Chapter 14 - The Name Reed Buried
Russell fired at the ceiling vent.
The bullet shattered the metal grille, but the gas continued pouring into the room.
Elara ran to the control console.
“System is locked.”
Reed pushed past Russell.
“I know the override.”
He entered a six-digit code.
Rejected.
He tried another.
Rejected.
Maren coughed.
The boy inside the glass enclosure watched them.
“Is it poison?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “It makes people forget.”
Evelyn pulled fabric over her mouth.
“What kind of gas causes memory loss?”
Elara scanned the chemical label on the console.
“An aerosol sedative combined with a dissociative compound.”
Reed entered a third code.
The vents stopped.
Everyone stared at him.
Russell pressed the weapon against his back.
“You said you didn’t know this facility.”
“I said I didn’t know what happened when the enclosure opened.”
Maren’s eyes watered from the gas.
“How did you know the code?”
Reed looked toward Celeste’s camera.
“Because I lived here.”
Silence.
Elara turned.
“What?”
Reed leaned against the console.
“My earliest memories are in this room.”
Maren looked at the image of the eight adults.
Then at Reed.
“No.”
He removed his torn shirt collar from his neck.
Beneath his left ear was a small tattoo.
The number 7.
“Conrad Halston was not my father,” Reed said.
Evelyn stared at him.
“You were one of the first eight.”
“Yes.”
“Celeste raised you.”
“She trained me.”
Maren felt sick.
“Did you know when you married me?”
“I knew I was connected to Aegis. I did not know how.”
“But you knew this room.”
“I had fragments. Nightmares. Codes I could never explain.”
Elara looked at the boy.
“Designation Nine said the first eight grew up.”
The child nodded.
“Seven visits sometimes.”
Everyone looked at Reed.
Reed went pale.
“I have never seen him.”
The boy frowned.
“You are not Seven.”
Maren stared at the tattoo.
Reed touched it.
Celeste’s laughter filled the room.
“Finally.”
The camera shifted toward him.
“You thought the mark made you special,” she said. “It only made you obedient.”
Reed shouted, “Who am I?”
“You are Reed Halston.”
“Who was I before?”
“A child who survived because another did not.”
Maren looked at the DNA records.
“Was Reed a replacement too?”
Celeste answered, “Everyone in this family is a replacement.”
Elara searched the console.
“The upload has begun.”
A progress bar appeared.
ADOPTION LEDGER RELEASE: 12 PERCENT.
Russell tried the tower’s communications system.
“Signal blocked.”
Maren approached the boy’s enclosure.
“Can you stop the upload?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“You open the door.”
Evelyn said, “We don’t know what happens if he leaves.”
Maren looked at Nine.
“What happens?”
“The building chooses an heir.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Elara studied the enclosure locks.
“His biometric profile may control the entire Vale network.”
Celeste said, “Open it, Maren. Let us finally learn what Edmund intended.”
Maren looked at the upload.
18 percent.
Thousands of identities would be exposed if it reached one hundred.
Families would be destroyed.
People who had no idea they were connected to Aegis would become targets.
“Open it,” Reed said.
Russell looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Celeste wants us to hesitate.”
Maren turned.
“You are asking me to trust you.”
“No. I’m asking you to understand her.”
The upload reached 23 percent.
Elara pressed her hand to the enclosure reader.
Denied.
Maren tried.
Denied.
The boy placed his palm against the other side.
The screen changed.
DUAL AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Maren and Elara looked at each other.
Two separate panels illuminated.
One requested fingerprint verification.
The other requested cardiac verification.
Elara took the fingerprint panel.
Maren placed her hand and wrist against the cardiac sensor.
Both screens turned green.
The glass door unlocked.
The child stepped out.
Every computer in the room shut down.
The lights went black.
Then emergency power returned.
The upload stopped at 27 percent.
Russell exhaled.
Celeste’s voice disappeared.
The boy walked toward the main console.
He placed his hand on it.
A hidden panel opened.
Inside lay a sealed envelope.
EDMUND VALE - FINAL INSTRUCTION.
Maren took it.
The paper inside contained a single sentence.
TO MY DAUGHTER: REED KNOWS WHERE YOUR SISTER WAS BURIED.
Maren looked at him.
Elara’s face hardened.
“What does that mean?”
Reed backed away.
“I don’t know.”
“You knew about the grave,” Maren said.
“No.”
The boy looked at Reed.
“You are lying.”
Russell blocked the door.
Reed’s eyes moved between Maren and Elara.
Then he reached inside his torn shirt and removed a tiny brass key.
“I found this after Edmund died.”
Maren recognized the engraving.
Blackridge Cemetery.
The private Vale family grounds.
“What grave does it open?” she asked.
May you like
Reed’s voice shook.
“One with your name on it.”
