Chapter 10 - The Voice From the Grave
Claire stood completely still.
The voice continued.
"Gabriel is not the man who saved you."
Ethan looked around the room in confusion.
"Who is that?"
Claire ignored him.
"Identify yourself."
A soft laugh came through the speaker.
"You used to call me Mama."
Claire's memories rose violently.
A winter bedroom.
A red scarf.
Hands brushing hair from her face.
A song about stars above the ocean.
"What did you sing to me when I was afraid?" Claire asked.
The woman answered immediately.
"Sleep while the night protects you. Wake when the red bird flies."
No recording of that song existed.
Claire had never repeated the words to anyone.
"Where are you?"
"Nearer than you think."
"Are you my biological mother?"
Silence.
Then the woman said, "I was the mother who chose you."
The connection ended.
Claire turned toward Ethan.
"How did that voice access this room?"
"I don't know."
She studied his face.
He appeared genuinely terrified.
The door opened.
Cassandra entered with Marcus.
"We traced the signal," Marcus said.
"Where?"
He looked at Cassandra.
"The call originated from inside her aircraft."
Cassandra's expression hardened.
"That's impossible."
They searched the aircraft.
The transmission device was found behind a panel near Helen's medical bed.
Helen remained unconscious.
Beneath her pillow, Claire discovered a folded piece of paper.
It contained an address in northern California.
And one sentence.
THE RED BIRD FLIES AT MIDNIGHT.
They traveled to the address that evening.
It led to an abandoned children's hospital deep in the mountains.
The building had no electricity, but candles burned in every window.
Claire, Cassandra, and Marcus entered through the main doors.
Dozens of names had been written across the walls.
Some were crossed out.
Some were accompanied by dates.
Claire found her own name.
CLAIRE VANCE
STATUS: UNRESOLVED
Beside it was Cassandra's.
CASSANDRA VALE
STATUS: RECOVERED
Farther down the corridor, they discovered records of children connected to Project Mirror.
Each had been trained to replace a specific target.
Most had died before adulthood.
One file remained active.
MIRROR 7
TARGET: CLAIRE VANCE
Claire opened it.
The photograph showed a young girl who resembled her.
The final page contained the girl's current identity.
EMILY HARPER.
Cassandra looked at Claire.
"Your best friend was trained to become you."
Claire remembered Emily's betrayal, her debts, her affair with Ethan, and her claim that Mr. Gray had recruited her.
Perhaps Emily had not been recruited two years ago.
Perhaps she had been placed beside Claire decades earlier.
A sound echoed from the hospital chapel.
They entered with weapons raised.
Emily stood before the altar.
She was no longer restrained.
She wore a white hospital gown.
In one hand, she held Claire's missing wedding ring.
In the other, she held a red scarf.
"I remember now," Emily whispered.
Claire approached slowly.
"What do you remember?"
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
"She made me practice your smile."
"Who?"
"The woman with your mother's face."
Claire stopped.
Emily placed the ring on the altar.
"She said that one day Ethan would break you."
"And then?"
"I would take your place."
Cassandra moved closer.
"Why didn't you?"
Emily looked at Claire.
"Because I started loving her more than I feared them."
A shot rang through the chapel.
Emily jerked backward.
Blood spread across her gown.
Claire caught her before she fell.
A figure stood above them in the balcony.
The woman wore the red scarf.
She aimed the rifle at Claire.
May you like
Then she spoke in the voice of Claire's mother.
"You were never supposed to survive the bedroom."
