Chapter 5 - Lillian’s Message from the Underground Room
Mara could not move.
On the screen, Lillian sat at a desk in the same underground room. Her hair was longer, her face thinner, but there was no doubt.
She was Mara.
Or Mara had once been her.
The recorded woman looked directly into the camera.
“Adrian, I need you to listen without interrupting the recording. I discovered unauthorized transfers from the Hawthorne medical foundation. The money was routed through shell companies connected to Vale Biogenics.”
Adrian’s face hardened at the mention of Celeste’s family company.
Lillian continued.
“At first, I believed Celeste was stealing from the foundation. I was wrong. The transfers paid for a private neurological program called Project Orpheus.”
Mara felt pain behind her eyes.
Images flickered.
White walls.
A steel chair.
A doctor placing electrodes against her scalp.
A voice telling her to forget.
She gripped the edge of the table.
The recording continued.
“Project Orpheus was developed to alter memory through drug-induced neuroplasticity, sensory conditioning and repeated emotional disruption. Celeste’s father funded the original research. After his death, Celeste took control.”
Adrian whispered, “She told me her father’s research involved trauma recovery.”
“It did,” Lillian said on the recording, as though answering him. “Until they discovered memory could be removed more easily than trauma could be healed.”
Mara closed her eyes.
A man in a white coat.
A syringe filled with pale blue liquid.
Marcus holding her shoulders.
Lillian continued.
“I found patient files. Most subjects were women without close relatives. Some were witnesses in corporate cases. Some were spouses who knew too much. They were given new identities and relocated. Several died.”
The video flickered.
“If Celeste discovers what I know, she will not simply kill me. She will erase me first. A dead woman creates questions. A woman who cannot remember creates none.”
Adrian moved closer to the screen.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
The recorded Lillian looked down.
“Because Project Orpheus had someone inside our house. Someone close enough to alter schedules, intercept calls and manipulate security.”
Marcus.
Mara and Adrian looked at each other.
The screen changed to a list of names.
Most were coded.
One line was readable.
ASSET M.D. ACTIVE.
Adrian’s hand formed a fist.
“Marcus Dane.”
A sound came from the staircase.
Adrian switched off the screen and pulled Mara behind a storage cabinet.
Footsteps descended.
Marcus entered the underground room holding a gun.
He scanned the darkness.
“Mr. Hawthorne?”
Adrian motioned for Mara to remain silent.
Marcus approached the computer.
He inserted a device into the control panel.
Mara heard a soft electronic tone.
FILES DELETION INITIATED.
Adrian stepped from hiding.
“Take your hand away from the computer.”
Marcus turned.
For the first time, his controlled expression cracked.
“Sir, you shouldn’t be here.”
Adrian aimed his weapon.
“Neither should you.”
Marcus slowly raised his hands.
“This is not what it looks like.”
“You entered a private room you claimed did not exist.”
“I followed a security alert.”
“With a deletion device?”
Marcus glanced toward the shadows where Mara was hiding.
“You don’t understand what she is.”
Adrian’s voice became colder.
“I understand exactly who she may be.”
“No,” Marcus said. “You understand who she was.”
Mara stepped out.
Marcus looked at her with something like pity.
“You should have stayed gone.”
“Did you take me from the airport?”
“I saved you.”
“You erased my memory.”
“I prevented Celeste from killing you immediately.”
Adrian moved toward him.
“You worked for her.”
“I worked to contain her.”
“By helping her destroy my wife?”
Marcus’s eyes shifted toward the gun.
Adrian noticed.
“Don’t.”
Marcus smiled bitterly.
“You always believed money made you the most powerful person in the room.”
A light flashed on the deletion device.
FILES DELETION COMPLETE.
Adrian fired.
Marcus moved aside.
The bullet struck the wall.
Marcus shot at the ceiling, shattering the lights, and ran toward the stairs.
Adrian pursued him.
Mara turned back to the computer.
The screen was black.
Everything Lillian had recorded appeared to be gone.
Then a small compartment beneath the desk opened.
Inside lay a red envelope.
Her handwriting covered the front.
FOR ETHAN AND NOAH, WHEN THEY REMEMBER THE SONG.
Mara opened it.
There was no letter inside.
Only a photograph.
It showed Lillian standing beside Celeste and Marcus outside a medical facility.
Behind them was a fourth person.
Jonas Reed.
May you like
On the back, Lillian had written one sentence.
ONE OF THEM BETRAYED ME.
