Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Elevator)
Nathan drew his pistol.
Marcus immediately lifted Lily.
"Safe room."
Lily did not argue.
The apartment had been designed for emergencies.
Marcus carried her through the bedroom and opened a reinforced door disguised behind a wall panel.
"Stay here."
"No."
"Lily."
"Daddy, don't leave."
Marcus knelt.
"I am right outside."
She grabbed his tie.
"Promise?"
"I promise."
He kissed her forehead and closed the door.
Nathan watched the hallway camera.
Elevator rising.
Floor twenty-six.
Floor twenty-seven.
Floor twenty-eight.
Their floor.
The doors opened.
A woman stepped out.
Black coat.
Dark hair.
Approximately fifty.
She raised both hands toward the camera.
Nathan zoomed in.
Marcus recognized her.
The catering woman from Victoria's room.
"Open the outer intercom," Marcus said.
Nathan did.
"Stop."
The woman froze.
"Marcus Thorne?"
"Who are you?"
"My name is Rebecca Lane."
Nathan's face drained of color.
Marcus looked at him.
Rebecca Lane was supposed to have died seventeen years ago.
The woman removed her coat slowly.
No weapon visible.
"I came because Elena called me."
Marcus approached the monitor.
"Where is my wife?"
"Alive."
His knees almost weakened again.
"Where?"
"I don't know anymore."
Marcus clenched his jaw.
"That's not good enough."
"It will have to be until you let me inside."
Nathan whispered, "Could be a trap."
Rebecca looked directly at the camera.
"Nathan Briggs."
Nathan stiffened.
"You still tap your left thumb when you're nervous."
Nathan looked at his hand.
He was doing exactly that.
Rebecca continued.
"The night I left Aurelia, you gave me the keys to Gate Three and told Charles Thorne the lock had malfunctioned."
Nathan stared.
Marcus turned toward him.
"You helped her escape?"
Nathan looked shaken.
"I didn't know she survived."
Rebecca's voice came through the speaker.
"I survived because you gave us eleven minutes."
Nathan opened the door.
Rebecca entered slowly.
Up close, she looked tired rather than dangerous.
A pale scar crossed her jaw.
Marcus blocked the hallway.
"Where is Elena?"
Rebecca met his eyes.
"I said I don't know anymore."
"Then tell me what you do know."
She looked toward the closed bedroom.
"Is Lily safe?"
"Answer me."
Rebecca's expression softened.
"Elena loved you."
Marcus almost laughed.
"That's your opening?"
"Because you just found the files."
Marcus stared.
"How do you know?"
"The crystal broadcasts a short activation signal when opened."
Nathan swore.
"You tracked us."
"So can they."
Nathan immediately began shutting down electronics.
Marcus grabbed Rebecca's arm.
"You have thirty seconds before I throw you out."
"Your father helped create Aurelia. Your mother helped select families. Adrian Cole inherited his father's role. Elena was Subject Seven. I helped her escape when she was thirteen."
"Why did she marry me?"
"At first?"
Rebecca hesitated.
"To get close to Charles Thorne's archive."
Marcus looked away.
The answer still hurt even though he had expected it.
Rebecca continued.
"She believed your father had records identifying the surviving subjects."
"And later?"
"Later she tried to leave the investigation because she fell in love with you."
Marcus's jaw tightened.
"Convenient."
"She became pregnant with Lily. That changed everything."
Rebecca looked toward the safe room.
"Aurelia had spent years trying to determine whether the traits they were studying were inherited. Elena's child became extraordinarily valuable."
Marcus felt nauseated.
"What traits?"
"Elena had exceptional associative memory. Not photographic memory exactly. She could connect unrelated patterns faster than almost anyone we tested."
"Tested?"
Rebecca's face tightened.
"I was part of it before I understood what they were doing."
Marcus stared at her.
"You experimented on a thirteen-year-old girl."
"Yes."
The unflinching admission surprised him.
"And I have spent seventeen years trying to undo what I helped them do."
Marcus looked toward Lily.
"Why fake Elena's death?"
"Because Elena found evidence that Aurelia never ended."
Marcus turned back.
"What?"
"Your father tried to shut it down before he died. Others continued it privately."
"Who?"
"Adrian's father. Investors. Doctors. Political donors."
"And Victoria?"
Rebecca looked uncomfortable.
"Your mother believed the program protected the Thorne family."
"By kidnapping my wife?"
"Victoria believed Elena was planning to expose everything."
Marcus stepped closer.
"So she had her taken."
Rebecca shook her head.
"Not exactly."
"What does that mean?"
"The night of the crash, Elena was supposed to meet me."
Marcus stared.
"Why?"
"She had discovered who ordered Charles Thorne's death."
Silence.
Marcus's father had died of a heart attack.
At least that was what everyone had believed.
"Who?"
"Elena never told me. She said the evidence was too dangerous to transmit."
Rebecca reached into her coat slowly.
Nathan raised his weapon.
She stopped.
"Envelope. Inner pocket."
Marcus removed it himself.
Inside was a photograph.
Elena standing beside Charles Thorne.
The date was one week before Charles died.
Marcus looked at Rebecca.
"They knew each other?"
"Very well."
"Why?"
"Your father wasn't trying to capture Elena."
Rebecca's eyes darkened.
"He was trying to help her destroy Aurelia."
Marcus stared at the photograph.
Everything he thought he understood shifted again.
Then Lily screamed from inside the safe room.
"Daddy!"
Marcus ran.
He opened the door.
Lily stood beside the communication panel.
A message glowed on its emergency screen.
No outside device should have been able to access it.
But someone had.
The message contained only a photograph.
Elena.
Alive.
Sitting in a white room.
Today's newspaper on her lap.
May you like
Below it were eight words.
BRING SUBJECT 07'S DAUGHTER OR ELENA DIES TONIGHT.
