Chapter 15 - Margaret
Emily disappeared before I could reach her.
One second she was beside me.
The next, the lights went out and someone pulled her backward.
I screamed.
“Emily!”
Gunfire erupted.
Reyes fired toward the doorway.
Sarah moved faster than I had ever seen a human move.
She slammed one attacker into the wall.
I heard Emily shout.
“Mom!”
I ran toward her voice.
Hands grabbed my shoulder.
I struck blindly.
The person released me.
Emergency lights came on.
Emily was gone.
There was blood on the floor.
Not hers.
I saw a broken security camera hanging from the ceiling.
Reyes grabbed my arm.
“We have to go.”
“No.”
“They took Emily.”
“We're not leaving without her.”
Sarah pointed toward a service tunnel.
“They took her through there.”
We ran.
The tunnel was narrow and wet.
Reyes shouted into his radio.
“Seal the north exits!”
Nothing.
His face hardened.
“They've jammed communications.”
My breath came faster.
“Who took her?”
“Prescott security.”
“Then get me to Margaret.”
He looked at me.
“Why?”
“Because she apologized.”
We reached a steel door.
It was locked.
Sarah touched the keypad.
“I know the code.”
“How?”
“Margaret taught me.”
The door opened.
Inside was a garage.
Three vehicles.
One had left recently.
Sarah ran toward the tire tracks.
Reyes looked at them.
“They're heading east.”
I saw something on the ground.
Emily's bracelet.
I picked it up.
The little silver heart was bent.
She had left it deliberately.
Reyes looked at me.
“She wants us to follow.”
I nodded.
We took the remaining SUV.
The tracker in Emily's bracelet gave us a direction.
Twenty minutes later we arrived at an old industrial building.
No signs.
No lights.
Sarah stared at it.
“I know this place.”
“What is it?”
“My first training facility.”
I felt sick.
“Then we're going in.”
Reyes stopped me.
“No.”
“My daughter is inside.”
“So is whoever built Sarah.”
I looked at him.
“Then you've got a better reason to come with me.”
We entered.
The building was empty.
Too empty.
Then a voice came over the intercom.
“Victoria.”
Margaret.
“Come upstairs.”
I followed the voice.
Reyes stayed behind me.
Sarah took the opposite corridor.
We found Margaret in a conference room.
She was alone.
Blood still stained her face.
She looked exhausted.
“Where is Emily?”
Margaret pointed toward a chair.
“She isn't here.”
I wanted to hit her.
“You took my daughter.”
“I moved her.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere they can't reach her.”
“Who?”
“The Prescotts.”
I froze.
“You're working against them?”
Margaret laughed weakly.
“I've always been working against them.”
“Then why did you betray me?”
“I didn't.”
“You monitored me.”
“Yes.”
“You manipulated my life.”
“Yes.”
“You helped create Sarah.”
“No.”
She looked directly at me.
“Your mother did.”
I stepped closer.
“Then why?”
Margaret's voice broke.
“Because your mother told me your daughter would be killed if I didn't.”
The anger inside me shifted.
“Emily was the leverage.”
“Yes.”
“So the Prescotts threatened her.”
“And my son.”
I stared.
“You have a son?”
Margaret nodded.
“Lucas.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
I said nothing.
“He was nineteen.”
She wiped her face.
“They killed him because I refused to hand you over.”
My anger faltered.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the next person they would have killed was you.”
“Then David?”
She closed her eyes.
“David figured it out.”
“What did he do?”
“He tried to bargain.”
“With whom?”
“The Prescotts.”
“And they captured him.”
“No.”
I froze.
“David escaped.”
My heart began pounding.
“Where is he?”
Margaret looked toward the window.
“He's been watching you.”
I turned.
“What?”
“He never stopped.”
“Why didn't he come home?”
“Because every time he tried, someone died.”
I remembered the video.
David's fear.
The way he had looked over his shoulder.
“Where is he now?”
Margaret hesitated.
“In the building next door.”
My breath caught.
Reyes entered.
“What did I miss?”
Margaret looked at him.
“You've been lied to too, Daniel.”
Reyes stepped forward.
“What do you know?”
“That General Vale has been taking orders from your mother since 1994.”
Reyes went still.
“That's impossible.”
Margaret handed him a file.
His face changed as he read it.
I turned to her.
“Why did you bring me here?”
“Because there's something your mother doesn't know.”
“What?”
“Your daughter has the second memory card.”
I stared.
“What?”
Margaret smiled sadly.
“The card Emily gave you was a decoy.”
My heart stopped.
“Where is the real one?”
She pointed at me.
“Inside the bracelet.”
I looked down.
The silver heart.
I cracked it open.
A tiny memory chip slid into my palm.
Margaret whispered,
“That is what the Prescotts were really chasing.”
Reyes looked at the chip.
“What is on it?”
Margaret answered.
“A recording from 1989.”
“Of what?”
She looked at me.
“Of your father talking to the person who ordered the fire.”
I swallowed.
“Who?”
May you like
Margaret's expression turned to terror.
“You already know her.”
