CHAPTER 23 : Peter Holloway’s Ledger
Daniel dropped into the tunnel as the weapon fired.
The round struck the steel hatch.
Henry pulled it closed above him.
They moved through darkness while the ventilation system pushed sedative gas into the room behind them.
Grace switched on her phone light.
The tunnel had once carried steam pipes beneath the property.
Fresh footprints marked the dust.
Saint Orison used it regularly.
They reached a junction.
One passage led toward the main road.
Another descended beneath the medical wing.
Henry pointed downward.
“Naomi is there.”
Daniel looked at Grace.
“Get the ledger outside.”
Grace held it tighter.
“I spent twelve years being told where I was allowed to go.”
“This isn’t about ordering you.”
“No. It’s about deciding I’m the person who should be protected while everyone else takes the risk.”
Henry touched the wall for balance.
“She’s right.”
Daniel did not have time to argue.
They went deeper.
The underground rooms did not resemble a hospital.
They resembled a records facility.
Rows of refrigerated cabinets lined the walls.
Each drawer contained identification documents.
Birth certificates.
Passports.
Medical records.
Marriage licenses.
Death certificates.
Some belonged to Hartwell victims.
Others belonged to people Daniel had never seen.
Grace found a drawer labeled HOLLOWAY, PETER.
Inside was her husband’s original death certificate.
The cause of death had been listed as cardiac arrest.
Beneath it was a second report.
TOXICOLOGY: SYNTHETIC POTASSIUM COMPOUND.
Grace read the page without moving.
Daniel watched the truth enter her face.
Peter had not died naturally.
Someone had killed him.
Henry looked down.
“I tried to warn him.”
Grace turned toward him.
“You knew?”
“I knew he was in danger.”
“Did you know they killed him?”
“Not until later.”
Grace placed the report inside her coat.
Her grief did not become loud.
It became focused.
“Where is Naomi?”
They found her in a glass room at the end of the corridor.
She sat in a chair while a technician photographed her face from several angles.
A screen displayed a new identity.
NORA PAYNE.
DATE OF BIRTH: ALTERED.
LEGAL STATUS: DECEASED.
Victoria’s coworker was being erased while still alive.
Daniel broke the glass with a fire extinguisher.
The technician ran.
Naomi could barely stand.
“They made me sign,” she whispered.
“What?” Daniel asked.
“A statement saying I invented my former husband’s abuse.”
Grace helped her walk.
“Where are the others?”
Naomi pointed toward an elevator.
“Below.”
Henry shook his head.
“We can’t reach them tonight.”
Daniel opened Peter’s ledger.
The first pages contained property numbers.
The next contained names.
Judges.
Police chiefs.
Hospital administrators.
Corporate executives.
Beside each name was the address of a vulnerable relative.
The Registry had targeted parents, spouses, and children to control people in positions of authority.
Daniel found Eleanor Reed near the center.
SUBJECT: ELEANOR REED.
LEVERAGE: DANIEL MERCER.
STATUS: FAILED.
He turned the page.
SUBJECT: SENATOR ELIAS WARD.
LEVERAGE: HELEN WARD.
STATUS: ACTIVE.
Senator Ward was preparing to introduce the national guardianship reform bill Eleanor had supported.
Daniel called Mara.
No answer.
He called Ward’s office.
No answer.
A news alert appeared on his screen.
Senator Elias Ward’s wife had called an emergency press conference.
The video began automatically.
Helen Ward stood at a podium.
Her eyes appeared unfocused.
“My husband has experienced severe cognitive decline,” she read.
“Effective immediately, I am requesting temporary guardianship over his personal and political affairs.”
Daniel looked at the time.
The press conference was live.
Behind Helen stood Director Adrian Hale.
He leaned toward the microphone.
“For the senator’s safety, all public appearances have been canceled.”
Henry stared at the screen.
“They’ve taken a United States senator without moving him from his own house.”
An alarm sounded beneath Saint Orison.
The elevator doors opened.
Men in black uniforms stepped out.
At the center stood Dr. Celeste Rowan.
She looked at Daniel.
“You should have read the final page first.”
Daniel turned the ledger over.
A photograph had been attached inside the back cover.
It showed Thomas Mercer and Eleanor standing beside Gideon Shaw.
A fourth person stood with them.
Director Hale.
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The date beneath the photograph was thirty-one years old.
Hale looked exactly the same age as he did now.
