Chapter 9 - The courthouse basement smelled of damp stone and old paper.Hammer, Mara, Eddie, and Ellie moved through the tunnels beneath the building.
The red key was in Hammer's hand.
They reached the steel door.
Room 17.
Hammer inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
A cold draft rolled through.
Inside was not an archive.
It was a laboratory.
Old monitors.
Metal chairs.
Cameras.
Medical equipment.
On the wall hung photographs of children.
Ellie stared.
“I remember this place.”
Hammer looked at her.
“What?”
She walked forward.
“This is where they took my memories.”
Mara looked sick.
“Ellie, we should leave.”
“No.”
Ellie approached one of the chairs.
She touched it.
“My mother sat here.”
Hammer followed.
A recorder sat beside the chair.
He pressed play.
Clara's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, Ray, then I failed.”
Hammer closed his eyes.
Clara continued.
“They told me they would release Lucy if I cooperated.”
Mara started crying.
“I believed them.”
Static.
Then Clara spoke again.
“They lied.”
Hammer clenched his fists.
“I tried to hide Lucy inside the system. I thought giving her another name would protect her.”
A pause.
“That's how she became Ellie.”
Hammer looked at the child.
Clara continued.
“Ray, the reason they fear you isn't because you know about the children.”
Another pause.
“You know about the money.”
Hammer frowned.
“What money?”
Eddie looked down.
Clara continued.
“The Red Ledger contains payments made for every child transferred through Saint Mercy.”
Hammer stared at the monitors.
“Every transfer was funded by someone.”
Clara's voice softened.
“And one account appears more than all the others.”
A number appeared on a screen.
HAMMER'S OLD ACCOUNT.
Hammer stepped back.
“No.”
Mara looked at him.
“What's wrong?”
“The account.”
“What about it?”
“It was closed fifteen years ago.”
Eddie's face became pale.
Clara continued.
“They used your identity.”
Hammer stared.
“They used my name to move the money.”
Mara understood.
“That means they framed you.”
“Not just for kidnapping.”
Hammer looked at the records.
“For everything.”
Then the laboratory door slammed shut.
Mara screamed.
Someone had locked them inside.
Hammer pulled at the handle.
Nothing.
The monitors switched on.
Hundreds of screens.
Every screen showed Hammer.
Driving.
Fighting.
Prison.
Meeting Clara.
Meeting Ellie.
Even moments that had never been recorded publicly.
Hammer stared.
“They've been watching me.”
Eddie shook his head.
“No.”
A voice came from the speakers.
“They've been studying you.”
Judge Samuel Vale appeared on one monitor.
He wasn't in the courthouse.
He was sitting in an unknown room.
“I wondered how long it would take you.”
Hammer approached the screen.
“Where is Clara?”
Vale smiled.
“Alive.”
“Bring her here.”
“She isn't the point.”
“Then what is?”
“You are.”
Hammer frowned.
Vale leaned closer.
“You spent nine years believing the scars were your punishment.”
Hammer touched his face.
“They were your memory.”
“What does that mean?”
“You were there.”
“Where?”
Vale's smile widened.
“The night Clara died.”
Hammer stared at the screen.
“I watched the warehouse burn.”
“No.”
Vale shook his head.
“You watched it burn.”
Hammer's breathing slowed.
“You were inside.”
“I was unconscious.”
“You were awake.”
“No.”
“You heard Clara.”
Hammer's eyes tightened.
“Stop.”
“You heard her scream.”
“Stop.”
“You left her.”
Hammer slammed his fist against the monitor.
The screen shattered.
Ellie screamed.
Mara grabbed her.
Eddie whispered:
“Ray.”
Hammer turned.
The fourth scar on his neck was bleeding.
His fingers were trembling.
Suddenly, the memories returned.
Not the warehouse.
A hospital.
A white room.
Clara tied to a chair.
Vale standing beside her.
And Hammer.
Hammer himself standing across the room.
But he wasn't alone.
A man stood beside him.
His best friend.
Eddie.
Hammer stumbled backward.
“No.”
Eddie looked devastated.
“I tried to stop them.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You helped them.”
“I had no choice.”
Hammer raised the gun.
“You always have a choice.”
Eddie closed his eyes.
“Then shoot me.”
Before Hammer could fire, Ellie screamed.
“DON'T!”
Everyone turned.
Ellie pointed at one of the monitors.
The feed had changed.
Clara was there.
She was standing in a hospital corridor.
Behind her stood a little boy.
About ten years old.
Hammer stared.
He recognized him.
Eddie's son.
But the boy was wearing a hospital bracelet.
And on the bracelet was written:
RAY DAWSON.
Eddie whispered:
“My God.”
The voice from the monitor returned.
“One witness remains.”
May you like
Then the screen went black.
The boy was gone.
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