the coordinates in her father’s records.”
Olivia nodded.
“I’m coming.”
Victoria remained behind under Margaret’s watch.
Adam drove.
The lighthouse stood on a rocky bluff.
Abandoned since 1986.
At least officially.
Behind it was a maintenance building.
Inside that building was a steel door.
Adam entered a code from Michael’s ledger.
Nothing.
Olivia tried Rebecca’s birthday.
Nothing.
Dylan noticed six worn keys on the pad.
He thought about North Winter.
Six founding families.
He entered the initials represented numerically.
The lock released.
Adam stared.
“How did you know?”
“My mother raised me on family mythology.”
They descended.
The facility beneath the lighthouse was enormous.
Not abandoned.
Clean floors.
Modern ventilation.
Backup lights.
Olivia whispered:
“This was being used.”
Adam nodded.
“Recently.”
They found medical rooms.
Storage cabinets.
Computer terminals removed from desks.
One wall contained hundreds of identification photographs.
Children.
Different ages.
Different decades.
Olivia stopped.
“Oh my God.”
Some photographs had red lines through them.
Others had numbers.
Adam searched until he found his own.
ADAM PIERCE.
Designation WN-14.
Status: LOST.
He touched the photograph.
“I was here.”
Olivia looked at him.
“You remember?”
“No.”
His voice changed.
“Maybe.”
Dylan found another photograph.
His own.
Age seven.
His stomach turned.
Designation H-3.
Status: OBSERVE ONLY.
“My father knew.”
Olivia whispered:
“He was protecting you.”
Then she saw another photograph.
Her own.
Age fourteen.
Designation C-9.
Status: DORMANT.
Olivia stepped backward.
“My father never knew about this.”
Adam shook his head.
“He might have.”
“No.”
“He built a safe house.”
Olivia looked away.
Dylan continued scanning the wall.
Then froze.
There was a newer photograph.
Printed only days earlier.
An ultrasound image.
BABY CARTER.
Designation pending.
Status:
CONVERGENCE CANDIDATE.
Dylan ripped it off the wall.
Olivia’s breathing became shallow.
“They had Noah’s ultrasound.”
Adam stared at the metadata.
“This was uploaded from Boston.”
“Which hospital?”
Adam looked closer.
“Not a hospital.”
He swallowed.
“Hayes Family Holdings.”
Dylan went still.
“My company?”
Adam nodded.
Dylan felt betrayed again.
He had spent years building a professional identity away from the family empire.
Yet somehow North Winter had been operating through Hayes systems.
Olivia whispered:
“Who has access?”
“Hundreds of people.”
“Executive access?”
Dylan thought.
“Six.”
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
“Ethan?”
“Yes.”
Dylan froze.
Olivia saw it.
“No.”
Dylan did not answer.
Ethan Cole.
His closest friend.
Business partner.
The man who discovered Victoria’s payments.
The man who told Dylan the Zurich contract was suspicious.
The man who helped send Dylan to Olivia on Christmas Eve.
Adam looked at him.
“Who?”
Dylan whispered:
“Ethan.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Adam drew his weapon.
Olivia moved behind a cabinet.
Dylan grabbed a metal bar.
A man appeared.
Hands raised.
Dylan stared.
“Ethan?”
Ethan Cole looked exhausted.
Blood stained his shirt.
“Please don’t shoot.”
Dylan could barely process the sight.
“What are you doing here?”
Ethan looked at Adam.
Then Olivia.
Finally Dylan.
“I came to warn you.”
“About what?”
Ethan’s face was filled with terror.
“They know you found the lighthouse.”
Adam’s gun remained raised.
“Who knows?”
Ethan swallowed.
“North Winter.”
Dylan stepped closer.
“Are you part of them?”
May you like
Ethan stared at his oldest friend.
“Yes.”
