CHAPTER 10 The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The voice came again.
Faint.
Broken.
"...Help..."
Every person in the vault froze.
Emma's face had gone completely white.
"No..." she whispered. "I buried her."
Jonathan stared at her.
"What do you mean you buried her?"
Tears welled in Emma's eyes.
"I buried what I thought was her."
Silence.
Even the ancient ventilation fans seemed to stop humming.
The voice drifted through the air a third time.
"We're... down... here..."
Clara immediately looked toward the ceiling.
"It's coming through the ventilation shafts."
Harold nodded.
"The old tunnel network connects every level."
Jonathan grabbed the brass key labeled GRAVE 17.
"Then that's where we're going."
Leo frowned.
"Grave?"
Jonathan's expression darkened.
"The Sterling family cemetery."
Twenty minutes later, they climbed through another hidden passage that opened behind an abandoned stone mausoleum on the northern edge of the estate.
Night had begun giving way to dawn.
Smoke still curled from the ruins of Sterling Manor.
Firefighters continued pouring water over the collapsed west wing.
Television helicopters circled overhead.
Fortunately, the cemetery lay nearly half a mile away, hidden behind ancient oak trees.
No reporters had reached it.
Jonathan carefully pushed aside a loose stone slab.
Fresh air rushed into the tunnel.
"Stay low."
One by one, they emerged into the overgrown cemetery.
Rows of weathered headstones stretched across the hillside.
Generations of Sterlings rested there.
At least...
That was what everyone believed.
Emma scanned the graves frantically.
"I remember..."
"My mom brought me here once."
"She said never to come back."
Jonathan held up the brass key.
"Grave 17."
Harold counted the rows.
"Thirteen..."
"Fourteen..."
"Fifteen..."
Finally...
They stopped before a massive marble monument.
Its inscription read:
RICHARD STERLING
1929-2018
Beloved Husband. Visionary. Patriot.
Leo frowned.
"My grandfather isn't dead."
Jonathan stared at the stone.
"No..."
"He isn't."
Clara slowly looked at him.
"Then whose grave is this?"
Jonathan whispered,
"Exactly."
The brass key fit perfectly into a nearly invisible lock beneath the monument.
Click.
Ancient gears groaned.
The entire headstone slid sideways.
Beneath it...
A narrow staircase descended into darkness.
Leo swallowed hard.
"There's another bunker?"
Jonathan nodded.
"I've never seen this one."
The staircase ended at a reinforced steel door.
Unlike the others, it showed no signs of age.
Someone had been using it recently.
Very recently.
A keypad blinked green.
Unlocked.
Jonathan gently pushed the door open.
The smell hit them immediately.
Disinfectant.
Medicine.
Fresh coffee.
Someone was living there.
The underground room resembled a private medical clinic.
Hospital bed.
Heart monitors.
Medicine cabinets.
Security cameras.
A bookshelf.
Everything immaculate.
But empty.
The bed sheets were still warm.
Clara touched them.
"They just left."
On the bedside table sat a single framed photograph.
Arthur Sterling.
Holding baby Emma.
Beside him stood Evelyn.
They were laughing.
A real family.
Not hidden.
Not afraid.
Emma picked up the picture with shaking hands.
"My mom kept this..."
A cough echoed from another room.
Everyone spun around.
Jonathan raised his pistol.
The second room's door slowly creaked open.
An elderly woman stepped into the light.
Her hair was almost entirely white.
Her face was thin.
She leaned heavily on a cane.
But her eyes...
Emma burst into tears.
"Mom!"
The woman stared.
For a heartbeat, she seemed unable to believe what she was seeing.
Then the cane fell from her hand.
"Emma..."
Mother and daughter ran into each other's arms.
They held each other tightly, sobbing.
Clara felt tears prick her own eyes.
After three years apart...
Against all odds...
They had found each other.
Evelyn finally looked at Jonathan.
"I knew Arthur would send you."
Jonathan smiled sadly.
"He tried."
Evelyn's expression changed instantly.
Her smile disappeared.
"Arthur's dead."
Jonathan lowered his head.
"Yes."
She closed her eyes.
"I was hoping the rumors were wrong."
Leo stepped forward quietly.
"You knew my dad?"
Evelyn knelt despite the pain in her joints.
"I loved your father."
Leo blinked.
"As family."
She smiled gently.
"He saved my life more times than I can count."
Then she touched his cheek.
"You have his eyes."
Jonathan finally asked the question that had haunted him.
"Who kept you alive?"
Evelyn hesitated.
Then answered.
"Richard."
Everyone stared.
"What?"
"He kept me here."
"As a prisoner."
"He said I knew too much."
Jonathan frowned.
"Then why are you alive?"
Evelyn's expression turned grim.
"Because every few months..."
"He needed me to identify someone."
"Identify who?"
She looked directly at Leo.
"Children."
Silence.
Leo's blood ran cold.
"What children?"
Evelyn whispered,
"Children who looked like Arthur."
Clara felt sick.
"I don't understand."
Evelyn slowly sat down.
"There wasn't only one attempt to erase Arthur's bloodline."
"There were many."
Jonathan stiffened.
"You mean..."
She nodded.
"I watched them bring children here."
"Boys."
"Girls."
Some crying.
Some unconscious.
"They wanted to know..."
She looked at Leo.
"...whether any of them were Arthur's."
Emma grabbed her mother's hand.
"Why?"
Evelyn closed her eyes.
"Because Richard was terrified..."
"...that Arthur had another heir."
Jonathan slowly turned toward Emma.
Then toward Leo.
His face drained of color.
Arthur hadn't hidden one child.
He had hidden two.
Perhaps...
More.
Suddenly, every light inside the underground clinic went out.
Backup generators failed.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Then...
A calm voice echoed from hidden speakers.
"Congratulations."
Richard Sterling.
Live.
Not recorded.
"I see you've reunited the family."
Jonathan shouted,
"Where are you?"
A soft laugh answered.
"Close enough to hear your heartbeat."
Red emergency lights flickered on.
Security shutters slammed across every exit.
The clinic was sealed.
Richard spoke again.
"Evelyn..."
His tone was almost affectionate.
"You've outlived your usefulness."
Gas began hissing through the ceiling vents.
Colorless.
Odorless.
Evelyn's eyes widened in horror.
"No..."
Jonathan immediately recognized it.
"Everyone down!"
Clara pulled Leo and Emma to the floor.
Harold covered his mouth with his sleeve.
Jonathan fired three shots at the ventilation unit.
The metal shattered...
But the gas kept pouring in from dozens of hidden vents.
Richard's final words echoed through the clinic.
"This time..."
May you like
"...no one walks out."
END OF CHAPTER 10
