Chapter 5 - Locker 31The engine room was hotter than hell.
Metal pipes rattled above us.
The floor vibrated beneath our feet.
Daniel refused to let me go alone.
I refused to let him follow.
We compromised by both ignoring the compromise.
Locker 31 stood behind a row of electrical panels.
The key fit.
Inside was a box.
No documents.
No money.
Only a wedding ring.
I recognized it immediately.
Lauren's.
Beneath it was a photograph.
Lauren.
Standing beside Ethan.
But there was someone else in the picture.
A man in the shadows.
I stepped closer.
My heart stopped.
My father.
Older.
Alive.
On the back of the photograph were three words:
HE TRUSTS NO ONE.
Daniel opened another compartment.
A hard drive.
He connected it to a secure reader.
Folders appeared.
BLACKFALL.
SUBJECTS.
MARRIAGES.
DISPOSALS.
My stomach twisted.
“Don't open that.”
Daniel did anyway.
A video appeared.
Ethan was sitting at a table.
Across from him was an older man.
My father.
Alive.
Healthy.
And very angry.
“You promised me she'd never know.”
Ethan replied:
“She wasn't supposed to survive.”
My father's face hardened.
“She always survives.”
Ethan smiled.
“That's why I chose her.”
The video ended.
Daniel stared at me.
“What does that mean?”
I couldn't answer.
Another file opened automatically.
A list.
The women Ethan had married.
Next to each name was a status.
Lauren Hale: FAILED.
Sarah Mercer: FAILED.
Nadia Price: ACTIVE.
Emily Cross: PENDING.
My name.
PENDING.
Then another line appeared.
FINAL SUBJECT: ELENA VALE.
I froze.
That was my real name.
Not the name on my wedding certificate.
Not my current identity.
The name I'd used during Blackfall.
Daniel whispered:
“Who is Elena Vale?”
I looked at him.
“Me.”
The engine room doors slammed shut.
Daniel ran toward them.
Locked.
The ship suddenly tilted.
Alarms screamed.
A pipe ruptured.
Steam filled the room.
Then a speaker crackled overhead.
Ethan's voice.
“Hello, Elena.”
My blood ran cold.
“You've been very difficult.”
I screamed:
“Where are you?”
He laughed.
“Closer than you think.”
The lights flickered.
Something moved behind the steam.
A figure.
I raised a metal bar.
The figure stepped forward.
It was Lauren.
She looked terrified.
“Don't trust your father,” she said.
“What did he do?”
Lauren shook her head.
“He didn't start Blackfall.”
She glanced toward the cameras.
“He ended it.”
I stared.
“Then who started it?”
Lauren whispered:
“Your mother.”
The door suddenly opened.
A wave of seawater rushed into the engine room.
Daniel grabbed me.
We were pulled toward the flooded corridor.
May you like
And somewhere above us, Ethan shouted:
“Drown her before she remembers!”
