Chapter 6 - The Price of a Mother)
Marcus wanted to destroy the screen.
Instead, he photographed the message and shut the system down.
Lily had seen enough to understand.
"Mommy is alive."
Marcus knelt in front of her.
"We don't know when that picture was taken."
"That's today's newspaper."
Marcus hated how observant she was.
Rebecca crouched several feet away.
Lily looked at her.
"Do you know Mommy?"
Rebecca's eyes filled.
"Yes."
"Is she nice to you?"
Rebecca smiled sadly.
"Your mother once saved my life."
Lily considered that.
"Then help Daddy save hers."
Marcus looked at Rebecca.
So did Nathan.
Rebecca lowered her gaze.
"We need to understand why they want Lily."
Marcus's voice became hard.
"They're not getting her."
"I agree."
"Then don't phrase it like a negotiation."
Rebecca nodded.
"The photograph gives us something."
"What?"
"That wall."
Marcus looked again.
White painted concrete.
A narrow ventilation grille.
A medical observation window.
Rebecca zoomed in.
"In the reflection."
There was a blurry shape behind the photographer.
Nathan adjusted the image.
Letters became visible.
MRC.
Rebecca whispered, "Marrow Research Center."
Marcus looked at her.
"Where?"
"It was outside Milwaukee. Closed publicly in 2014."
"Publicly?"
"I've heard rumors it remained active."
Marcus was already calling his pilot.
Rebecca stopped him.
"You cannot land there."
"I'm not leaving Elena."
"And if this is designed to bring you directly into a secured facility?"
"Then I'll walk into the secured facility."
"With Lily?"
"No."
Lily protested instantly.
"Daddy."
Marcus turned.
"Absolutely not."
"But they want me."
"Which is exactly why you're staying here."
Rebecca looked at Nathan.
"Do you have people you trust outside Thorne security?"
Nathan nodded.
"Three."
"Get them."
Marcus spent the next hour preparing.
Two vehicles.
Encrypted radios.
No corporate phones.
No family security staff except Nathan.
Lily would be moved to a separate location with Nathan's sister, a retired federal marshal named Claire Briggs.
Marcus trusted Claire because Victoria hated her.
Before leaving, Marcus knelt beside Lily.
She placed the broken pendant in his hand.
"You need this."
"No. You keep it."
"They want it too."
Marcus shook his head.
"I care about you more than any key."
Lily closed his fingers around it.
"Mommy might need it."
He looked at his daughter.
For a six-year-old, she carried far too much courage.
Marcus kissed her forehead.
"I'll bring her home."
Lily whispered, "Bring yourself home too."
Three hours later, Marcus and Rebecca approached the abandoned Marrow Research Center through a wooded service road.
Nathan remained with Lily but monitored them remotely.
The building appeared dead.
Windows boarded.
Parking lot cracked.
Grass growing through asphalt.
Rebecca led Marcus toward a drainage tunnel behind the facility.
"I used this route years ago."
"With Elena?"
"No."
Rebecca's expression changed.
"With another child."
Marcus did not ask.
They entered.
The interior smelled of damp concrete.
Their flashlights swept over peeling walls.
Old medical signage remained.
WARD C.
OBSERVATION.
NEUROLOGICAL SERVICES.
Marcus hated every word.
They reached a stairwell.
A fresh shoeprint marked the dust.
Rebecca crouched.
"Someone's been here."
Marcus drew the pistol Nathan had given him.
They descended.
One floor.
Two.
Three.
The abandoned building above concealed a fully functioning level below.
Fluorescent lights.
Clean floors.
Security cameras.
Marcus heard ventilation systems operating.
Rebecca whispered, "Aurelia."
They moved quickly.
Room after room stood empty.
Medical beds.
Restraint straps.
Computers recently removed.
Then Marcus found the white room.
The same ventilation grille.
The same observation glass.
But Elena was gone.
Today's newspaper remained on the chair.
Marcus touched it.
Still warm from the room.
"They knew we were coming."
A speaker crackled overhead.
Adrian's voice filled the room.
"Of course we did."
Marcus looked up.
"Where is she?"
"You always were impatient."
"Where is my wife?"
A screen activated behind the observation window.
Live video.
Elena sat inside a moving vehicle.
Her wrists were tied.
She looked thinner than Marcus remembered.
Older.
But unmistakably Elena.
Marcus stepped toward the screen.
"Elena."
She could not hear him.
Adrian laughed.
"You were supposed to bring Lily."
"You'll never touch her again."
"That's unfortunate."
The vehicle on-screen slowed.
Elena looked toward someone outside the camera.
Then another person entered frame.
Victoria.
Marcus froze.
His mother sat opposite Elena.
Alive, composed and apparently free.
Victoria looked directly into the hidden camera.
As if she knew Marcus was watching.
Then she said:
"Now you understand why I needed you to believe she was dead."
The screen went black.
Marcus stared at his reflection.
Rebecca whispered, "Victoria isn't their prisoner."
Marcus turned toward her.
"No."
May you like
His voice became colder than the concrete walls.
"She's one of them."
