Chapter 6 - The Man in the DarkThe clapping echoed through the ruined chamber.
Slow.
Deliberate.
One pair of hands.
Cassian raised his weapon.
“Show yourself.”
A voice came from the corridor.
“You always were impatient.”
Cassian froze.
Elena turned toward the sound.
A man stepped from the darkness.
Gray hair.
Black coat.
A scar across his cheek.
Alexei Volkov.
Cassian had never met him.
But Elena had.
Her weapon rose instantly.
Alexei smiled.
“You still hold a rifle like a soldier.”
“You're supposed to be dead.”
“So are many useful people.”
Cassian stepped between them.
“Where is my mother?”
Alexei looked at him.
For the first time, his expression softened.
“She is alive.”
Cassian's heart seemed to stop.
“Where?”
“Not so fast.”
Elena aimed at his chest.
“Tell me why.”
Alexei sighed.
“Because your war has already begun.”
“My war?”
“No.”
He looked at Cassian.
“His.”
Cassian's eyes narrowed.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why attack?”
“I didn't.”
Elena's gaze sharpened.
“What?”
Alexei smiled.
“Viktor did.”
“Where is Viktor?”
“Closer than you think.”
A shot cracked.
Alexei staggered.
Blood sprayed across the wall.
Elena spun toward the doorway.
Another shot.
Alexei collapsed.
Cassian dragged him behind cover.
“Sniper.”
Elena looked through the broken window.
“No.”
“What?”
“The shot came from inside.”
Cassian looked at the dead man's body.
Alexei's hands were empty.
Then Elena noticed a small black device attached inside his coat.
She removed it.
The device beeped.
Cassian stared.
“What is that?”
“A timer.”
“How long?”
“Twenty seconds.”
Elena's face changed.
“Down!”
She shoved Cassian and Marcus beneath a stone table.
The device exploded.
The blast tore through the room.
When the smoke cleared, Alexei was dead.
Cassian rose slowly.
Elena was kneeling beside the body.
“Why would someone kill him?”
“Because he knew something.”
She searched his coat.
A folded piece of paper fell out.
Cassian picked it up.
Three words were written on it.
TRUST THE HOUSEKEEPER.
He looked at Elena.
“What does that mean?”
She stared at the message.
“I don't know.”
Cassian shook his head.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because someone else is trying to make sure I die.”
Marcus entered carrying a wounded guard.
“Cassian.”
Cassian turned.
“What?”
“The south gates are open.”
“Impossible.”
Marcus shook his head.
“They're open from the inside.”
Elena suddenly remembered the hidden command center.
She looked at Cassian.
“I think I know where to go.”
They ran.
The underground room was different.
Every monitor was displaying the same image.
A live feed of Blackwood Manor.
Then another screen appeared.
A photograph.
Cassian as a teenager.
His mother beside him.
And behind them stood a woman.
Elena stared.
Her face drained of color.
Cassian noticed.
“Who is that?”
Elena didn't answer.
“Who?”
She whispered:
“My mother.”
Cassian stared at the screen.
The woman standing beside Elena's mother was holding a baby.
A baby with a tiny scar beneath her left eye.
Elena touched her own cheek.
That scar was still there.
May you like
Then the screen displayed one final message.
YOU NEVER KNEW WHY THEY LET YOU LIVE.
