Chapter 6 - The crying stopped the moment Hammer reached the next corridor.Silence.
He raised his pistol.
Mara stayed behind him.
Ellie held his vest.
“Don't shoot.”
“I don't see anything.”
“She doesn't like guns.”
“Who?”
Ellie pointed into the darkness.
Hammer's flashlight revealed a steel door.
Room 17.
The numbers were scratched into the metal.
Hammer approached.
There was no handle.
Only a red handprint.
Ellie pressed her palm against it.
Nothing.
She whispered:
“Open.”
A mechanical click sounded inside the wall.
The door opened.
Beyond it was a narrow room lined with filing cabinets.
Thousands of paper records.
Photographs.
Names.
Dates.
Children.
Mara stared in horror.
“This is an archive.”
Hammer walked to the nearest cabinet.
The label read:
TRANSFER 2009.
He opened it.
Every file contained the same three columns.
ORIGINAL NAME.
TRANSFER NAME.
CURRENT LOCATION.
Hammer's eyes scanned the pages.
He stopped.
Lucy Bell.
TRANSFER NAME: ELLIE WARD.
CURRENT LOCATION: SAINT MERCY COURT CASE.
Hammer stepped back.
Ellie looked at the file.
“That's mine.”
Mara looked at Hammer.
“This means the kidnapping was staged.”
Hammer nodded.
“Not exactly.”
He turned another page.
There was a second line.
STATUS: ACTIVE WITNESS.
Then another.
DISPOSAL AUTHORIZATION PENDING.
Mara stared.
“They planned to kill her.”
Hammer looked at Ellie.
“Who?”
Ellie pointed to another cabinet.
“Those names.”
Hammer opened it.
Several politicians.
Judges.
Police officials.
Business executives.
Doctors.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Samuel Vale.
But beneath his name was another.
Clara Bell.
Not as a victim.
As an investigator.
Hammer's face changed.
“My God.”
Clara had been working undercover.
She had infiltrated the organization controlling the child transfers.
She wasn't running from them.
She was exposing them.
Then Hammer found a photograph.
Clara standing beside another woman.
The woman was pregnant.
Hammer recognized her immediately.
Rachel Ward.
But that wasn't the most shocking part.
Written on the back was:
THE SURROGATE KNOWS.
Mara whispered:
“Rachel wasn't just the foster mother.”
Hammer looked at Ellie.
“She was part of it.”
Ellie shook her head.
“No.”
Hammer crouched.
“What do you mean?”
“My mother said Rachel saved me.”
“Your mother?”
“Clara.”
Hammer stared.
“When did you last see her?”
Ellie hesitated.
“Six months ago.”
Mara nearly dropped the file.
“What?”
“Six months ago.”
Hammer's voice became very quiet.
“Where?”
Ellie pointed toward another door.
“She was here.”
Hammer opened it.
A small room.
A bed.
A chair.
A red scarf.
And on the wall, scratched into the plaster:
HAMMER WASN'T THE ONE WHO BETRAYED US.
Below it:
FIND THE MAN WITHOUT A SHADOW.
Hammer read the words twice.
Mara whispered:
“What does that mean?”
A speaker crackled overhead.
Everyone froze.
A man's voice filled the room.
“Very good, Ray.”
Hammer looked upward.
“Vale.”
A soft laugh echoed.
“You always were difficult.”
Hammer aimed his gun at the speaker.
“Where is Clara?”
“Closer than you think.”
“Show yourself.”
“Not yet.”
Ellie stepped forward.
“Why did you take me?”
The voice paused.
“You weren't taken, Ellie.”
She frowned.
“You were returned.”
Hammer's expression darkened.
“Returned from where?”
The speaker clicked again.
“Ask your lawyer.”
Mara went pale.
Hammer looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
Mara shook her head.
“I don't know.”
The voice continued.
“Ask her what happened the night her father died.”
Mara's eyes widened.
“My father died three years ago.”
“No.”
The voice laughed.
“He was murdered.”
Mara whispered:
“By who?”
The speaker went silent.
Then one sentence came through.
“The man standing behind you.”
Hammer turned.
Nobody.
Then he heard footsteps.
Running.
Ellie screamed.
Hammer grabbed her.
Mara pulled a file from a cabinet.
“Ray!”
They ran toward the corridor.
A shadow moved at the far end.
Hammer raised his weapon.
The figure stopped.
Then slowly stepped into the light.
Hammer froze.
The man was wearing a black coat.
His face was badly burned.
But his eyes were unmistakable.
Hammer lowered the gun.
“Clara?”
The figure smiled.
“No.”
He pulled off the hood.
“Her brother.”
Mara whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
The man smiled.
“Everyone thinks I died too.”
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Then the lights went out.
And something heavy crashed behind them.
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