CHAPTER 14 — THE CODE INSIDE HER
Evelyn pounded on the locked door.
“Mara!”
No answer.
The walls of Room Forty-Two began projecting images.
Her father.
Her mother.
Julian.
Beatrice.
Each photograph appeared with a number.
A voice instructed her to choose the traitor.
She covered her ears.
The younger version of herself spoke again.
“Truth is not inherited. Truth is selected.”
A memory surfaced.
Evelyn was seventeen, sitting across from Daniel.
He placed two photographs on a table.
One showed Celeste.
The other showed Beatrice.
“Which woman do you trust?” he asked.
“Mother.”
“Wrong.”
The memory vanished.
Evelyn stumbled backward.
The door suddenly opened.
Mara pulled her into the hallway.
Nathan stood nearby with smoke rising from his weapon.
“Someone activated the room remotely,” Mara said.
“Celeste?” Evelyn asked.
“She disappeared.”
Gabriel was gone too.
Nathan checked the station cameras.
“They left together.”
Evelyn watched footage of Celeste and Gabriel entering a subway tunnel.
“They planned this.”
“Or one forced the other,” Mara said.
A message arrived on Evelyn’s phone.
It contained an address and a sentence.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU CHOSE JULIAN.
The sender was Celeste.
Nathan shook his head.
“You cannot trust her.”
“I don’t trust anyone.”
“That includes me?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Yes.”
Nathan accepted the answer.
Back at the medical suite, Julian’s bed was empty.
The surgeon lay unconscious on the floor.
Someone had taken Julian.
Mara found a symbol painted on the wall.
A black bird with one wing.
Nightingale.
Beneath it was a list of four names.
Daniel Vance.
Celeste Vance.
Beatrice Thorne.
Evelyn Vance.
Three names had been crossed out.
Only Evelyn’s remained.
Nathan examined the paint.
“This was not here an hour ago.”
A hidden screen flickered on.
Julian appeared tied to a chair.
A masked figure stood behind him.
“Evelyn,” the figure said, “the Thorne empire will collapse at midnight.”
Julian lifted his head.
“Don’t listen to them.”
The figure placed a blade against the rope around his neck.
“But if it falls,” the voice continued, “so does every hospital, pension fund, and public agency connected to it.”
A countdown appeared.
05:59:59
Evelyn stared at the clock.
May you like
Destroying the Thornes had always been her goal.
Now someone had designed the collapse to kill thousands of innocent people with them.
