Chapter 5 - Grant stopped breathing.His mother had been dead since he was thirteen.
He remembered the funeral.
He remembered the coffin.
He remembered his father standing beside him.
He remembered the rain.
No.
Impossible.
He stepped toward the wall.
“Who's there?”
Silence.
Then:
“Don't trust Claire.”
Grant turned.
Claire went pale.
“Grant…”
He raised his weapon.
“Who is behind the wall?”
No answer.
Atlas growled.
Grant looked at the dog.
Atlas was staring at Claire.
Claire whispered:
“I didn't kill your mother.”
Grant's eyes narrowed.
“But you know she was alive.”
“I know she disappeared.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father made me promise.”
Grant lowered the weapon.
“Start talking.”
Claire wiped tears from her face.
“Your mother wasn't murdered.”
“What happened?”
“She found the Archive.”
Grant stared.
“And she tried to destroy it.”
“What is the Archive?”
Claire looked toward the monitors.
“A record.”
“Of what?”
“Everyone.”
Grant's face hardened.
“Everyone?”
“Politicians. judges. police. businessmen. criminals.”
She swallowed.
“Your family built it.”
Grant looked at the endless footage of Lily.
“And Lily?”
“She can access it.”
Grant stepped backward.
“Why?”
“Because her mother was trained to.”
Lily's mother.
Evelyn.
Grant finally understood.
“This isn't about money.”
“No.”
“It's about control.”
Claire nodded.
“The Black Veil wants the Archive because whoever controls it can blackmail half the city.”
Grant's eyes darkened.
“And my father kept it.”
“He did.”
“Where?”
Claire whispered:
“Your mother's final message said the Archive wasn't stored in a building.”
“Then where?”
She looked at Lily's photograph.
“In memory.”
Grant didn't understand.
Claire touched the birthmark on the screen.
“The mark isn't a key.”
“What is it?”
“A map.”
Grant stared.
A map.
The crescent shape suddenly made sense.
It wasn't random.
It was a symbol used in an old Whitmore code.
His father had taught him the same symbol when he was a child.
He had forgotten.
Or perhaps been made to forget.
Grant turned to the monitors.
“Play the old footage.”
The technician obeyed.
Lily at one month.
Two months.
Six months.
One year.
Two years.
Atlas began appearing in the footage more frequently.
Even when he wasn't supposed to be there.
Grant noticed something.
The dog always slept facing Lily.
Always guarding her.
Why?
Then Grant saw it.
In one recording, Evelyn entered the room.
Atlas immediately approached her.
Evelyn whispered something to him.
The sound wasn't clear.
Grant increased the volume.
One phrase became audible.
“Remember the little girl.”
Atlas looked toward baby Lily.
Grant's blood went cold.
Atlas hadn't simply recognized Lily.
He'd been trained to protect her before she was born.
But who had trained him?
Grant's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“You figured out the dog.”
Grant's jaw tightened.
“Who are you?”
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“Where is Lily?”
“Safe.”
“If you touch her…”
“You still think you're the hunter.”
A pause.
“You're not.”
The line ended.
A location appeared in a text.
An abandoned train station.
Grant gathered his men.
Claire grabbed his arm.
“Don't go.”
“Why?”
“Because they expect you.”
“They have Lily.”
“They have what they need to control you.”
Grant looked at her.
“And you?”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“I'm going too.”
Grant nodded.
They left.
At the train station, everything was silent.
Atlas led the way.
They found Lily sitting on a bench.
Alone.
Grant ran toward her.
But Atlas blocked him.
The dog growled.
Lily looked up.
“Daddy.”
Grant stopped.
She smiled.
“I'm okay.”
“Who brought you here?”
Lily pointed toward the tunnel.
“The man.”
“What man?”
She frowned.
“He looked like you.”
Grant froze.
“What?”
Lily nodded.
“Same eyes.”
Claire whispered:
“No.”
Grant slowly turned toward the tunnel.
A figure stepped out.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Holding a cane.
Grant's gun rose.
The man smiled.
“My son.”
Grant could not move.
His father.
Standing alive in front of him.
“Hello, Grant.”
Grant's finger tightened around the trigger.
“You're dead.”
His father smiled.
“I wanted everyone to think so.”
He looked at Lily.
“And now you've brought her to me.”
Atlas stood between Lily and the old man.
Growling.
Grant noticed something strange.
His father's eyes weren't on Lily.
They were on Atlas.
“You still remember,” he whispered.
Atlas bared his teeth.
The old man smiled.
Then the station lights went out.
A gunshot rang through the darkness.
Claire screamed.
When the emergency lights came back on, Grant's father was gone.
Lily was gone.
And Atlas was lying on the floor.
A thin red line of blood ran across his chest.
Grant dropped beside him.
“No.”
Atlas opened his eyes.
May you like
Behind him, carved into the concrete wall, were three words:
SHE REMEMBERS EVERYTHING.
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