Chapter 14 - THE MOTHER THEY BURIEDThe child was gone when the lights returned.
Lisa searched every corridor.
Nothing.
No footprints.
No cameras.
No evidence.
It was as though the girl had never existed.
Until Sarah found the elevator footage.
There was no girl.
Lisa was alone.
"What is happening to me?"
Daniel entered.
He saw the footage.
His expression changed.
"You saw her."
Lisa nodded.
"Who is she?"
Daniel looked away.
"I thought she was dead."
"Everybody keeps saying that."
He sat down.
"Lisa, our mother didn't die when you were six."
Lisa stared.
"What?"
"Our parents separated."
"No."
"She was taken."
"By Evelyn?"
Daniel nodded.
Lisa felt the world tilt.
"Why?"
"Because our mother was the original architect of the biological protocol."
Lisa whispered:
"Not Dad."
Daniel shook his head.
"Mom."
Lisa remembered the old family photographs.
Her mother's hands.
Her voice.
The scar on her neck.
The strange medical trips she used to take.
Everything she had dismissed as childhood memory.
Suddenly it fit.
"Where is she?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Helena found her."
"And?"
"She died."
Lisa stared.
"You just said she was alive."
"I said I thought she was alive."
He pulled out an old document.
A death certificate.
Then another.
Then another.
All with different names.
Different dates.
Different causes.
Lisa looked at the stack.
"How many?"
"Seven."
"Seven death records."
"She was trying to disappear."
"From whom?"
"Evelyn."
Lisa sat down.
"Then who was the woman in the office?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I don't know."
Sarah entered carrying a server drive.
"Maybe I do."
She opened it.
The file contained a video from decades earlier.
A woman sat in a laboratory.
Lisa recognized her immediately.
Her mother.
Young.
Alive.
Beside her was Margaret.
And Evelyn.
Three women.
The original founders.
Lisa watched in silence.
Her mother was saying:
"If the system ever chooses a biological successor, we must allow that successor to reject us."
Evelyn laughed.
"Children don't reject power."
Margaret shook her head.
"This is not power."
Her mother looked directly into the camera.
"It's freedom."
The recording ended.
Lisa wiped her eyes.
"She knew."
Daniel nodded.
"She designed a way for you to destroy The Arch."
Lisa turned.
"But I didn't destroy it."
"No."
Daniel looked at the server drive.
"You chose not to."
Lisa frowned.
"Why?"
"Because the system wasn't the real threat."
He opened another file.
A photograph appeared.
A woman sitting behind Lisa's desk.
Not Margaret.
Not Helena.
Not Evelyn.
Someone else.
Lisa leaned closer.
The woman looked exactly like Lisa's mother.
Same face.
Same scar.
Same eyes.
Lisa whispered:
"That's my mother."
Daniel went pale.
"I thought she was dead."
The room became silent.
A new message appeared.
SHE ISN'T.
Then another.
COME HOME, LISA.
Lisa looked toward the window.
A black car was parked outside.
Someone was sitting inside.
Watching.
Ryan entered.
He looked at Lisa.
"I know where she's going."
"Where?"
He handed Lisa a piece of paper.
An old military facility.
Coordinates.
Then he said:
"The first place The Arch ever existed."
Lisa folded the paper.
"Who's coming with me?"
Ryan looked at Daniel.
Then Sarah.
"We all are."
A gunshot exploded through the window.
Ryan tackled Lisa to the floor.
The glass shattered.
When they looked up, the black car outside was already gone.
But on Lisa's desk was a single object.
May you like
The ceremonial baton.
Covered in fresh blood.
