CHAPTER 13 — THE MISSING YEAR
Evelyn looked at her mother.
“What are you talking about?”
Celeste stepped into the emergency lighting.
“When you were seventeen, you disappeared for eleven months.”
“I studied in Europe.”
“That is the story Gabriel gave you.”
Gabriel lowered his eyes.
Evelyn turned toward him.
“You said I had a breakdown after my father’s death.”
“You did.”
“My father wasn’t dead.”
“You believed he was.”
Mara accessed old passport records.
“There are no travel entries for Evelyn during that year.”
Celeste moved closer.
“You were the first successful Nightingale subject.”
Nathan raised his weapon.
“Stay away from her.”
Celeste ignored him.
“Daniel wanted an operative who could enter any room without appearing dangerous. Someone who could survive emotional pressure, observe details, and hide information even from herself.”
Evelyn felt the room tilt.
“No.”
“You agreed to the training.”
“I was seventeen.”
“You begged for it.”
Images flashed through Evelyn’s mind.
A white room.
A ticking clock.
Her father’s voice asking her to repeat a name.
Beatrice standing behind mirrored glass.
Evelyn touched her temple.
“What did they do to me?”
Gabriel answered.
“They divided your memory.”
“Into what?”
“Separate compartments. Information could be hidden behind emotional triggers.”
Julian groaned on the bed.
“The ballroom,” he whispered.
Evelyn turned.
He struggled to focus.
“Your mother arranged the gala. The dress. The chandelier. Even the champagne table.”
Celeste smiled.
“The blow activated you.”
Evelyn looked at her aching fist.
The moment she struck Julian, something had changed inside her.
She had believed it was courage.
What if it had been programming?
Mara placed Room Forty-Two’s storage records on the screen.
The unit had been rented under Evelyn’s name for nineteen years.
“It predates your marriage,” Mara said.
Evelyn grabbed her coat.
“We open it now.”
Celeste blocked the doorway.
“You may not like what you find.”
“I stopped caring about comfort ten years ago.”
At Grand Central Station, Room Forty-Two contained only a chair and an old video camera.
The camera turned on when Evelyn entered.
A younger Evelyn appeared on the monitor.
Seventeen years old.
Calm.
Unblinking.
“My name is Evelyn Vance,” the girl said. “I have completed the Nightingale protocol.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“If I ever regain this memory, Daniel Vance must be eliminated.”
The video ended.
Behind Evelyn, someone locked the door.
May you like
Then her younger voice continued through hidden speakers.
“And if Daniel is already dead, eliminate Celeste.”
