Chapter 10 - The Name Beneath Leo’s
Mary waited until David went upstairs before opening the drawer.
The Bluebird phone had not been connected to any network since the Nightglass release. Elena had removed its communication hardware and confirmed that it could not receive calls or messages.
Yet the screen was glowing.
A new Lantern folder had appeared.
Its name was HOME.
Mary carried the phone into the basement and closed the door.
The folder opened without requesting a password.
Inside was a single document.
THE HALE LINE.
The first page contained information about Thomas Hale.
His employment history.
His inspections.
His meeting with Elena.
His refusal to cooperate with Victor Sloane.
The final entry was dated one day after his official death.
TRANSFER REQUEST DENIED BY CURATOR.
Mary read it twice.
If Thomas had died before the request, why was someone discussing a transfer afterward?
She scrolled down.
The second page contained David’s name.
No operational status appeared beside it.
Only a sentence.
OBSERVATION CONTINUES THROUGH FAMILY CONTACT.
Mary’s hands became cold.
The next name was her own.
Nightglass status: Recovered.
Lantern status: Unresolved.
Below hers was Leo Hale.
Her son’s school photograph appeared beside his name.
Someone had taken it from his official student records.
Mary almost dropped the phone.
Leo’s file contained no financial information, surveillance schedule, or operational code.
It contained a sound recording.
She pressed play.
At first, she heard only static.
Then Thomas Hale’s voice filled the basement.
Mary had heard David’s father speak only in old family videos, but she recognized him immediately.
“If Mary Hale is listening to this, Nightglass has failed.”
She stopped breathing.
Thomas continued.
“Victor Sloane is not the person you should fear. He is a gatekeeper. The Curator controls the archive, but the archive is not the true purpose of Lantern.”
A door closed somewhere upstairs.
Mary lowered the volume.
“The names are not selected because of what people know,” Thomas said. “They are selected because of what their families may become.”
Mary looked at Leo’s photograph.
The recording crackled.
“I tried to remove David’s name. I believed I had succeeded. If his son has been added, then someone inside your circle reopened the file.”
Mary thought of Colin, Rafi, Sister Agnes, the federal investigators, and Elena.
Thomas’s voice became faint.
“Do not assume the person who saves you is the person protecting you.”
The recording ended.
A message appeared beneath it.
NEW MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN ATTIC NODE.
Mary stared at the words.
Their house did not have an attic node.
She returned upstairs.
David was in Leo’s room, reading beside the bed. Both of them were safe.
Mary walked to the hallway ceiling.
A small access door led to the attic. David had mentioned storing winter clothes there, but Mary had never entered it.
She pulled down the ladder.
Cold air moved across her face.
The attic was dark.
Mary switched on her phone light and climbed.
Boxes filled the narrow space. Dust covered the wooden beams.
Near the far wall, an old chair faced the attic window.
Someone had placed a package on it.
The brown paper was clean.
It had not been there long enough to gather dust.
Mary approached slowly.
Her name was written across the front.
Inside, she found Thomas Hale’s silver wristwatch.
The watch was ticking.
Beneath it was a photograph taken that morning.
David and Leo were standing outside Leo’s school.
Elena Ruiz stood across the street, watching them.
Mary turned the photograph over.
A handwritten message covered the back.
Sloane was permitted to fall.
Nightglass was permitted to be exposed.
You opened Lantern exactly as we expected.
Mary heard a floorboard shift behind her.
She turned.
No one stood between the boxes.
Then a voice spoke from the darkest corner of the attic.
“Do not call David.”
Mary raised the light.
The beam revealed a man seated beneath the sloping roof.
His hair was gray. His face was older and thinner than the photographs David kept downstairs, but the eyes were identical.
The man lifted both hands slowly.
Thomas Hale had been declared dead eight years earlier.
“Mary,” he whispered, “the Curator knows you found Leo’s file.”
Footsteps sounded on the ladder below them.
David was coming into the attic.
Thomas looked toward the opening.
May you like
Fear passed across his face.
“That may not be your husband.”
