Chapter 12 - THE LAST MEMORYLeo could barely breathe.
Sarah knelt beside him.
“Don't listen to that.”
“What if it's true?”
“It isn't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know your mother.”
Leo stared.
“You've met her.”
Sarah looked away.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before you were born.”
Leo felt dizzy.
“Then tell me.”
Sarah hesitated.
“She asked me to keep you hidden.”
“From whom?”
“From the organization.”
“Why me?”
Sarah took a breath.
“Because you were the only child who remembered.”
“Remembered what?”
“Everything.”
Leo shook his head.
“I don't.”
Sarah touched his shoulder.
“You will.”
A scream came from outside.
Daniel looked through the window.
Marcus was running toward the church.
Behind him were three vehicles.
“They're coming.”
Sarah grabbed the children.
“We need to move.”
They escaped through a side passage and reached an abandoned farmhouse.
Marcus arrived minutes later.
He was bleeding from the stomach.
Leo ran toward him.
“Where's Mom?”
Marcus collapsed against the wall.
“She left a message.”
“For me?”
He nodded.
He pulled a small cassette from his pocket.
Sarah found an old tape player.
Leo pressed play.
Static.
Then his mother's voice.
“Leo.”
The boy froze.
“I don't know how old you are when you hear this.”
A pause.
“But if you've found Lucy, then it means they failed.”
Leo covered his mouth.
His mother continued.
“I need you to know something.”
A long breath.
“You were never their experiment.”
Sarah looked at Marcus.
“You were the reason I joined Blackridge.”
Leo's eyes widened.
“To stop them.”
The recording continued.
“Your memories were not erased because they feared what you'd remember.”
A crackle.
“They erased them because they feared what you could prove.”
Leo whispered:
“What can I prove?”
His mother answered:
“Who ordered the children taken.”
Leo leaned closer.
“Who?”
The tape hissed.
Then her voice became barely audible.
“It was someone inside your own family.”
The tape stopped.
Everyone stared at Marcus.
He looked at Leo.
“It's not me.”
Leo asked:
“Who is it?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Then a second voice played.
A man's voice.
Older.
Calm.
Familiar.
Leo recognized it immediately.
His grandfather.
The tape ended.
Mia gasped.
“He did it.”
Sarah shook her head.
“Your grandfather has been dead for six years.”
Leo stared at the tape.
Then looked at Marcus.
“Then who was speaking?”
Marcus didn't answer.
A phone rang.
Sarah answered.
A man's voice said:
“You're holding the tape.”
Sarah froze.
“Who is this?”
The voice laughed.
“You're very close.”
“Where are you?”
“At your front door.”
Sarah's face drained of color.
Leo looked toward the farmhouse entrance.
A shadow passed beneath the door.
Then someone knocked.
Three times.
Tap.
May you like
Tap.
Tap.
