Chapter 9 - The BetrayalCassian dragged Dante behind the counter.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Alive?” Marcus asked.
Elena checked his pulse.
“Yes.”
“Where's the shooter?”
“Gone.”
Cassian looked at the clock.
Nine minutes.
He turned toward Elena.
“You knew Dante's daughter was dead.”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn't you tell him?”
“Because grief makes people reckless.”
Cassian stepped closer.
“You manipulated him.”
“I saved your life.”
“You don't get to decide who knows the truth.”
Elena stared back.
“I have been deciding that for eight years.”
That sentence silenced him.
Marcus looked toward the hall.
“We need to move.”
“No,” Elena said.
“What?”
“This is exactly what they want.”
Cassian looked at her.
“Explain.”
“They're forcing us toward the underground system.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where the archive is.”
Marcus frowned.
“What archive?”
Elena pointed to the hidden passage.
“The original ledger.”
Cassian's face changed.
“What ledger?”
“The one containing every deal the Council ever made.”
They entered the underground room again.
The countdown was now at six minutes.
Elena walked to the central wall.
She pressed three hidden switches.
Nothing happened.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Cassian watched.
“What are you doing?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't know?”
“I was given a sequence.”
“By whom?”
“My mother.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Then she remembered.
Three sounds.
A clock.
A gunshot.
A piano key.
She pressed three keys on the security panel.
The wall opened.
Behind it was a steel archive.
Cassian stared.
Rows of files.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
Ledgers.
Names.
Marcus whispered:
“This is worth more than every weapon in the world.”
Elena pulled out a thick black book.
The cover bore one word.
THORNE.
Cassian reached for it.
Inside were records of his family's involvement.
Payments.
Political favors.
Assassinations.
Operations.
Then one page stopped him.
His mother's signature.
Cassian stared.
“She wasn't a victim.”
Elena frowned.
“What?”
His mother had authorized payments.
Years ago.
Payments connected to the Council.
Cassian's expression collapsed.
“My mother worked for them.”
Elena took the book.
“No.”
She pointed to a line.
“Look at the dates.”
The payments occurred after her supposed death.
Cassian stared.
Someone had forged his mother's signature.
Then Elena saw another name.
Her own.
At the bottom of the page.
Next to it were three words.
PRIMARY ASSET: ELENA ROSTOVA.
Cassian looked at her.
“They weren't hunting you.”
Elena's face went pale.
“They were waiting for you.”
A loud metallic boom shook the chamber.
The blast doors began closing.
Marcus shouted.
“Someone activated the lockdown!”
Cassian grabbed Elena's hand.
“Move!”
They ran.
The doors slammed down behind them.
Too late.
Elena and Cassian were trapped inside the archive.
Marcus stood on the other side.
“Elena!”
She looked through the narrowing gap.
Marcus screamed.
“THORNE!”
The door sealed.
Silence.
Cassian looked at Elena.
She looked at him.
Then the archive lights switched red.
A voice came over the speaker.
“Now that the two of you are alone, we can finally speak.”
Cassian raised his gun.
“Who are you?”
May you like
The voice answered.
“Your mother.”
