Chapter 7 - We escaped through the bathroom window.The stranger never tried to stop us.
That bothered me more than if he had chased us.
Because it meant the threat hadn't been about capturing us.
It had been about reminding us that we were being watched.
By sunrise, we were hiding in a motel twenty miles away.
Tyler spread the map across the bed.
"What does the key open?"
"Maybe a safety deposit box."
"Where?"
I pointed at the number.
Tyler shook his head.
"No."
"What?"
"Northstar never used ordinary bank boxes."
"Then what?"
He pointed to the cemetery circled on the map.
"Look at the coordinates."
Caleb checked them on his phone.
"They lead to a mausoleum."
We drove there that afternoon.
The cemetery was almost empty.
At the back stood an old stone building.
The name above the entrance was faded.
Inside were dozens of small vaults.
Rows and rows.
Each one numbered.
317 was near the bottom.
I inserted the black key.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Inside was a small recorder.
A passport.
A stack of documents.
And a photograph.
I picked up the passport.
My name was inside.
But the birth date was wrong.
The photograph showed me as a child.
Beside me stood a woman.
My mother.
And beside her...
Caleb's father.
On the back someone had written:
THE TWO CHILDREN WERE NEVER MEANT TO MEET.
"The two children?"
I looked at Caleb.
His face had gone white.
"What?" I asked.
He stared at the photograph.
"That's not your mother."
"What?"
"That's my father's assistant."
I looked closer.
He was right.
The woman beside me wasn't my mother.
It was another woman.
But then...
Where was my mother?
Tyler found a second photo.
Two children stood together.
A little boy.
A little girl.
The boy was Caleb.
The girl was me.
I shook my head.
"This is impossible."
Caleb took the photograph.
"I remember this."
My heart stopped.
"What do you remember?"
"A house."
"Whose house?"
"I don't know."
"A woman singing."
He closed his eyes.
"Then everything gets dark."
I stared at him.
"You knew me before?"
"I didn't know it was you."
The recorder suddenly clicked.
We all jumped.
A man's voice played.
Caleb's father's voice.
"My son will eventually meet the girl."
Static.
"If Northstar survives, they will try to use both of them."
Static.
"The girl carries the key."
Then silence.
Then one final sentence.
"Caleb cannot know what happened to his brother."
Tyler stepped backward.
"Brother?"
Caleb opened his eyes.
"Stop the recording."
But it kept playing.
"Your second son was taken at birth."
Caleb stared at the recorder.
"My mother told me I was an only child."
The voice continued.
"They will tell you the child died."
Tyler whispered:
"Who was the brother?"
The recorder clicked one final time.
And a name was spoken.
Tyler.
No one moved.
Tyler's face collapsed.
Caleb looked at him.
"My brother?"
Tyler started crying.
"I didn't know."
But before we could react, the cemetery gates slammed shut.
A black SUV rolled toward us.
Then another.
Tyler grabbed the documents.
"We have to run."
Caleb stared at him.
"You've been my brother this entire time."
Tyler looked at him.
"No."
He wiped his face.
"They've been lying to both of us."
Then the first SUV stopped.
May you like
Its doors opened.
And the man who stepped out was wearing a police uniform.
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