Chapter 11 - The Woman in the VideoEmergency lights flickered.
I heard footsteps.
Multiple.
I grabbed Jake and tore the restraints away.
Christine ran toward us.
"Jake!"
He buried his face against me.
"I knew you'd come."
"I told you I would."
Walter was gone.
Brian and Scott too.
Mara entered the room.
"They're escaping."
I didn't care.
"Get my mother."
She looked at me.
"We don't know where she is."
I pointed at the monitor.
"Find the source."
Lucas was already working on the computer.
"I've got it."
Coordinates appeared.
A rural property outside town.
"Your mother is alive."
My chest tightened.
"How old is the recording?"
"Two months."
"We go now."
Christine stopped me.
"Wait."
I turned.
"What?"
She looked terrified.
"My father didn't make this."
"What?"
"The recording."
"What do you mean?"
"That isn't Dad's system."
Lucas turned.
"She's right."
Mara stared.
"Then who made it?"
Christine looked at me.
"Victor."
I felt the room go cold.
"But Victor is dead."
Lucas whispered.
"That's what they wanted us to believe."
We reached the property at dawn.
The house was empty.
Except for an old woman sitting in the kitchen.
My mother.
She looked up.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then she stood.
"Ethan."
My legs nearly gave out.
"Mom."
She touched my face.
"You came back."
I couldn't speak.
Jake stepped forward.
She stared at him.
"My grandson."
She hugged him.
Then looked at Christine.
And smiled.
Christine began crying.
"I don't understand."
My mother held her hand.
"You were never supposed to."
She looked at me.
"Victor saved Christine."
"From Walter?"
"From all of us."
"What does that mean?"
My mother walked to a drawer.
Pulled out a small key.
She handed it to me.
"This opens the original Harrow archive."
"Where?"
She pointed toward the mountain.
"Under the church."
I stared.
"Why there?"
"Because your father hid something there."
"What?"
She looked at Jake.
"The truth about your bloodline."
I felt anger rising.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you asked me not to."
I froze.
"What?"
"You told me if I ever found you again, I should pretend I didn't know you."
"Why?"
She looked toward Christine.
"Because you knew someone close to you would betray you."
Christine's face went white.
My mother's eyes filled with sadness.
"And you didn't know who."
I looked at my wife.
She whispered, "It wasn't me."
My mother nodded.
"I know."
Then the front window shattered.
A bullet struck the wall beside my head.
We dropped.
Another shot.
Then another.
Mara drew her weapon.
My mother grabbed Jake.
Lucas ran toward the back door.
I crawled toward the window.
Outside, two SUVs were racing away.
I recognized one driver.
Walter.
The other vehicle was unfamiliar.
Then I saw the passenger.
A woman.
Dark hair.
Black coat.
Christine screamed.
"That's impossible."
I looked at her.
"Who?"
She whispered:
"My sister."
May you like
I had never heard Christine mention a sister.
Because everyone had told her she never had one.
