Chapter 13 - Caleb looked at me."I didn't do it."
Agent Bennett raised a hand.
"Don't speak."
She studied the room.
"Who has had access to the house?"
"All of us," I said.
"Anyone else?"
I thought about the cameras.
The stolen drive.
The night someone wore my coat.
Then I remembered something.
The camera backup.
It wasn't stored at home.
It automatically uploaded to the cloud.
I opened the account.
The footage had been tampered with.
Except one file.
A timestamp from three days ago.
I played it.
The footage showed someone entering the house at 3:11 a.m.
A hood.
Gloves.
Then the figure turned.
The face appeared for one second.
Caleb.
Everyone stared.
Caleb stepped backward.
"That's not me."
Agent Bennett's expression sharpened.
"Then who is it?"
I looked at the footage again.
The figure walked to the basement.
Opened the red door.
And placed something behind the wall.
Then he left.
We searched the wall.
Behind a loose brick was a small envelope.
Inside was a digital access card.
The authentication token Agent Bennett had mentioned.
But Caleb's fingerprints were on it.
He looked horrified.
"I've never seen that."
Agent Bennett frowned.
"Then someone has been impersonating you."
Tyler whispered:
"Vale."
"No," Agent Bennett said.
She looked at the data.
"Vale doesn't have the technical ability."
"Then who?"
She turned to me.
"Someone close to you."
The room went silent.
I looked at my mother.
Marlene.
Tyler.
Caleb.
No one spoke.
Then Agent Bennett's phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression darkened.
"Understood."
She hung up.
"What happened?" Caleb asked.
"The ledger leak was intercepted."
"By who?"
Agent Bennett looked at me.
"The person who stole the flash drive."
I remembered the night the camera was ripped down.
The figure in my coat.
The unknown messages.
Then my phone buzzed.
Another message.
A photo.
Marlene.
Tied to a chair.
Underneath it:
ONE HOUR. COME ALONE.
I stood.
"No."
Caleb grabbed my wrist.
"You're not going."
"She's my mother."
"My mother too."
Agent Bennett stepped between us.
"This is exactly what they want."
Tyler looked at the phone.
"They know where she is."
Agent Bennett asked:
"Where?"
Tyler stared at the image.
"I've seen that room."
"Where?"
"Northstar headquarters."
Agent Bennett's face changed.
"We've searched every known location."
Tyler pointed at the background.
"You're looking at the wrong building."
He zoomed in.
A symbol appeared on the wall.
A black compass.
"The building is underneath the old train station."
Agent Bennett frowned.
"There hasn't been a functioning station there for decades."
Tyler smiled bitterly.
"That's why nobody looks."
We drove there under cover of darkness.
The old station was abandoned.
Graffiti covered the walls.
Broken windows.
Collapsed signs.
Then we found the entrance.
Hidden beneath the platform.
A steel door.
The black compass symbol was carved into it.
My pendant began to heat against my skin.
I touched it.
The door unlocked.
Inside was a corridor.
Screens covered the walls.
Every screen showed people.
Politicians.
Police officers.
Judges.
Businessmen.
And our family.
Then one screen showed Caleb.
It displayed a file.
SUBJECT: HEIR
Another screen showed Tyler.
SUBJECT: SUBSTITUTE
Then mine.
SUBJECT: KEY
A final monitor turned on.
Vale appeared.
He looked directly into the camera.
"Welcome home."
Then the screen switched.
It showed Marlene.
And behind her stood a person we had never suspected.
My husband, Caleb.
But there was another Caleb beside him.
Identical.
May you like
Vale smiled.
"Now you understand."
