CHAPTER 19 THE MISSING PERSONNEL FILE
Adrian covered the nearest vent with his jacket.
“Elena, find another exit.”
“There isn’t one.”
Rebecca grabbed the metal chair and struck the projector.
The machine shattered, but the smoke continued pouring through the wall.
Elena searched beneath the table.
Her fingers found a release lever.
She pulled it.
A section of the floor opened into a narrow maintenance tunnel.
“Go,” she ordered.
Rebecca entered first.
Elena followed.
Adrian climbed in last and pulled the floor panel above them.
The tunnel led into the center’s old boiler room.
By the time they emerged, the alarms throughout the building were sounding.
Security officers evacuated the east wing.
Grace was carried outside with the other children.
Elena ran to her.
“Mommy!”
Grace wrapped both arms around her neck.
Elena checked her face, hands, and clothing.
She was unharmed.
Rosa approached them.
“There was no fire,” she said. “Someone triggered the alarm manually.”
Adrian looked back toward the estate.
“They wanted us out of the archive.”
Rebecca turned toward the security office.
“Then we need the footage.”
The center’s cameras showed no one entering the underground level.
At least, not anyone Rebecca recognized.
At 9:42 p.m., the video recorded a woman in Elena’s gray coat opening the hidden passage.
The woman’s face was partially turned away.
But her height, hair, and posture matched Elena’s.
Elena watched herself enter the archive twenty minutes before Grace found the key.
“That is not me.”
Rebecca paused the recording.
“The access system says your identification card opened the underground door.”
“My card is in my bag.”
Adrian checked it.
The card was still there.
“Someone cloned it,” he said.
Rebecca searched the system log.
A second alert appeared on the screen.
Her own personnel file had been accessed at 9:44 p.m.
Then deleted.
Rebecca stared at the empty record.
“My federal background file was stored on a separate server.”
“Who knew that?” Elena asked.
“Only my unit director and two internal investigators.”
Adrian looked at her.
“And your father?”
Rebecca did not answer.
A security officer entered the room carrying a clipboard.
“Ms. Mercer, we found something unusual on today’s visitor list.”
He placed the page on the desk.
The final visitor had signed in at 4:17 p.m.
Name: Miriam Cole.
Reason for visit: Samuel Mercer referral.
Adrian stepped back.
Elena noticed immediately.
“You know her.”
He shook his head too quickly.
“Adrian.”
He looked at the name again.
“Miriam Cole was the woman I was told had died at Mile Marker Forty-One.”
Rebecca turned toward him.
“My mother was the woman in the film.”
“No,” Adrian said.
“She was carrying the baby. Miriam was driving the second car.”
“What second car?” Elena demanded.
Adrian looked toward the darkened security cameras.
“The car that followed Dad before the crash.”
The security officer cleared his throat.
“There is something else.”
He handed Elena a photograph taken by the entrance camera.
Miriam Cole stood beneath the center’s sign.
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Beside her was a young boy, perhaps six years old.
Around his neck hung Samuel Mercer’s missing wedding ring.
