Chapter 16 - THE LISTSarah photographed the screens.
Daniel started recording.
Marcus stepped back.
“These people control half the state.”
“No,” Sarah said.
“They control everything.”
Noah looked at Leo.
“And they want you erased.”
“Why?”
“Because you remember the ledger.”
“The ledger?”
Noah nodded.
“The book that proves where every child went.”
Leo remembered something.
A drawer.
A black notebook.
His mother's hands.
She had whispered:
“Never let them find this.”
Leo looked at Marcus.
“Where is it?”
Marcus said nothing.
Leo stepped closer.
“Where is the ledger?”
Marcus's face collapsed.
“I burned it.”
Noah laughed.
“No, you didn't.”
Marcus looked at him.
“You were there.”
“You hid it.”
“Where?”
Noah smiled.
“Under the house.”
Leo's heart stopped.
“The basement.”
Noah nodded.
“The word you wrote on the window wasn't a warning.”
Leo frowned.
“What was it?”
“An instruction.”
Sarah looked at Leo.
“He didn't know why he wrote it.”
Noah nodded.
“He did.”
Leo's memory returned.
A woman kneeling beside him.
A book beneath the floor.
Her voice:
“When you are afraid, find the basement.”
Leo whispered:
“Mom.”
Noah nodded.
“She put the memory trigger in you.”
Sarah asked:
“What trigger?”
Noah looked at Leo.
“Three knocks.”
Leo froze.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The sound came from behind them.
Everyone turned.
A hidden panel opened.
Inside was a black ledger.
Sarah grabbed it.
She opened the first page.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Destinations.
Every page contained proof.
Daniel whispered:
“This could destroy them.”
A bullet shattered the ledger.
Sarah dropped.
Leo screamed.
“No!”
Marcus fired toward the window.
The sniper moved.
Then another bullet struck.
Daniel fell.
Noah dragged Leo behind the wall.
Mia pulled Sarah's arm.
“She's bleeding!”
Lucy suddenly appeared from the stairwell.
Leo stared.
“Lucy!”
She ran toward him.
“I got away.”
“How?”
She pointed behind her.
Noah's face changed.
“They're here.”
The basement door opened.
Dr. Hale stepped inside.
But he was not alone.
Behind him stood Elena.
Leo's mother.
Alive.
She looked at Noah.
Then at Leo.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I'm sorry.”
Leo ran toward her.
She caught him.
For one second, everything else disappeared.
Then she whispered into his ear:
“Don't trust Noah.”
Leo looked over her shoulder.
Noah had gone pale.
Elena continued:
“He's the reason your father died.”
Leo stepped backward.
Noah stared at Elena.
“You know that's a lie.”
Elena raised her gun.
“So does everyone.”
May you like
She pointed it at Noah.
Then the room went dark.
