Chapter 15 - The Passenger on the Midnight Train
Hannah did not go alone.
Vale placed officers throughout Blackthorn Station. Naomi remained with Lily at a protected location. Michael, still recovering, monitored the operation from home through a secure connection.
The yellow car sat inside Hannah’s bag.
At 11:48 p.m., she entered the station.
Blackthorn had once been a wealthy railway town, but most of its platforms were now empty. Rain struck the glass roof. Old lights flickered above rusted tracks.
The ticket directed Hannah to Platform 6.
No train was listed on the departure board.
At midnight, a single headlight appeared in the distance.
A black train entered the station without a horn.
It had only two passenger cars.
No company name was painted on its side.
The doors opened.
Vale spoke through Hannah’s concealed earpiece.
“Do not board until we identify the driver.”
Hannah waited.
No conductor appeared.
The yellow car suddenly activated inside her bag.
Its wheels spun.
A recorded voice played.
Board the train, Hannah.
She recognized it immediately.
Her father.
Vale heard it too.
“Stay where you are.”
The train lights blinked.
A screen above the platform turned on.
Live video appeared.
Naomi sat in the protected apartment with Lily.
A man stood behind them.
His face remained outside the camera frame.
Lily was unharmed, but Naomi looked terrified.
The security officers who had been guarding them lay unconscious in the hallway.
The man placed one hand on Lily’s shoulder.
“Hannah,” he said through the screen, “you have thirty seconds.”
Hannah stepped onto the train.
Vale shouted through the earpiece, but the connection dissolved into static.
The doors closed behind her.
The train began moving.
Inside the first car, framed photographs covered the walls.
Thomas Mercer appeared in every one.
In some, he was young.
In others, he wore disguises, uniforms, or medical clothing.
The final photograph showed him entering Hannah’s house the morning of Michael’s crash.
He had been there while she slept.
At the end of the car, a table had been set for two.
A man sat with his back to her.
His hair was gray.
A scar crossed the side of his neck.
The yellow toy car rolled out of Hannah’s open bag and traveled toward him.
He stopped it beneath his shoe.
“You look like your mother,” he said.
Hannah remained near the door.
“My mother died when I was born.”
“That is what Celeste told you.”
He turned.
Hannah knew his face from the old photographs.
Thomas Mercer had aged, but he was unmistakable.
Her father stood before her.
“You threatened Lily.”
“I needed you to come without Michael.”
“Release her.”
“She will be released when this conversation ends.”
“You created the Continuity Program.”
“I created a way to preserve control when governments, families, and corporations became unreliable.”
“You stole dead people’s identities.”
“Celeste corrupted the system.”
“You helped her.”
“I tried to contain her.”
“By hiding Adrian for twenty-two years?”
Thomas’s expression tightened.
“That was not my decision.”
“You planted the toy car.”
“Yes.”
“You watched my family.”
“I protected your family.”
“You caused Michael’s crash.”
For the first time, Thomas did not answer immediately.
The train entered a tunnel.
Darkness swallowed the windows.
“I did not order the crash,” he said.
“Who did?”
Thomas looked down at the yellow car.
“Ask Michael.”
Hannah’s anger faltered.
“Michael was the victim.”
“Michael was investigating the foundation because I instructed him to.”
“You contacted him?”
“For three years.”
“That is a lie.”
Thomas pressed the car’s roof.
A hidden recording began.
Michael’s voice filled the train.
I found the ledger. Hannah still knows nothing.
Thomas replied in the recording.
Keep it that way until Celeste leads us to Adrian.
And if she comes after Lily?
She will not. Celeste needs the child alive.
The audio ended.
Hannah stared at Thomas.
“Michael worked for you.”
“He worked with me.”
“Why did he never tell me?”
“Because he discovered something worse than Celeste.”
Thomas removed a black folder from beneath the table.
On the cover was a photograph of Hannah’s mother.
She was alive in the image.
She stood beside Celeste, Kells, and a man whose face had been cut from the picture.
Hannah reached for the folder.
Thomas pulled it away.
“Before you read this, you must understand that your mother did not die giving birth to you.”
“Where is she?”
“She became the first successful subject of the Continuity Program.”
The train slowed.
Through the window, Hannah saw an underground platform illuminated by blue lights.
Dozens of people waited in silence.
Some wore hospital clothing.
Others wore expensive suits.
Every person turned toward the arriving train at the same moment.
Thomas placed the folder in Hannah’s hands.
“Celeste was never the leader,” he said.
“Who was?”
The train stopped.
The doors opened.
A woman stepped forward from the crowd.
She had Hannah’s eyes.
She had Lily’s smile.
She appeared almost exactly the same age as Hannah.
The woman looked at Thomas, then at the yellow car.
“You brought the wrong daughter,” she said.
Hannah opened the black folder.
The first page contained two birth certificates.
Both listed Thomas Mercer as the father.
Both listed the same mother.
Both recorded the same date of birth.
One belonged to Hannah.
The other belonged to someone named Helena.
Hannah looked up.
The woman outside the train smiled.
“Hello, sister.”
May you like
Behind her, a heavy door began to open.
And from somewhere beyond it, Lily’s voice called Hannah’s name.
