Chapter 9 - the second device
Ethan escorted Olivia through the private elevator.
Diane remained downstairs to greet Margaret, leaving Doctor Rowe behind to destroy the medical documents.
When the elevator doors closed, Olivia leaned against the mirrored wall.
“Are you going to tell my mother the truth?”
Ethan stared at the floor.
“If she enters this, there is no way back.”
“There is already no way back.”
“You don’t understand what they can do to her.”
“Who are they?”
“I never met them.”
“But you heard the voice.”
Ethan looked at her.
Olivia knew she had revealed too much.
“What recording?”
“The one you and Diane made in the library.”
His face changed.
“You recorded us?”
She did not answer.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Where is it?”
The elevator opened into the west bedroom.
Olivia walked inside.
Ethan followed and locked the doors.
“You need to tell me where the recording is.”
“No.”
“If my mother finds it, she will destroy it. If the network finds it, they will destroy all of us.”
“Then help me send it to Margaret.”
“I can’t.”
“You mean you’re afraid.”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised her.
Ethan looked exhausted.
“My father tried to leave my mother when I was sixteen. Two days later, his car went off a bridge. She told me it was an accident. I believed her until last year.”
Olivia’s anger weakened, but only slightly.
“What did you find?”
“A payment to the mechanic who inspected his car.”
“Diane killed him?”
“I don’t know. That uncertainty is how she controls me.”
“You still chose to control me.”
“I was trying to get enough money and evidence to take you away.”
“By giving her my father’s archive?”
“I thought it contained financial records. I didn’t know about the list.”
“What list?”
Ethan looked toward the door.
“The continuation list. Northbridge never ended. It became something called Aster Command.”
The name matched one of the encrypted folders Olivia had photographed.
“What does Aster Command do?”
“It controls procurement failures, false emergencies, missing shipments, and private military contracts. They create crises and profit from fixing them.”
“And Diane works for them?”
“She works with them. She wants the list because her name is probably on it.”
“Who leads it?”
“I don’t know.”
Olivia lowered herself onto the bed.
“My father’s recorder might tell us.”
Ethan looked at her sharply.
“What recorder?”
She realized he had not known.
That gave her an advantage.
“I’ll tell you after you help me contact Margaret.”
Ethan walked to the window.
Below them, Margaret entered the house beside Diane.
“I can get your phone,” he said.
“Diane has it.”
“She gave it to me to erase the photographs.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
He removed Olivia’s damaged phone from inside his uniform jacket.
She reached for it.
He pulled it away.
“Where is the second recorder?”
“Give me the phone.”
“Tell me first.”
Olivia looked at him.
“You still think you’re negotiating.”
“I’m trying to keep us alive.”
“The recorder is somewhere connected to my childhood.”
“That could mean anything.”
“Exactly.”
She held out her hand.
Ethan gave her the phone.
The screen was cracked, but the audio file remained.
Olivia activated the emergency message she had prepared on the old tablet before it went dark.
A red symbol appeared.
The manual alarm connection was searching for a signal.
Ethan watched the screen.
“What did you do?”
“I asked for help.”
He reached toward the phone.
Olivia moved away.
“Don’t.”
“If the message leaves the estate, Aster Command will know.”
“Good.”
“You don’t understand. They have people inside military investigations.”
“Then my mother needs to hear the evidence before they stop her.”
The phone connected.
Message sent.
From the hallway came the sound of approaching footsteps.
Ethan looked toward the door.
“My mother.”
Olivia pressed record and slid the phone beneath the pillow.
May you like
The lock opened.
Diane entered, followed by Margaret.
