CHAPTER 17: THE TRAIN BENEATH THE OCEAN
The train moved faster than any subway Claire had experienced.
Water pressed against transparent sections of the tunnel.
Dark shapes drifted beyond the glass.
The children sat silently.
Some held hands.
Others stared ahead with blank expressions.
Adrian stood near the control panel.
“There’s no manual stop.”
Richard examined the route.
“We’ll reach Blackridge in forty minutes.”
Claire Vale searched the rear cars.
Several transport chambers were empty.
“Where are the adults assigned to these?”
Anna looked at the labels.
“Already transferred.”
Claire read the names.
A senator.
A judge.
A military commander.
“These people may be walking around in stolen bodies.”
“They are,” Evelyn whispered.
She had regained consciousness.
Miriam sat beside her.
“How many?”
“Thousands.”
Richard looked toward Evelyn.
“You knew.”
“I knew pieces.”
“You always know enough to hurt people and never enough to stop anything.”
Evelyn gave him a weak smile.
“That describes the entire Vale family.”
Lily suddenly stood.
Her eyes went blank.
The other children rose with her.
Claire grabbed her.
“Lily?”
All two hundred children spoke together.
“Arrival protocol initiated.”
The train lights turned red.
Mechanical restraints emerged from every seat.
They locked around the children’s wrists and ankles.
Adrian tried to free Lily.
The restraints tightened.
Anna reached the emergency panel.
“August is activating the transfer preparation.”
Claire Vale cut through her sister’s restraints with the hidden blade.
Marcus broke open the control cabinet.
Inside was a manual lever.
He pulled it.
The train slowed slightly.
Then an alarm sounded.
TUNNEL FAILURE.
The transparent walls began cracking.
Richard pushed the lever back.
The train accelerated.
“We stop, the ocean kills us,” Marcus said.
Lily looked toward Claire.
For one second, her own voice returned.
“Black door.”
“What black door?”
“In Daddy’s memory.”
Adrian stared at her.
“I don’t remember a black door.”
Lily reached toward his forehead.
“You do.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Images returned.
Evelyn bringing him to Blackridge as a child.
A corridor.
A black door.
A room filled with chairs.
A man teaching Adrian to repeat the same sentence.
MY BODY IS NOT MYSELF.
He opened his eyes.
“I know where the original transfer chamber is.”
Anna looked frightened.
“If August enters Adrian there, the transfer may become permanent.”
Claire took Adrian’s hand.
“Then we destroy it first.”
The train emerged from the tunnel.
Blackridge Island rose beneath them.
It was not abandoned.
An underground city stretched through the mountain.
Thousands of people stood on the platform.
They applauded as the train arrived.
At the center stood Special Agent Mercer.
Alive.
May you like
He smiled at Claire.
“Did you really think I placed only one copy of myself inside the world?”
