Chapter 12 - the warehouse
Gunfire did not erupt.
That almost made the darkness worse.
Ethan heard movement.
Fast footsteps.
A door slamming.
Corinne grabbed his sleeve.
"Down."
They crouched behind a stack of shipping pallets.
Mercer disappeared into the darkness.
Ethan whispered, "What's happening?"
Corinne covered his mouth.
A flashlight beam swept across the floor.
Men entered.
At least three.
One said, "Find the ledger."
Ethan's heartbeat pounded in his ears.
Corinne leaned close.
"They think Mercer has the real list."
"Does he?"
"No."
"Who does?"
Corinne hesitated.
Ethan stared at her.
"Claire?"
Before she answered, someone moved nearby.
Ethan grabbed Corinne and pulled her behind a concrete support column.
A man passed within ten feet.
His flashlight moved away.
Corinne whispered, "Claire found the list at Northbridge."
"Where is she?"
"I don't know anymore."
"You took her out."
"Yes."
"Where?"
"To Mercer."
Ethan almost shouted.
"You delivered her to the man funding Halcyon?"
"Mercer was trying to dismantle it."
"According to Mercer."
"Claire trusted him."
"Claire trusted a lot of people who lied to me."
Corinne flinched.
Fair.
Then footsteps approached.
Ethan picked up a metal pipe from the floor.
The figure came around the corner.
Daniel.
"Ethan."
Ethan lowered the pipe.
"You weren't supposed to come inside."
"Neither was half the state."
Rebecca appeared behind him.
"We called federal agents."
Corinne whispered, "Which ones?"
Rebecca stopped.
That was the problem.
Nobody knew who could be trusted.
A voice came through the warehouse loudspeaker.
"Mr. Carter."
Everyone froze.
"Place the ledger in the center aisle."
Ethan recognized the voice.
The same voice from Corinne's video.
Calm.
Almost pleasant.
"You have sixty seconds."
Ethan looked at Daniel.
Daniel whispered, "Tracker."
Ethan nodded.
He walked into the center aisle carrying the ledger.
A red emergency light flickered on above him.
"Place it down."
Ethan did.
"Walk away."
He stepped backward.
A masked man emerged from the shadows and picked up the book.
Mercer suddenly appeared on an overhead catwalk.
"That's enough."
The masked man looked up.
Mercer held a phone.
"Everything in this building has been transmitted."
The voice over the speaker laughed.
"To whom, Arthur?"
Mercer's expression tightened.
That question seemed to frighten him.
The masked man ran.
Daniel moved.
Ethan grabbed him.
"Let him."
The ledger tracker was the point.
Outside, tires screamed.
The masked men escaped.
Mercer descended.
Corinne looked furious.
"You let them take it?"
Ethan nodded.
"Yes."
Mercer studied him.
"Why?"
"Because now they take us to whoever wants it."
Mercer almost smiled.
"You may be more like Claire than I thought."
Ethan's jaw hardened.
"Don't talk about her like you know her."
Mercer looked old suddenly.
"I knew her mother."
Rebecca stared.
"What?"
Mercer sat on a wooden crate.
"Claire's mother was part of the original research."
"We know," Ethan said.
"No. You know she was a patient."
Mercer looked at him.
"She was also a scientist."
Silence.
Ethan frowned.
"Claire's mother worked on the program?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't Claire know?"
"Because she left before Claire was old enough to remember."
Ethan knew Claire's mother had died when Claire was six.
At least, that was the story.
Mercer continued.
"The program wasn't created to harm children. It began as an attempt to prevent hereditary neurological disease."
"What changed?"
"Money."
Rebecca looked away.
Mercer nodded.
"Eventually military contractors became interested in the data. Then insurers. Then intelligence firms."
"And Halcyon?"
"Halcyon was originally created to protect participant identities."
Corinne laughed bitterly.
"It became the thing they needed protection from."
Mercer nodded.
Ethan asked the only question that mattered.
"Where is Claire?"
Mercer looked at Corinne.
Corinne's eyes filled.
"I took Claire to a safe house six months ago."
"Where?"
"Virginia."
"And?"
"Three weeks later, she vanished."
Ethan's hope cracked again.
"Was there blood?"
"No."
"Signs of force?"
"No."
"Then she left voluntarily."
"We think so."
"Why?"
Mercer answered.
"Because she discovered someone at the safe house was using the name Adrian Vale."
Ethan stared.
"Who?"
Mercer looked directly at Daniel.
May you like
"Your brother."
Daniel went white.
