Chapter 16 - The Voice Behind the Wall
Only Rebecca Ward had called her Ellie-Bird.
Elise pressed both hands against the concrete.
“Mom?”
The voice answered from the other side.
“Do not let Amelia open the final file.”
Amelia froze beside the computer.
Victor looked toward the ceiling cameras.
“We’re being watched.”
Nora searched the room and discovered a narrow speaker hidden inside an air vent. The voice might have been live, recorded or digitally reconstructed.
Elise refused to step away from the wall.
“Where are you?”
“The same place I have been for nine years.”
A sequence of numbers followed.
Amelia typed them into the archive.
A floor plan appeared, showing a sealed medical wing beneath the building.
“You told her not to open the file,” Elise said.
The voice became urgent.
“I said the final file. The archive contains a failsafe. When the last identity is confirmed, every false record will be erased.”
“That would free everyone,” Nora said.
“No. It would legally kill them.”
The Registry did not merely contain evidence. It actively maintained thousands of identities across government systems. Destroying it would cause bank accounts, medical histories, citizenship records and property ownership to disappear.
Amelia’s plan to expose the system could erase innocent people along with the criminals who created it.
Before Elise could ask another question, the speaker went silent.
Red lights began flashing.
Victor inspected the door.
“My father has triggered a lockdown.”
A mechanical sound came from inside the wall.
The concrete panel moved aside, revealing a narrow corridor.
At the far end stood a frail woman with silver hair.
Elise recognized her immediately.
Rebecca Ward had aged, but her eyes had not changed.
Elise took one step toward her.
May you like
Rebecca raised a warning hand.
“Do not come closer,” she said. “One of the three of you works for Malcolm.”
