Chapter 7 - THE EMPTY GRAVEWe escaped through an emergency corridor.
Thomas led us through a maintenance tunnel beneath the venue.
Nobody spoke for several minutes.
Sophie slept against my shoulder, exhausted from crying.
Amanda walked beside me.
Helen stayed behind us.
Thomas moved ahead.
Every few steps, I stared at his back.
I still couldn't accept it.
My father was alive.
And he had known about the conspiracy.
Maybe he'd been protecting me.
Maybe he'd been building it.
Maybe both.
Finally, I stopped.
“Show me proof.”
Thomas turned.
“Of what?”
“That you're my father.”
He sighed.
“I know where you were the night your mother died.”
I stared.
“You were nineteen.”
“You were in a motel outside Fairview.”
“I never told anyone that.”
“You called me.”
“You were dead by then.”
He nodded.
“I answered.”
The world went silent.
“You answered the phone?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you say anything?”
“Because the person standing beside me was holding a gun.”
I couldn't breathe.
Thomas continued.
“I heard your mother screaming.”
My hands curled into fists.
“What happened?”
“She found the accounts.”
“Whose accounts?”
“Your grandfather's.”
I frowned.
“My grandfather had died years before.”
Thomas nodded.
“He left behind something far more valuable than money.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Helen spoke from behind us.
“The ledger listed every person who had been paid.”
I looked at her.
“Paid for what?”
She looked at Thomas.
“Disappearances.”
The word hung there.
Thomas nodded.
“People who became inconvenient.”
I stared at my father.
“Who is on it?”
“Politicians. Executives. Lawyers. Judges.”
He looked at me.
“And your mother's name.”
My blood turned cold.
“She wasn't a victim.”
“She was investigating.”
“What did she find?”
Thomas hesitated.
“She found that the trust was financing a private network.”
“What kind?”
“Control.”
“Control over what?”
“People.”
I felt sick.
“That's impossible.”
“It sounds impossible because you were protected from it.”
He reached inside his coat.
And handed me a folded document.
“Read the last page.”
I opened it.
A list of payments.
At the bottom was a name.
AMANDA REED.
I looked at her.
She froze.
“What?”
“That’s your name.”
She came closer.
“That can't be.”
The date was six years ago.
Amanda was already an adult then.
“Why would your name be here?”
“I don't know.”
Thomas took the page.
“Because she wasn't recruited recently.”
Amanda looked at him.
“What are you saying?”
“You've been watched since childhood.”
She stumbled backward.
“No.”
“You weren't chosen because Daniel loved you.”
Her face went blank.
“You were chosen because of who your mother was.”
Amanda whispered, “My mother?”
Thomas nodded.
“Your mother was the accountant who disappeared after discovering the first transfers.”
Amanda covered her mouth.
“I thought she abandoned us.”
“She was murdered.”
Amanda looked like she had stopped breathing.
“By whom?”
Thomas looked at me.
“That part is on the ledger.”
Before I could ask, the phone vibrated.
A message.
COME TO THE OLD CHAPEL ALONE.
Then another.
BRING THE CHILD.
Then a third.
YOUR FATHER DOESN'T KNOW WHO HE'S REALLY WORKING FOR.
Thomas read the messages.
His expression changed.
“This is impossible.”
“What?”
“Only one person knew about the chapel.”
“Who?”
Thomas looked toward Helen.
Helen went pale.
“Myself.”
“No,” Thomas said.
“Then who sent it?”
Helen shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
The lights in the tunnel went out.
Sophie woke up crying.
Something moved behind us.
I turned.
A figure rushed forward.
I heard Amanda scream.
Then hands grabbed my daughter.
I caught her wrist.
For one terrible second, we pulled in opposite directions.
Then someone whispered into the darkness:
“Let go, Daniel.”
It was Amanda's voice.
But Amanda was standing beside me.
May you like
Which meant the person holding Sophie wasn't Amanda.
It was someone wearing her voice.
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