Chapter 9 - The Woman Who Sold the ChildThey reached the old Mercer property just before midnight.
The building had been abandoned for years.
The red door remained.
Claire stood before it, staring at the chipped paint.
Lily was in the armored vehicle outside with Gabriel's security team.
Gabriel refused to bring her inside.
Claire held the silver key.
Her hand shook.
“You stay behind me,” Gabriel said.
Claire looked at him.
“No.”
“Claire.”
“She remembered this place before I did.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“You believe she was here?”
“I know I was.”
He said nothing.
Claire inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Inside was a narrow hallway.
Dust.
Rot.
Old wallpaper.
Then Claire saw the room.
A child's chair.
A music box.
A faded pink blanket.
And photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Children.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Claire covered her mouth.
Gabriel walked toward a desk.
On it lay one folder.
PROJECT SPARROW.
He opened it.
The first page contained Lily's name.
The second contained Elena's.
The third contained Gabriel's.
The fourth stopped both of them cold.
Claire Donnelly.
Gabriel turned toward her.
“Why are you in this file?”
Claire couldn't answer.
The page described her mother as an operative.
A recruiter.
A handler.
Someone who had once moved children for money.
Claire shook her head.
“My mother would never.”
Footsteps echoed behind them.
Evelyn entered.
Alone.
She looked exhausted.
No pearls this time.
Only tears.
“I never wanted Lily to die,” she said.
Gabriel raised his gun.
“You sold her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena ordered me to.”
Claire stared.
“That’s a lie.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Elena discovered that your father wanted Lily dead.”
Gabriel froze.
“Why?”
“Because Lily was not his granddaughter.”
Silence.
Claire looked at Gabriel.
Evelyn continued.
“Elena had discovered the truth.”
Gabriel whispered:
“What truth?”
Evelyn looked at Lily's photograph.
“She was carrying evidence.”
“Lily?”
“Not physically.”
Evelyn's eyes moved to Claire.
“In her memory.”
Claire felt a chill.
“What does that mean?”
“Children remember voices. Songs. Smells. Patterns. Elena trained Lily to remember one thing.”
“What?”
“The identity of the person who ordered the trafficking.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“Who?”
Evelyn pointed toward the doorway.
A figure stood there.
An old man.
White hair.
Gabriel's father's watch on his wrist.
Gabriel stepped backward.
“No.”
The old man smiled.
“Hello, son.”
Gabriel whispered:
“Dad?”
The old man laughed.
“You really should have learned by now.”
May you like
Then he looked at Lily.
“She remembers me.”
