Chapter 12 - St. AgnesSt. Agnes Hospital had been abandoned for fourteen years.
Broken windows.
Rusting doors.
Moss growing through the pavement.
We entered through the basement.
Dad found a hidden elevator.
No buttons.
He pressed his thumb against the panel.
The elevator opened.
We descended.
Far below ground.
The doors opened onto a sterile corridor.
Unlike the abandoned hospital above, this place was immaculate.
White walls.
Cameras.
Electronic locks.
Maya whispered:
"Welcome to Halcyon."
We moved room by room.
Files were everywhere.
Names.
Faces.
Dates.
People listed as deceased.
People who were actually alive.
I saw children.
Families.
Doctors.
Politicians.
Witnesses.
Then I saw a photograph of Maya.
Under it:
STATUS: TERMINATED.
She stared at it.
"They wanted the world to believe I died."
Jake touched her shoulder.
"They failed."
We reached a central control room.
A massive wall displayed hundreds of screens.
One screen showed my mother.
She sat alone in a white room.
Alive.
My heart stopped.
"Mom."
Dad moved toward the console.
Maya began typing.
Jake checked the hallway.
I watched Mom.
She lifted her head.
As if she could feel me.
Her lips moved.
"Evan."
Then every screen changed.
Dr. Vale appeared.
"You always were predictable."
Dad turned.
"Where is she?"
Vale smiled.
"Right where she belongs."
"You won't touch him."
"Evan is the reason you brought me here."
I stepped forward.
"Why me?"
Vale looked directly at the camera.
"Because your mother never told you what you were trained to remember."
I felt sick.
"Tell me."
"Your visual memory contains the location of every safe house Halcyon used."
I shook my head.
"That's impossible."
"It was encoded into your memory when you were thirteen."
Dad looked horrified.
"They didn't know."
Vale smiled.
"They knew everything."
Maya stopped typing.
"We have access."
"Can you unlock the cell?"
"Not yet."
A siren began.
Security doors started closing.
Jake ran to the control panel.
"We have thirty seconds."
Dad shouted:
"Override the doors!"
"I need the code!"
I looked at the screens.
Faces.
Hundreds.
Then I saw something.
A woman's scar.
A man's nose.
A crooked smile.
Patterns.
I understood.
The access code wasn't numbers.
It was faces.
I pointed.
"Those six."
Maya entered the sequence.
The lock opened.
Mom's door appeared on-screen.
I ran.
The corridor shook with alarms.
I reached the room.
The door opened.
My mother stood inside.
Older.
Thinner.
But alive.
She looked at me.
For ten years I had imagined what I would say.
Nothing came.
She crossed the room.
She touched my face.
"My baby."
I broke.
She hugged me.
Behind us, Dad stopped.
Mom looked past me at him.
"Richard."
His eyes filled with tears.
She said quietly:
"You came too late."
May you like
Then a gunshot sounded behind her.
Mom collapsed in my arms.
