CHAPTER 16: THE ROAD TO HALCYON
Ethan refused to leave Ava behind.
Every safe place he knew had already been compromised.
Bianca offered to take her to the Vale estate.
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“That is the last place I would send her.”
Dr. Ward joined them in Ethan’s car.
Conrad followed in a black SUV with Bianca and Arthur Bell.
Eleanor remained at the hotel.
At least, that was what she wanted them to believe.
Rain began falling as the vehicles crossed the city.
Halcyon Field stood near the river, surrounded by abandoned factories.
Its broken floodlights rose above the skyline like dead trees.
Ava sat in the back seat.
“Daddy, is Mommy alive?”
Ethan looked at her in the mirror.
“I don’t know.”
“But Grandma said—”
“Grandma said the crash was staged. That does not tell us what happened afterward.”
Ava looked down at her necklace.
“She wanted us to find the locker.”
Ward examined the memory chip.
“There may be more files, but the encryption is changing.”
“What does that mean?”
“Someone is remotely deleting them.”
Ethan increased his speed.
The next file opened for three seconds.
It showed seventeen names.
Most disappeared before Ward could read them.
He managed to photograph four.
BIANCA HART.
MARCUS DANE.
ETHAN MERCER.
AVA MERCER.
Ethan nearly lost control of the car.
“My name is on the survivor list?”
Ward shook his head.
“The file may not be a survivor list. Claire said it contained genetic matches.”
“Matches to what?”
Before Ward could answer, headlights appeared behind them.
A dark truck accelerated toward the car.
It struck Ethan’s rear bumper.
Ava screamed.
Ethan fought to keep the vehicle on the road.
The truck hit them again.
Ward looked through the rear window.
“They’re trying to push us into the river.”
A bullet shattered the back glass.
Ethan turned sharply into an old industrial road.
The truck followed.
Then Conrad’s SUV slammed into the truck’s side.
Both vehicles spun across the wet pavement.
Ethan stopped his car and ran back.
Bianca crawled from the damaged SUV.
Arthur Bell followed.
But Conrad was missing.
The truck driver had escaped.
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On Conrad’s empty seat, someone had left the Midnight Bat.
Blood covered the handle.
