Chapter 6 - The Sister Who Called Me Brother“Damon.”
Claire's voice echoed through the warehouse.
Calm.
Almost playful.
Almost familiar.
I stared at the ceiling.
“Where are you?”
A camera rotated above the loading door.
Her face appeared on a monitor.
She looked older than the photograph.
There was a scar above her eyebrow.
But she had my eyes.
“You've been looking for me for years,” she said.
“I didn't know I had a sister.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
Mara stepped forward.
“Claire, listen to me.”
Claire's expression hardened.
“You don't get to use my name like you didn't leave me.”
Mara froze.
“I never left you.”
“You gave me to them.”
“No.”
“You did.”
I looked at Mara.
“Who had her?”
She looked destroyed.
“The Rennicks.”
Claire laughed.
“That's what she told you?”
I felt something cold crawl under my skin.
“Claire, what do you want?”
“You.”
“Why?”
“Because you have something my father never gave me.”
“What's that?”
“A choice.”
The screen went black.
A second later, the side door exploded inward.
Men rushed through.
Petr fired.
Elias tackled Ellie behind the table.
I moved toward the control panel.
Gunfire ripped through the warehouse.
Mara screamed my name.
I shot one attacker.
Then another.
A third came from behind.
Elias slammed him into a steel beam.
I reached the security terminal.
A live feed opened.
The image showed St. Agnes Church.
Claire was standing inside.
Beside her was Charles Rennick.
And between them stood a man in a wheelchair.
Victor Vale.
My father.
I stared.
The monitor shifted.
Victor slowly stood.
He was walking.
Not only walking.
He was holding a gun.
For thirteen years, I had visited that man every Sunday.
I had held his hand.
I had watched nurses feed him.
I had listened to him struggle to say my name.
All of it had been a performance.
The monitor displayed a message.
COME TO ST. AGNES.
Then:
BRING ELLIE.
Then:
OR YOUR FATHER DIES.
I looked at Ellie.
She had heard everything.
She wasn't crying.
She was holding one brass button.
“Mommy said this would happen.”
I crouched.
“What happens next?”
She turned the button over.
A tiny symbol had been carved into the back.
A circle.
Then two lines.
“Mommy said never trust the man in the chair.”
I looked back at the screen.
Victor had disappeared.
Charles remained.
Claire stared directly into the camera.
“You have twenty minutes.”
The screen went black.
Petr reloaded.
“We don't go.”
I looked at him.
“We do.”
“That could be a trap.”
“It is.”
Mara shook her head.
“Damon, you don't understand what St. Agnes is.”
“Then explain.”
She stared at Ellie.
“It's where Victor began everything.”
We left the warehouse.
The drive took fourteen minutes.
No traffic.
No police.
No sirens.
Too quiet.
At 19 minutes, we reached St. Agnes.
The church stood abandoned behind a rusted iron fence.
The doors were open.
That was the first problem.
The second was the blood on the steps.
Fresh.
I entered with my gun raised.
The sanctuary was empty.
Rows of broken pews.
Burned walls.
Ash beneath the windows.
A single candle burning at the altar.
And sitting in the front pew was Victor.
My father smiled.
“Son.”
I stared at him.
“You lied to me for thirteen years.”
He looked at Mara.
“You're still alive.”
Mara said nothing.
I aimed at him.
“Where is Claire?”
Victor smiled again.
“She is what your brother should have become.”
“What does that mean?”
He looked at Elias.
Then Ellie.
Then me.
“You still don't understand.”
“Understand what?”
Victor leaned forward.
“The child you're protecting isn't your daughter.”
I glanced at Ellie.
Victor smiled.
“She is Claire's daughter.”
Mara inhaled sharply.
Ellie looked at me.
Then she whispered:
“Mommy never told me.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
“And now you must decide which family member to save.”
Behind me, church doors slammed shut.
Then every light in the building came on.
Dozens of armed men stepped from the shadows.
May you like
And Claire's voice came through the speakers.
“Welcome home, brother.”
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