Chapter 8 - The Mother Behind the Door
Diane fired at the steel door.
The bullet ricocheted across the chamber.
Claire dropped behind the central console. Vanessa screamed and covered her head.
The lights flickered.
Margaret’s voice came again through a speaker rather than from behind the door.
“Celia, listen carefully. The chamber records everything.”
Diane shot the speaker.
Silence returned.
Claire realized the voice might be a recording.
Diane grabbed Vanessa by the hair and dragged her upright.
“The key,” she demanded.
Claire looked at Vanessa.
Her sister’s arrogance had disappeared. Tears filled her eyes.
“Give it to her,” Vanessa whispered.
“No.”
“She’ll kill me.”
Diane pressed the gun against Vanessa’s temple.
“Your sister has always believed you were less important.”
Claire stood slowly.
“That’s what you taught her to believe.”
“I taught both of you what you needed to survive.”
“You abused us.”
“I shaped you.”
Diane’s calmness was more frightening than Richard’s violence.
Claire held the key out.
Diane forced Vanessa toward her.
“Place it in the console.”
At the center of the chamber stood a waist-high metal column with two keyholes and two hand scanners.
Claire inserted the silver key into the first slot.
Nothing happened.
A screen illuminated.
PRIMARY IDENTITY REQUIRED.
“Put your hand there,” Diane said.
Claire placed her palm on the left scanner.
The screen changed.
IDENTITY ACCEPTED.
SECONDARY IDENTITY REQUIRED.
Vanessa stared at the right scanner.
“What happens if I touch it?”
Diane answered, “We finally learn the truth.”
Claire looked at her sister.
“You don’t have to.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You’ve had your company, your house, and your perfect life. All I ever had was being their favorite. Now even that was fake.”
“So was everything they taught us about each other.”
Diane tightened her grip on the gun.
“Touch the scanner.”
Vanessa placed her palm on the glass.
The chamber hummed.
CELIA VALE CONFIRMED.
SUBJECT V CONFIRMED.
The screen did not identify which woman was which.
Instead, another message appeared.
MATERNAL AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Diane swore.
A second keyhole opened on the console.
Claire looked at her.
“You don’t have the second key.”
Diane pulled a gold key from beneath her blouse.
“I have waited twenty-seven years for this.”
She inserted it.
The steel doors around the room unlocked one after another.
Jonathan’s voice came through Claire’s hidden earpiece.
“Do not let her open the center vault.”
Diane heard the faint sound.
She struck Claire across the face, tearing the earpiece away.
“You brought them.”
“I came alone.”
“You have never been good at lying.”
A gunshot sounded in the tunnel.
Then another.
Diane grabbed the keys from the console.
The chamber lights turned red.
ARCHIVE ACCESS INCOMPLETE.
FAILSAFE SEQUENCE INITIATED.
Diane’s composure cracked.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
Vanessa removed her hand from the scanner.
The door behind them sealed.
Diane aimed at Claire.
“Put your hand back.”
Claire refused.
A countdown appeared.
TEN MINUTES UNTIL EXTERNAL RELEASE.
Jonathan had said the archive contained evidence against powerful people.
External release might send those records beyond the chamber.
Diane moved the gun between the sisters.
“If those files leave this house, everyone connected to Meridian will come for you.”
“They already have.”
“You think the truth will protect you? It will bury you.”
Vanessa slowly approached the console.
“What do you want us to do?”
“Complete authorization and transfer the archive to me.”
“Why you?”
“Because I am the only person who kept you alive.”
Claire saw movement through the tunnel entrance.
Jonathan appeared, bleeding from the shoulder.
Evelyn followed with Officer Marquez.
Diane spun and fired.
Jonathan fell.
Claire lunged.
She struck Diane’s wrist, sending the gun across the floor.
Vanessa kicked it toward Marquez.
Diane grabbed Claire’s wound and dug her fingers into the fresh stitches.
Pain exploded through Claire’s face.
Vanessa pulled Diane away.
For one moment, the sisters stood together.
Diane stared at them with disgust.
“You were never supposed to choose each other.”
The countdown reached five minutes.
Evelyn checked Jonathan’s wound. The bullet had passed through without striking an artery.
Officer Marquez handcuffed Diane.
Claire looked at the console.
“How do we stop the release?”
Jonathan forced himself upright.
“We don’t.”
“People could die.”
“People have already died to keep those records buried.”
Diane laughed from the floor.
“You still believe he wants justice?”
Jonathan’s face hardened.
Diane continued.
“He linked the archive to the money. Once it is released, every hidden account transfers to the verified primary identity.”
Claire looked at the screen.
CELIA VALE CONFIRMED.
“Which of us is primary?” Vanessa asked.
Diane smiled.
“That is the surprise Margaret left for you.”
The countdown reached zero.
Every light went dark.
Far beneath the floor, enormous machinery came alive.
The screen displayed a final message.
ARCHIVE DISTRIBUTED.
ASSET TRANSFER PENDING.
MATERNAL VOICEPRINT REQUIRED.
Then Margaret’s voice filled the chamber.
“My daughters, one of you carries my blood. Both of you carry my choices. Before you claim what I left behind, find me.”
A map appeared.
One red point blinked beneath a town more than four hundred miles away.
May you like
Beside it was a date.
The following morning.
