Chapter 12 - The station exploded into confusion.Henri searched the rooms.
Gabriel checked every exit.
Émilie stood frozen.
Lucie had disappeared in less than ten seconds.
Daniel was gone too.
Only Atlas remained.
The dog walked toward a wall.
He pawed at it.
Once.
Twice.
A hidden panel opened.
Behind it was a staircase.
Henri stared.
“She left us a path.”
They followed Atlas underground.
At the bottom was a room filled with old photographs.
One showed Émilie's biological mother.
Another showed Marianne.
Another showed a third woman.
Émilie stared.
She didn't recognize her.
Henri did.
“That's Claire.”
“The nurse?”
“Yes.”
Émilie's stomach dropped.
“The woman at the hospital?”
Henri nodded.
“She was involved from the beginning.”
Gabriel whispered:
“She knew exactly who you were.”
The evidence revealed a horrifying pattern.
Claire had worked in a children's hospital twenty years earlier.
She had processed identity transfers.
Medical records were changed.
Birth dates altered.
Names replaced.
Children disappeared into new families.
Émilie suddenly remembered something.
The first hospital she called.
The second.
The third.
The nurse who said:
I think we have someone like that.
It hadn't been a coincidence.
They had been waiting for her call.
Henri looked at her.
“You were supposed to find that hospital.”
“Why?”
“To activate the next part.”
“What part?”
Henri reached for a locked drawer.
Inside was another cassette.
This one labeled:
LUCIE.
He played it.
Lucie's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, they've already taken me.”
Émilie's heart broke.
“But you need to understand something. I am not your sister.”
A pause.
“I am your replacement.”
Émilie stared at the tape.
“My mother had one daughter.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
Lucie's recording continued.
“She created another identity because someone had to carry the information.”
Émilie whispered:
“What information?”
The recording answered:
“The location of The Garden.”
Henri's face went pale.
“It was never destroyed.”
“Where is it?”
“Under the city.”
Émilie stared.
Lucie's voice continued.
“And the person controlling it is not Daniel.”
A final pause.
Then:
“It is Marianne.”
Émilie froze.
“No.”
The room door opened.
Marianne stepped inside.
Alive.
Blood stained her coat.
But she was standing.
Holding a gun.
Henri moved toward her.
“Marianne.”
She raised the weapon.
“Stay back.”
Émilie stared at her.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You erased my life.”
“Yes.”
“You took me from my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marianne's eyes filled with tears.
“Because your mother asked me to.”
“She left you in charge.”
“She left me one choice.”
“What choice?”
“To make you hate me.”
Émilie shook her head.
“You could have told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Marianne lowered the gun.
“Because Daniel was watching.”
“Then who controls The Garden?”
Marianne looked at the ceiling.
“Someone you know.”
“Who?”
The answer was almost inaudible.
“Your boss.”
Émilie stopped.
Her office.
Her workplace.
Her manager.
The person who had hired her two years ago.
The person who always told her she was lucky to have the job.
He had been sending her to the exact streets she needed to walk.
The exact hospital.
The exact café.
Everything had been arranged.
Marianne whispered:
“You've been following his plan since the day you were hired.”
Émilie felt sick.
Then her phone vibrated.
A text message appeared.
YOUR MOTHER IS RIGHT.
Another message followed.
COME TO THE OLD STREET CORNER ALONE.
Then a final message.
A photograph of Lucie tied to a chair.
May you like
And beneath it:
BRING ATLAS.
