Chapter 12 - what waited beneath the chapel)
The eastern cliff was empty.
Claire and Vanessa stood in the wind.
No kidnapper.
No sister.
Only a stone pedestal beside the edge.
On top was a phone.
The screen displayed another message.
Open the chamber.
Claire looked at Vanessa.
"It's a trap."
"Obviously."
"Then why are we obeying it?"
"Because your sister has twelve minutes."
They returned toward the chapel.
Ethan met them halfway.
Lily was now with two trusted federal agents.
Claire almost collapsed with relief.
"We open it," she said.
Ethan nodded.
Richard was already waiting beside the hidden door.
"How did you know?" Claire asked.
Richard held up his false key.
"Because this does open something."
He inserted it into a small slot Claire had not noticed beside the main locks.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a lever.
Vanessa stared.
"Daniel never told me."
"Daniel didn't know everything."
Claire inserted Eleanor's key.
Vanessa inserted Daniel's.
They turned together.
Richard pulled the lever.
The stone wall moved.
Cold air poured from the darkness.
A staircase descended beneath Saint Orison.
Marcus arrived behind them.
Ethan turned angrily.
"I told you to stay with Lily."
"Federal agents have her."
Marcus drew his weapon.
"I'm going first."
Vanessa laughed.
"Of course you are."
They descended.
The stairs ended in a long stone corridor lit by modern electrical bulbs.
Claire stopped.
"Someone has been using this."
Fresh footprints marked the dust.
They followed them.
The corridor opened into a chamber.
Shelves lined the walls.
Boxes.
Documents.
Paintings wrapped in cloth.
Old computer drives.
Photographs.
It was not a tomb.
It was an archive.
Claire walked toward a desk.
A photograph showed Richard beside politicians Claire recognized.
Another showed Daniel.
Another showed Eleanor.
Then Claire saw a recent photograph.
Thomas Vale.
Taken three days earlier.
Alive.
She grabbed it.
"He's here."
A sound came from deeper inside.
Metal scraping.
Marcus raised his weapon.
"Stay behind me."
They followed the sound.
A door opened.
Thomas sat inside a small room.
His hands were tied.
Vanessa rushed to him.
"Who did this?"
Thomas stared past her.
At Marcus.
Claire's blood turned cold.
Marcus lowered his weapon.
Slowly.
Ethan saw it.
"Marcus?"
Thomas tried to speak.
Marcus raised the gun.
"Don't."
Vanessa stood.
"You."
Marcus looked exhausted.
"Nobody was supposed to get hurt."
Claire laughed bitterly.
"Lily was hanging over a cliff in your plan?"
Marcus looked at her.
"What are you talking about?"
Everyone went silent.
Claire frowned.
"What?"
"I brought Lily here."
Ethan lunged.
Marcus pointed the gun.
"Stop."
"You kidnapped my daughter."
"I moved her."
"You broke into the safe house."
"Yes."
"You threatened Claire's sister."
"Yes."
"Where is she?"
"Safe."
Claire stared.
"Then who threatened Lily at the cliff?"
Marcus looked confused.
"No one was supposed to take Lily anywhere near the cliff."
A chill moved through the room.
Vanessa whispered, "Two groups."
Again.
Marcus lowered the weapon slightly.
"I needed the chamber opened. That's all."
"Why?" Claire asked.
"Because Richard buried evidence that could destroy powerful people."
Richard looked at him.
"You think I buried this?"
Marcus laughed.
"You funded it."
"I tried to contain it."
"Same thing."
Thomas spoke weakly.
"Marcus."
Everyone looked at him.
"You still don't understand."
Marcus turned.
Thomas's eyes moved toward a dark doorway at the rear of the archive.
"Daniel wasn't the one who found this place."
Vanessa froze.
"Who did?"
Thomas looked at Claire.
"Your mother."
A light switched on beyond the doorway.
Someone was standing there.
A man.
Thin.
Gray-haired.
Alive.
Vanessa stopped breathing.
"Daniel?"
The man stepped forward.
Vanessa began to cry.
May you like
Then he raised a gun.
"Nobody moves."
