Chapter 4 - Grant didn't think.He ran.
The black car disappeared into the night.
Three vehicles followed.
Atlas tore across the road after them.
Grant shouted into his radio.
“Block Route Nine!”
Sirens echoed in the distance.
But the black car wasn't trying to escape.
It was leading them.
Grant realized it five minutes later.
“They're guiding us.”
“To where?”
He looked at the map.
His blood turned cold.
“The old Whitmore mill.”
The place had been abandoned for twenty years.
A perfect trap.
Grant ignored the warning.
He needed Lily.
The convoy reached the mill.
No guards.
No lights.
No cars.
Too quiet.
Atlas stopped.
His ears lifted.
Grant raised his weapon.
“Something's wrong.”
Then every light in the mill turned on.
A projector flickered against the far wall.
An old recording began.
Grant's father appeared.
Older.
Serious.
Standing beside a young woman.
Grant stopped breathing.
The woman had Lily's eyes.
Claire whispered:
“That's her.”
Grant stared.
“Who?”
“Lily's mother.”
The recording continued.
Grant's father spoke.
“If you're watching this, I'm already gone.”
Grant whispered:
“You're not gone.”
The recording showed the woman holding a newborn baby.
Lily.
Three years ago.
Grant stepped closer.
His father's voice continued.
“She is the last surviving heir of the Vane line.”
Elias.
Grant's eyes narrowed.
The woman looked toward the camera.
“Her name is Evelyn.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Grant replayed it.
Evelyn.
Lily's mother.
His father continued.
“The Black Veil will come for her because her blood is required to open the Archive.”
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
A massive underground door.
Grant recognized the symbol.
The three interlocking circles.
His father continued.
“I hid the Archive where no one could reach it.”
A pause.
“Inside my son.”
Grant froze.
Claire stared at him.
The recording ended.
Then the mill doors slammed shut.
Gas flooded the room.
Grant grabbed Claire.
“Cover your mouth!”
Atlas barked.
Grant fired at the lock.
Nothing.
The gas thickened.
Claire collapsed.
Grant dragged her toward a ventilation shaft.
Atlas began scratching at the concrete.
Grant understood.
He shot the floor.
The concrete cracked.
A hidden tunnel opened beneath them.
They dropped inside.
Darkness.
Cold.
Then voices above.
“Did they die?”
“Yes.”
“Search the tunnel.”
Grant covered Claire's mouth.
Atlas pressed his body against them.
A flashlight appeared.
Grant waited.
Then struck.
One guard fell.
Another raised his weapon.
Atlas attacked.
Grant dragged Claire away.
They ran.
At the end of the tunnel stood a steel door.
Grant pushed.
Locked.
Claire whispered:
“It's not locked.”
“What?”
She pointed.
There was a fingerprint reader.
Grant placed his thumb.
The door opened.
Inside was a room filled with monitors.
Every monitor displayed Lily.
Sleeping.
Walking.
Playing with Atlas.
Three years of footage.
Grant stared in horror.
“They've been recording her since birth.”
Claire shook.
Then one screen changed.
Live video.
Lily was sitting inside a chair.
A man stood behind her.
He wore a black mask.
“Grant Whitmore,” he said.
Grant stepped forward.
“Where is she?”
The masked man smiled.
“You came exactly where I knew you would.”
“Let her go.”
“You still don't understand.”
He stepped closer to Lily.
She looked terrified.
“But she isn't crying.”
Grant frowned.
The man laughed.
“She knows you're coming.”
Lily whispered:
“Daddy.”
The word struck Grant unexpectedly.
He didn't realize how badly he'd needed to hear it until then.
“I’m coming, Lily.”
The masked man turned to the screen.
“No.”
He pressed a button.
A metal collar around Atlas's neck suddenly activated.
The dog collapsed.
Lily screamed.
“ATLAS!”
Grant lost control.
He attacked the screen.
“STOP!”
The masked man watched calmly.
“You have thirty minutes.”
“For what?”
“Bring the Archive key.”
“I don't have it.”
The man smiled.
“You do.”
He cut the transmission.
Grant looked at Claire.
“What's the Archive key?”
Claire's face went white.
“I don't know.”
Grant grabbed her shoulders.
“Claire.”
She stared at him.
“There was something Lily was born with.”
“What?”
“A birthmark.”
“Where?”
Claire hesitated.
“Behind her left shoulder.”
Grant remembered.
The first time he'd seen Lily, she'd been sleeping.
He had noticed a small crescent-shaped mark.
He'd thought nothing of it.
Now everything changed.
The key wasn't inside him.
It was inside Lily.
Grant's phone rang.
A text arrived.
One image.
Lily sitting beneath a bright lamp.
Her shoulder exposed.
The crescent-shaped birthmark circled by red ink.
Under it were four words.
BRING HER TO THE GATE.
Grant stared.
Then Atlas suddenly stood.
The dog was bleeding.
But he was alive.
He looked toward the wall.
A soft tapping came from inside it.
Three taps.
Pause.
Three taps.
Grant walked over.
“Who is there?”
A woman's voice answered.
“Grant.”
He froze.
He knew that voice.
It couldn't be.
But it was.
His father's voice had haunted him for eight years.
This voice haunted him even longer.
“Grant…”
May you like
The wall shook.
“Your mother is still alive.”
Related Stories
