CHAPTER 12: THE COUNTDOWN
14:57...
The mechanical voice echoed through every corridor of the underground complex.
Red emergency lights flooded the walls.
A shrill alarm pulsed through the air.
Marcus reacted first.
"Bomb squad!"
One of the tactical officers checked his scanner.
His expression immediately darkened.
"No signal."
"What?"
"The scanner isn't detecting anything."
Arthur looked at the flashing countdown.
"So the system is lying?"
The officer swallowed.
"Or..."
"...the explosives aren't conventional."
The countdown continued.
14:39...
Arthur ignored the panic.
"Find Emily."
"Now."
The team split in different directions.
The underground facility was far larger than anyone expected.
Glass offices.
Conference rooms.
Dormitories.
Medical laboratories.
Server rooms.
Someone hadn't merely built a bunker.
They had built an entire headquarters.
Every room looked as if people had been working there until only minutes ago.
Coffee cups were still warm.
Computer monitors remained on.
Doors stood open.
Yet...
Not a single person remained.
It was as though the entire complex had vanished into thin air.
Marcus pushed open another steel door.
Inside...
A wall covered with photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Arthur.
Claire.
Emily.
Alexander.
Victoria.
Every employee of the Carter estate.
Each photograph included handwritten notes.
Schedules.
Habits.
Weaknesses.
Years of surveillance.
Arthur's picture had one sentence beneath it.
Will choose family over power. Predictable.
Victoria's contained another.
Fear can be weaponized.
Marcus kept reading.
Then he froze.
"Sir..."
Arthur walked over.
Marcus pointed toward a photograph of himself.
Underneath it were only three words.
Not originally planned.
Marcus frowned.
"What does that mean?"
No one answered.
Meanwhile...
Emily sat quietly inside a bright room.
She colored a picture with blue crayons.
The mysterious woman with the scar watched from across the table.
Emily looked up.
"Is Daddy close?"
The woman smiled.
"Very."
Emily held up her drawing.
It showed four stick figures holding hands.
Daddy.
Mommy.
Emily.
And Grandpa.
The woman stared at it for several seconds.
Then she gently crossed out one figure.
Emily frowned.
"Why did you do that?"
The woman's eyes filled with sadness.
"Because one of them doesn't belong."
Before Emily could ask who...
The room lights turned red.
The alarm echoed overhead.
The woman stood instantly.
"They started the countdown."
Emily looked frightened.
"Are we going to die?"
The woman knelt beside her.
"No."
"Not if we move now."
She grabbed Emily's hand.
For the first time...
She unlocked the room's only door.
Back in the central corridor...
Arthur found another message waiting on a computer monitor.
It activated automatically as he approached.
The masked man appeared again.
"Arthur."
"I've been unfair."
"You deserve one clue."
The man placed three old photographs onto the desk before him.
One showed Claire.
One showed Alexander.
One showed Victoria.
Then he lit a match.
One photograph burned completely.
One remained untouched.
The third only burned halfway.
Arthur stared.
"What does this mean?"
The masked man smiled.
"One betrayed you."
"One protected you."
"One did both."
The screen went black.
Marcus exhaled.
"That's not a clue."
Arthur disagreed.
"It is."
Marcus looked confused.
Arthur pointed toward the ashes left on the desk in the video.
"The photograph that burned..."
"...was Claire's."
Victoria gasped.
Arthur continued thinking aloud.
"If Claire was completely erased..."
"Then someone wanted everyone to believe she was dead."
Marcus nodded slowly.
"And the untouched photo?"
"Alexander."
"So he was never the real target."
Arthur looked at Victoria.
"Which leaves only one possibility."
Victoria lowered her eyes.
"You think I betrayed you."
Arthur answered quietly.
"I think you betrayed everyone."
She didn't deny it.
Suddenly...
A young officer shouted from down the hall.
"We found a child!"
Arthur ran.
His heart pounded.
At the end of the corridor...
A little girl stood alone.
Pink dress.
Bare feet.
Stuffed rabbit.
"Emily!"
Arthur rushed toward her.
The child smiled.
"Daddy!"
She ran into his arms.
Arthur held her tightly.
For several seconds he couldn't speak.
Emily buried her face against his shoulder.
"I knew you'd come."
Arthur closed his eyes.
"I'll never leave you again."
Marcus smiled for the first time that night.
Then...
Emily whispered something into Arthur's ear.
Her tiny voice shook.
"Daddy..."
Arthur pulled back.
"What is it?"
Emily looked over his shoulder.
At Victoria.
Then she whispered six words.
"That's not the lady from the bathtub."
Arthur felt the blood drain from his face.
He slowly turned toward Victoria.
She looked just as confused as everyone else.
Emily pointed with her tiny finger.
"The bad lady..."
"...looked exactly like her."
"...but she wasn't her."
Silence crashed over the corridor.
Marcus frowned.
"A double?"
Arthur's mind raced.
The blonde hair.
The silk pajamas.
The blurred security footage.
The hidden tunnels.
The manipulated videos.
Every piece suddenly shifted.
If Emily was telling the truth...
Then the woman who tried to drown her...
Had been impersonating Victoria.
Before anyone could process the revelation...
A single gunshot echoed through the underground complex.
Victoria staggered.
A dark red stain spread across her chest.
She looked down in disbelief.
Then collapsed to the floor.
From somewhere in the shadows...
May you like
A calm male voice echoed.
"Now she can't tell you who the real Victoria has been hiding from."
