Chapter 14 - The Last Execution OrderSarah stared down the barrel.
Cutter's hand did not shake.
“Why?”
Cutter looked tired.
“Because she knew what you would become.”
Hank stepped forward.
“Dale.”
“Stay back.”
Hank stopped.
Sarah looked at Cutter.
“What did my grandmother know?”
“That every archive needs a keeper.”
He lowered the gun slightly.
“And every keeper eventually becomes the thing she is protecting.”
Sarah shook her head.
“I don't want any of this.”
“That doesn't matter.”
Cutter's voice hardened.
“The Directorate has existed for generations because people like your grandmother convinced themselves they were saving the world.”
He gestured toward the files.
“Everyone starts with good intentions.”
“Then they justify one crime.”
“Then another.”
“Eventually they're standing over bodies and calling it necessary.”
Sarah looked at Vale.
“Like him.”
Cutter nodded.
“Like me.”
Silence.
Sarah studied him.
“You helped my father.”
“Yes.”
“You helped Hank.”
“Yes.”
“You protected me.”
“Yes.”
“And now you want to kill me.”
Cutter closed his eyes.
“Your grandmother ordered me to.”
“When?”
“The night you escaped.”
Sarah's face changed.
“Twenty-four years ago?”
“Yes.”
“You were supposed to kill me.”
“Yes.”
“But you didn't.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
Cutter looked at her.
“Because Frank handed you to me.”
Sarah stopped breathing.
“He said you were his daughter.”
“He told me to save you.”
Cutter swallowed.
“That was the first order I disobeyed.”
Sarah's eyes burned.
“You've been protecting me ever since.”
“Yes.”
“And Vale?”
“I protected him too.”
“Why?”
“Because he was the only man who knew where the Directorate's money was hidden.”
Sarah looked at Vale.
“And he protected you.”
Cutter nodded.
They had been bound together by secrets.
Not loyalty.
Not friendship.
Survival.
Then footsteps sounded behind Sarah.
Frank.
But his eyes were wrong again.
Unit Three.
He raised a gun.
Sarah turned.
He fired.
Cutter stepped in front of her.
The bullet struck Cutter.
He fell.
Sarah screamed.
Hank fired at Frank.
Frank ducked behind the stairs.
Sarah grabbed Cutter.
Blood stained her hands.
He whispered:
“Don't mourn me.”
“Stay alive.”
“Listen.”
Sarah leaned closer.
“Your grandmother's final archive isn't in your memories.”
Sarah frowned.
“Then where?”
Cutter smiled faintly.
“Your father knows.”
Sarah looked at Frank.
“Dad?”
Unit Three stared at her.
For one second, Frank returned.
“Sarah…”
Then Unit Three vanished.
Frank collapsed.
Sarah ran toward him.
“Dad!”
He looked at her.
His real eyes returned.
“I have to tell you.”
“What?”
“The third archive.”
Sarah froze.
“You said there were two.”
“I was wrong.”
“What is it?”
Frank grabbed her hand.
“The third archive is a person.”
“Who?”
He looked toward the basement entrance.
A woman stood there.
Old.
Elegant.
Alive.
Sarah stared.
The woman smiled.
She looked exactly like the photograph of Margaret Mitchell.
But older.
Much older.
Sarah whispered:
“Grandma?”
The woman smiled.
“Hello, Anna.”
Sarah's blood went cold.
Margaret stepped into the light.
“You've finally remembered your real name.”
Sarah couldn't speak.
Margaret looked at Frank.
“You failed.”
Then at Elizabeth.
“You betrayed me.”
Then at Hank.
“You survived.”
Then at Sarah.
“And now…”
She smiled.
May you like
“…you belong to me.”
THE SECOND ARCHIVE
