Chapter 9 - THE SECOND BETRAYALSarah was alive.
I knew because the video had ended with her voice.
But I had no idea whose side she was on.
Ethan stared at the dead screen.
“She's been playing them.”
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Then why do you sound like you expected it?”
“Because Sarah isn't who you think she is either.”
I was exhausted from discovering a new truth every ten minutes.
“What now?”
David answered.
“We leave.”
“How?”
“There is an underground train.”
“Of course there is.”
David gave me a grim smile.
“Welcome to the Mercer family.”
We moved through another corridor.
Lily stayed between me and Noah.
She had started asking questions.
“Why was my memory changed?”
Noah answered.
“Because memories make people dangerous.”
“Are mine dangerous?”
He looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you remember what happened to everyone.”
Lily stopped walking.
“I remember Mommy crying.”
Sarah.
“When?”
“Before I was born.”
Noah's face went pale.
“What else?”
Lily closed her eyes.
“You were there too.”
“Me?”
“You were bleeding.”
Noah looked at me.
“What happened?”
Lily whispered:
“Grandpa shot you.”
David stopped.
“So that's how you survived.”
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
David nodded.
“You were supposed to die that night.”
“Why didn't I?”
“Because someone changed the procedure.”
“Who?”
David looked at Ethan.
Ethan said nothing.
Then Lily spoke.
“Mommy.”
Sarah had changed the procedure.
I turned toward the others.
“What did she do?”
David answered.
“She transferred the memory into Lily.”
My stomach turned.
“That would be impossible.”
“Not anymore.”
A distant metallic clang echoed through the tunnel.
Someone was approaching.
We hid.
Three armed men passed.
One spoke.
“Victoria wants the girl alive.”
Another answered.
“Mercer is expendable.”
They kept walking.
I waited until they disappeared.
Then whispered:
“Victoria knows about us.”
David nodded.
“She always has.”
We reached the underground train.
A small carriage sat waiting.
We boarded.
The doors closed.
The train began moving.
For the first time all day, there was silence.
Then Lily grabbed my hand.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“There's something I forgot.”
My heart tightened.
“What?”
She pointed to the train window.
“We're going to the wrong place.”
David looked at the controls.
“What?”
Lily stood.
“That's not where the secret place is.”
“Then where?”
She looked directly at me.
“Under our house.”
I felt my blood run cold.
“What?”
“The room under the kitchen.”
We stared at one another.
Then David suddenly looked terrified.
“Daniel…”
“What?”
“There shouldn't be a room under your kitchen.”
The train stopped.
The doors opened.
We were back in Greenwich.
At my house.
Someone had been waiting for us.
The woman standing in the kitchen looked exactly like Sarah.
May you like
Except she was holding a newborn baby.
And she had no idea who I was.
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