Chapter 4 - THE ROOM UNDER THE LAKE"Where?"
Grace pointed downward.
"Under us."
I stared at her.
"The lake."
She nodded.
"There's a room beneath the lake."
Evelyn looked at me.
"You never told her about it?"
"There is no room beneath the lake."
"There is."
Grace's expression remained fixed.
"I've heard water behind the walls."
I thought of the mansion's foundation.
The lake sat less than two hundred yards from the house.
When I bought the property, the architect told me the original owners had built an underground maintenance chamber beneath it.
I had never cared.
Until now.
Evelyn opened a panel behind a painting.
A steel staircase appeared.
I stared.
"How did you know that was there?"
"My wife showed me."
"When?"
"Six years ago."
She handed me a flashlight.
"Your wife knew you would never believe her."
We descended.
The staircase seemed endless.
At the bottom was a tunnel.
Cold water ran across the floor.
Grace walked behind us barefoot.
She didn't stumble once.
"Left," she said.
I stopped.
"How do you know?"
"I hear the pump."
We turned left.
The tunnel ended at a steel door.
On it was the Wolf emblem.
Evelyn inserted a key.
The lock opened.
Inside was a laboratory.
My stomach turned.
Machines.
Monitors.
Medical equipment.
Photographs.
And on one wall...
photographs of Grace.
Hundreds of them.
Sleeping.
Walking.
Eating.
Studying.
Playing piano.
Twelve years of my daughter's life.
Someone had been watching her.
I walked toward the photographs.
"How?"
Evelyn whispered:
"They've been inside your house for years."
I ripped a photograph from the wall.
It showed Grace when she was four.
She was smiling at the camera.
Behind her stood a shadow.
A man.
I looked closer.
The face was blurred.
But the suit was familiar.
Vincent's suit.
"No."
Evelyn didn't speak.
I turned toward her.
"Tell me the truth."
"I don't have all of it."
"You know enough."
She looked at Grace.
"Your daughter wasn't born into this."
I frowned.
"She was selected."
"Why her?"
"Because of Elena."
I shook my head.
"My wife was nobody."
"That's what you believed."
Evelyn opened a metal cabinet.
Inside was a file.
She handed it to me.
I read the first page.
ELENA CARUSO
FORMER WOLF ASSET
CLASSIFICATION: ARCHIVE ZERO
My hands trembled.
"Former asset?"
"Your wife wasn't innocent."
I looked at Grace.
"She was a spy?"
"She was the best one they ever had."
I sat down.
Everything I thought I knew about my marriage began falling apart.
My wife hadn't simply married me.
She had entered my organization.
She had studied me.
Then she had fallen in love with me.
At least, I hoped that part was real.
Evelyn pulled another file from the cabinet.
"This is why they want Grace."
I opened it.
Inside was a single sentence.
ARCHIVE ZERO CAN BE INHERITED.
"What does that mean?"
"It means Elena stored something inside Grace."
"What?"
"Information."
"What information?"
Evelyn's eyes hardened.
"Every name."
"Every name of what?"
"Every Wolf operative."
My blood went cold.
"You're telling me my daughter is a living database?"
"Not exactly."
"What, then?"
"She remembers voices."
Grace spoke quietly.
"Not just voices."
We both turned.
She touched the side of her head.
"Faces."
I stared at her.
"But you're blind."
Grace nodded.
"I don't see them with my eyes."
"What do you mean?"
"I see them here."
She touched her temple.
"Like dreams."
Evelyn looked stunned.
"Grace..."
"What?"
"When did you realize?"
"The first time Evelyn attacked me."
I frowned.
Grace continued.
"I knew where she was before she moved."
"How?"
"Because I could feel her intention."
Evelyn whispered:
"Echo perception."
I looked at her.
"What?"
"A rare training technique."
"You're saying Grace has been trained before."
"No."
Evelyn shook her head.
"She's been conditioned."
A sound echoed through the laboratory.
Footsteps.
We turned.
The lights came on.
Someone stood behind the glass.
Vincent.
He smiled.
"You finally found it."
I raised my gun.
"Let her go."
Vincent laughed.
"Michael, I don't think you understand."
He pressed a button.
A screen behind him lit up.
It showed my wife.
Elena.
Alive.
She sat in a chair.
Her face was bruised.
Vincent leaned toward the microphone.
"Your wife has been asking for you."
Elena lifted her head.
"Michael..."
I stepped toward the glass.
"Elena."
Vincent smiled.
"Now comes the interesting part."
He pressed another button.
A second screen appeared.
It showed Grace.
A medical scan.
Her brain.
Several bright regions were highlighted.
Vincent said:
"Your daughter isn't sick."
He smiled.
"She's a key."
Then the laboratory doors opened.
Dozens of armed men entered.
And Vincent gave me one final choice.
"Bring Grace to me..."
He pointed the gun at Elena.
"...or I shoot her."
Grace stepped forward.
"No."
Everyone stopped.
She lifted her chin.
"You won't shoot Mom."
Vincent smiled.
"Why?"
May you like
Grace whispered:
"Because Mom is the only person who knows how to turn me on."
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