Chapter 15 - Room Without Windows
Amelia Cross approached without hurrying.
She closed her umbrella and looked first at Elise, then Nora.
“I expected us to resemble one another more,” she said.
Malcolm moved toward his vehicle.
Amelia’s driver blocked him.
Within minutes, Elise, Nora and Victor were placed inside a windowless transport van. Malcolm was taken separately.
Amelia sat opposite them.
She appeared calm, but a tremor moved through her left hand.
“I sent the message to your phone,” she told Elise.
“You warned me about Victor.”
“I warned you about everyone.”
Amelia revealed that she had spent twelve years searching for the Registry. Unlike Elise and Nora, she had known from childhood that her identity was manufactured.
Her adoptive parents had trained her to disappear whenever Malcolm’s agents came close.
“Why bring us together?” Elise asked.
“Because the Registry cannot be opened by one person.”
Amelia produced three silver disks. Each contained part of an encryption key linked to the original hospital bracelets.
Together, they could unlock the Registry’s master archive.
Victor stared at the disks.
“My father said the archive was a myth.”
“Your father lies when he is awake,” Amelia replied.
The van entered an underground garage. They were taken into a concrete room with one table and no windows.
Amelia placed the ledger beneath a scanner.
The three silver disks activated the archive.
Thousands of names appeared on the wall screen.
Some belonged to politicians.
Some belonged to judges.
Some belonged to children reported dead decades earlier.
Elise searched for Rebecca Ward.
The screen displayed one result.
STATUS: ACTIVE.
LOCATION: INSIDE FACILITY.
May you like
A soft knock came from behind the wall.
Then a woman’s voice whispered Elise’s childhood nickname.
