CHAPTER 22 — CLAIRE’S CHOICE
The carriage doors opened.
Claire ran onto the platform with the ring.
Daniel and Gabriel followed.
Celeste carried Elias.
The steel door had two keyholes.
One blue.
One red.
Claire inserted the blue key.
Half the lock released.
The other half remained sealed.
Twenty-one seconds.
Daniel searched the walls.
“There must be an emergency release.”
Gabriel looked above the door.
A narrow ventilation shaft ran along the ceiling.
“Too small for us.”
Elias climbed down from Celeste’s arms.
“I can fit.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
“Noah is behind the door.”
“We don’t know what is inside that shaft.”
“He’s my brother.”
The word stopped everyone.
Elias had never met Noah.
He had spent his life hidden, trained to pretend he was someone else and told he had no real family.
Yet he was willing to enter the darkness for him.
Claire knelt.
“You do not have to prove that you belong to us.”
“I know.”
He held up the blue key.
“But I can help him.”
Claire looked at the countdown.
Fourteen seconds.
Daniel lifted Elias toward the shaft.
“Follow the metal pipe. It should lead behind the door.”
Elias crawled inside.
Claire heard his small hands moving through the darkness.
Nine seconds.
Eight.
Seven.
A grinding sound came from the other side.
The steel door opened three inches.
Daniel forced his fingers into the gap.
Gabriel joined him.
Together, the brothers pulled.
The door opened.
Beyond it was a railway control room filled with old levers.
Elias stood beside a red emergency wheel.
Claire rushed to the switching console.
Two tracks appeared on the monitor.
Noah’s train was seconds from impact.
The console required both keys.
Only the blue key was present.
Claire looked through the control-room window.
A red lever stood behind a glass panel.
Above it were the words:
MANUAL OVERRIDE — TRACK TWO.
Claire smashed the glass with Daniel’s ring.
She pulled the lever.
Nothing happened.
A computer voice spoke.
OVERRIDE REQUIRES ARCHIVE AUTHORIZATION.
Claire inserted the storage chip.
The screens flashed.
ACCESS ACCEPTED.
She pulled the lever again.
Somewhere deep inside the tunnel, steel screamed against steel.
The lower track moved.
Noah’s train passed the concrete wall with less than six feet to spare.
It entered a hidden side tunnel.
Claire nearly collapsed.
“He’s alive.”
Daniel watched the monitor.
The train was now moving toward the final station.
Gabriel looked at the archive screen.
Thousands of file names appeared.
Judges.
Politicians.
Police commanders.
Doctors.
Bankers.
At the top was one folder marked:
VALE FAMILY — ORIGINAL RECORDS.
Celeste stepped backward.
Claire noticed.
“What is inside that folder?”
Celeste’s eyes filled with fear.
“Proof of what happened the night the twins were born.”
Claire moved toward the screen.
Celeste grabbed her hand.
“You are not ready to see it.”
“I lost seven years with my son.”
“The video will not give them back.”
“No. But it will tell me who took them.”
Claire opened the folder.
A hospital camera recording appeared.
Margaret entered the delivery room.
Victoria followed her.
Then a third woman walked into view.
May you like
Claire recognized her immediately.
It was her own mother.
