Chapter 11 - The Man Who Studied Everyone
Glass fell across the church floor.
Russell pulled Olivia behind a stone column.
Security officers entered from both sides.
No gunfire followed.
Instead, a small black device landed near the altar.
White smoke began spreading through the room.
“Gas masks,” Russell ordered.
Victor tore fabric from a construction tarp and pressed it over Olivia’s mouth.
“Stay low.”
She pushed his hand away but kept the cloth.
The smoke carried a sharp chemical smell.
Russell’s officers moved toward the exits.
A voice sounded through the church speakers.
“Good morning, Olivia.”
She froze.
The voice was male, calm, and strangely warm.
Victor looked upward.
“Voss.”
The speakers crackled.
“I regret that our first direct conversation must occur under these conditions.”
Russell raised his weapon toward the balcony.
No one was visible.
“You have something that belongs to me,” Voss said.
Olivia looked at the letter.
“This belongs to my mother.”
“Your mother stole information she could not understand.”
Victor shouted toward the speakers.
“You used my father.”
“I educated your father.”
“You destroyed him.”
“Daniel destroyed himself when he mistook guilt for morality.”
Olivia’s lungs burned.
Russell pulled her toward a side corridor.
The nearest exit slammed shut electronically.
Red lights appeared above every door.
Voss had accessed the building system.
“You chose an old church because you believed it had no active network,” the voice continued. “But almost every modern security system requires connection.”
Russell looked at Victor.
“Did you tell anyone the location?”
“No.”
“Then how did he find us?”
Voss laughed softly through the speakers.
“Olivia’s pendant.”
She grabbed the diamond at her throat.
Victor stared.
Russell ripped the necklace free and dropped it.
A tiny green light blinked beneath the stone.
Olivia felt sick.
“My mother gave me that.”
“The diamond was replaced,” Victor said.
“When?”
“Kendra touched it before the wedding.”
Olivia remembered Kendra’s fingers near the clasp.
Russell crushed the pendant beneath his shoe.
The speaker continued.
“I am not here to hurt you, Olivia. I am here to prevent frightened people from making decisions they will regret.”
“You tried to gas us,” Victor shouted.
“A mild incapacitating compound.”
One of Russell’s officers coughed and collapsed.
The others pulled him away.
Victor moved toward a narrow window.
Black vehicles surrounded the church.
Men in gray uniforms stood beside them.
No visible insignia.
“No police,” Russell said.
“They control the road.”
Olivia held the letter against her chest.
“What do you want?” she shouted.
“The final page.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Victor does.”
Victor looked at her.
“No, I don’t.”
Voss sounded almost disappointed.
“Victor has always confused possession with understanding.”
The church lights flickered.
A screen lowered behind the altar.
An image appeared.
Kendra sat in a dark room.
Her champagne gown was stained with blood.
One side of her face was bruised.
Victor stepped forward.
“What did you do to her?”
Kendra looked directly into the camera.
“Victor, don’t believe him.”
A hand entered the frame and placed a document on the table before her.
The final page of Eleanor’s letter.
Olivia moved toward the screen.
Voss spoke.
“Your mother’s last page contains a name.”
“What name?” Olivia asked.
“The name of the child who replaced Mara.”
Thomas Hartwell’s warning returned to her.
The program continued through the children connected to its earliest trials.
“Who replaced her?”
The screen changed.
A childhood photograph appeared.
Two girls stood beside each other at the rehabilitation center.
Olivia recognized herself.
The second child was Mara.
Then the image zoomed in on Mara’s wrist.
She wore the same silver bracelet Olivia remembered owning.
Not a similar bracelet.
The same one.
Olivia looked at Russell.
He seemed shocked.
Victor stared at the screen.
Voss’s voice filled the church.
“Mara did not disappear.”
Olivia’s heart stopped.
“She was given another name.”
The photograph changed again.
A young woman appeared.
Dark hair.
Serious eyes.
May you like
Champagne satin dress.
Kendra Vale.
