Chapter 10 - Three Girls Beneath the Hotel
The Halcyon Grand stood dark against the night sky.
Police surrounded the building, but Agent Reed stopped them from entering through the main doors.
“If Wren has the children, he may have remote control over their implants or breathing devices.”
“Emma’s implant was removed,” Rebecca said.
“Elise’s was not.”
Marcus stared at the hotel.
“Then we move carefully.”
Rebecca did not want careful.
She wanted walls broken, doors shattered, and every person who had touched the children dragged into the light.
But she forced herself to listen.
Madison’s final call came from beneath the ballroom. Architectural plans showed no basement below that section, yet thermal imaging detected several warm areas underground.
Josh studied the blueprints.
“The service tunnel from the kitchen leads beneath the ballroom.”
Reed looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“I worked here during college. Dad wanted me to learn the family businesses.”
Josh led a small team through the laundry entrance.
Rebecca insisted on joining.
Marcus argued until she said, “My mother built the path that brought us here. My daughter may be down there. I am going.”
No one stopped her.
The tunnel smelled of bleach and damp stone.
At the end stood a steel door marked with the circle-and-dots emblem.
A speaker activated overhead.
The lullaby began.
Rebecca felt the melody move through her body like an old memory.
She knew the next notes before they played.
Her mother had sung the same tune when Rebecca was a child.
The song had not been created for Emma.
It had been passed down.
The steel door opened.
Beyond it lay a ballroom beneath the ballroom.
A long table stood beneath blue lights.
Men and women in formal clothing sat on both sides as if waiting for dinner. Some were investors from Madison’s canceled party. Others appeared in Anna’s files.
At the far end stood Harold.
Beside him sat an elderly man in a wheelchair.
Dr. Lucian Wren.
He was alive.
His skin was translucent, but his eyes were sharp.
Emma and Elise sat in two glass enclosures.
A third enclosure stood between them.
Inside was another little girl.
She had Rebecca’s eyes.
Rebecca stopped breathing.
The child wore a red dress and held the yellow blanket from Elise’s memory.
Wren smiled.
“Welcome, Rebecca.”
She moved toward the enclosure.
Harold raised a remote.
“One more step, and Elise loses oxygen.”
Rebecca froze.
Marcus stepped beside her.
“Let the children go.”
Wren ignored him.
“You were always Anna’s greatest mistake,” he told Rebecca. “She believed love would make you brave. Love only makes people predictable.”
Rebecca stared at the third child.
“What is her name?”
“Rose,” Wren said. “Though she has had several names.”
“Is she mine?”
The girl looked at Rebecca.
Tears filled her eyes.
Wren answered softly.
“Yes.”
Rebecca’s knees weakened.
Harold smiled.
“You should be grateful. We raised her with every advantage.”
“You stole her.”
“We preserved her.”
Madison appeared from behind a curtain, held by two guards. Her silver dress was torn.
“Do not believe him,” she shouted. “Rose was kept in a room. She was never raised.”
Harold struck Madison across the face.
Marcus lunged, but Reed restrained him.
Wren lifted one hand.
“Enough.”
Every person at the table became still.
Rebecca understood then that even Harold feared him.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“The complete index.”
“I do not have it.”
“It exists across the three children. Emma carries the auditory map. Elise carries the spatial sequence. Rose carries Anna’s final encryption.”
Rebecca looked at Rose.
“What happens if you combine them?”
Wren’s smile faded.
“I regain ownership of what was stolen from me.”
“Names and accounts?”
“Governments. Judges. Hospitals. Families. Project Lullaby did not fail, Rebecca. It evolved.”
Agent Reed subtly moved his hand toward his weapon.
A red laser appeared on his chest.
Guards surrounded the upper balcony.
Wren pressed a switch.
The glass enclosures began filling with white vapor.
Emma coughed.
Elise covered her ears.
Rose began singing.
Rebecca recognized the melody.
The first half came from Emma.
The harmony came from Elise.
Rose supplied the missing words.
The room’s central screen activated.
Rows of encrypted files appeared.
Wren leaned forward eagerly.
Then the screen turned black.
Anna Mercer appeared in an old recording.
“If you are watching this, Lucian, you made the same mistake again.”
Wren’s face changed.
“You believed children would obey fear forever.”
The girls stopped singing.
Emma stood.
Elise stood beside her.
Rose raised the yellow blanket.
Inside it was a small transmitter.
The hotel’s fire alarms erupted.
Every screen displayed Anna’s evidence.
Agent Reed’s phone connected to an external federal server.
The entire archive began uploading.
Harold shouted, “Shut it down!”
Madison bit one guard’s hand and broke free.
Marcus attacked the second.
Reed drew his weapon.
The underground ballroom exploded into chaos.
Rebecca ran toward the enclosures.
Harold pressed the remote.
Elise collapsed.
Wren smiled.
“You cannot save all three.”
Rebecca looked at the controls.
Three doors.
Three oxygen systems.
May you like
One emergency release.
She had seconds to choose.
