Chapter 11 - the night anna disappeared)
Maya spent the next hour reconstructing a memory she had never understood.
She had been eight years old.
Not ten.
Her aunt had later convinced her the trip happened after her father's death.
But now the details returned differently.
Anna had awakened Maya before sunrise.
No suitcase.
No explanation.
They boarded a bus north.
At a station outside Albany, a woman was waiting.
Catherine.
She had dyed her hair dark brown.
Young Ethan was with her.
Six years old.
Maya remembered playing cards with him on the floor while the women whispered nearby.
Jonathan listened without interrupting.
"What happened after that?"
"We got back on another bus."
"Where?"
"I don't remember."
"Try."
Maya closed her eyes.
Snow.
Mountains.
A sign with French words.
A ferry.
"Canada."
Jonathan whispered, "She took Catherine to Canada."
Maya nodded.
"Maybe."
"What happened to Ethan?"
"That's what doesn't make sense."
Jonathan frowned.
"He came home."
"Exactly."
Maya remembered another fragment.
A hotel room.
Catherine crying.
Anna holding her.
Ethan asleep.
Then two men arriving.
One was Dr. Mercer.
Maya's eyes opened.
"Mercer found them."
Jonathan gripped the desk.
"What?"
"He came to the hotel."
"Are you certain?"
"I remember his face from the party. He looked younger, but it was him."
"What happened?"
"I don't know."
Maya rubbed her temples.
"I woke up the next morning and we were home."
"And Catherine?"
"Gone."
"Ethan?"
"Gone."
Jonathan sat down heavily.
Maya continued.
"Three days later, my mother died."
Jonathan looked at Catherine's letter.
"Mercer brought Ethan back."
"And Catherine?"
Neither answered.
A knock sounded from the hidden doorway.
Curtis entered.
"Jonathan, detectives want to speak with you downstairs."
"Tell them ten minutes."
Curtis remained still.
"What?"
Curtis looked at Maya.
"They found something on Briggs's phone."
He placed the device on the desk.
A series of messages appeared.
Most were from Miles.
MOVE THE DRIVES.
DELETE PARTY FOOTAGE.
WAIT FOR SECOND ORDER.
But the final message had come from an unidentified number.
DO NOT LET REED LEAVE THE HOUSE ALIVE.
Maya stared.
"What time?"
"Seven minutes before the blackout."
Jonathan's face hardened.
"Miles?"
Curtis shook his head.
"Different encryption."
Maya felt cold.
"So someone else wanted me dead."
Curtis nodded.
"And Briggs says it wasn't Miles."
Jonathan asked, "Do you believe him?"
"On this, yes."
"Why?"
"Because he's terrified."
Maya looked toward the photograph of Anna.
The conspiracy was widening.
Curtis continued.
"We also recovered files from the memory card Ethan stole."
Maya had forgotten it.
"What was on it?"
"Medical records."
"Ethan's?"
"Not only Ethan's."
Curtis opened a laptop.
A spreadsheet appeared.
Hundreds of names.
Dates.
Locations.
Maya scanned them.
"What is this?"
Jonathan leaned closer.
At the top was one word.
HALCYON.
Curtis said, "Looks like patient tracking."
Jonathan shook his head.
"Halcyon ended thirty years ago."
"No."
Maya pointed to recent dates.
One entry was from last month.
Another from three days ago.
The project had never ended.
She scrolled.
Then stopped.
ANNA REED.
Status: ACTIVE.
Maya stared.
Her throat closed.
"Active?"
Jonathan looked at her.
"That could mean anything."
Maya scrolled across.
Last verified contact.
Six months ago.
Location.
GENEVA.
Maya stood so suddenly the chair fell backward.
"My mother is alive."
Curtis said, "We don't know that."
"Active. Verified contact."
"The data could be fake."
Jonathan touched Maya's arm.
"He's right."
She pulled away.
"Fourteen years."
Her voice broke.
"Fourteen years I thought she died alone in a river."
Jonathan said quietly, "If she survived, she had a reason not to come back."
Maya laughed bitterly.
"What reason could possibly be good enough?"
No one answered.
Curtis scrolled farther.
"Catherine's here too."
Jonathan moved so quickly he nearly knocked over the laptop.
"Where?"
CATHERINE ASHCROFT.
Status: UNKNOWN.
Last verified contact.
Eleven years ago.
Location.
GENEVA.
Jonathan stared.
Maya looked at him.
Two women.
Both supposedly dead.
Both connected to Geneva.
Both tied to Halcyon.
Curtis checked another tab.
"There are photographs."
He opened a folder.
Maya saw surveillance images from European streets.
Clinics.
Train stations.
Airports.
Then one photograph filled the screen.
A woman leaving a Geneva medical building.
Brown hair streaked with gray.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
Anna Reed.
The photograph was dated six months ago.
Maya touched the screen.
"Mom."
Jonathan looked at the building behind Anna.
A sign beside the entrance displayed a simple symbol.
A rose.
The same rose engraved into the Ashcroft crystal glasses.
Jonathan whispered, "Halcyon isn't a project."
Maya looked at him.
"What is it?"
May you like
His eyes stayed on the photograph.
"I think it's a place."
