Chapter 18 - The Woman Behind the Archive
Claire had three choices.
Actually four.
And every one could destroy someone.
She looked at the screen.
Then at Noah.
Then through the glass toward Hart's former position.
“Where is he?”
Noah didn't answer.
“Where is Hart?”
“He left.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows what happens if you refuse.”
Claire looked at the countdown.
00:43.
“Tell me.”
Noah stepped closer to the glass.
“If you do nothing, the system selects the last registered controller.”
“Hart.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“The Custodians regain command.”
Claire understood.
Her mother had built a final safeguard.
And Hart had been waiting for it.
“Why would he want control?”
Noah's face hardened.
“Because he believes control prevents chaos.”
Claire glanced at the terminal.
“What happens if I choose Release?”
“Mass exposure.”
“And Transfer?”
“The network moves to whoever you choose.”
“Purge?”
“No archive.”
“Return?”
Noah hesitated.
“The system searches for Elizabeth.”
Claire's heart stopped.
“Then that's my choice.”
Noah shook his head.
“You don't know what Return does.”
“It finds Mom.”
“It may not.”
“Why?”
“It may find the place where she was supposed to die.”
Claire stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Noah lowered his eyes.
“Return isn't a person locator.”
“Then what is it?”
“A location locator.”
“Which location?”
“The last place your mother activated the original gate.”
Claire looked at the screen.
“Where?”
Noah whispered:
“Sentinel Dawn.”
Claire's breathing stopped.
The operation where Mercer supposedly died.
The mission that had begun everything.
The archive could locate the place where Elizabeth had made her last move.
Not where she died.
Where the secret began.
The countdown fell to ten seconds.
Claire pressed RETURN.
The terminal went black.
For a moment nothing happened.
Then every screen in the room displayed a map.
Afghanistan.
A remote mountain region.
Coordinates appeared.
Noah stared at them.
“They moved it.”
“What?”
“The archive.”
“What moved?”
“Your mother's original record.”
A red marker appeared.
Then a second.
And a third.
Three locations.
Claire looked at Noah.
“What are those?”
Noah replied:
“The first gate.”
Claire's heart raced.
“One is in Afghanistan.”
“Yes.”
“The second?”
“Virginia.”
“The third?”
Noah looked directly at her.
“Your childhood home.”
Claire felt the blood drain from her face.
“My house?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“The house where your mother lived before she met Richard.”
Claire stared.
“Where is that?”
Noah's answer was immediate.
“Baltimore.”
Claire suddenly remembered the old records.
Elizabeth had lived in Baltimore before meeting Richard.
She had always said that period of her life was private.
It wasn't.
It had been the beginning.
Claire turned back to the terminal.
A file appeared.
ORIGINAL AUTHORITY.
She opened it.
A photograph filled the screen.
Elizabeth Bennett.
Alive.
Older.
Standing beside a woman Claire recognized.
Sarah.
Her mother's sister.
They were inside a military facility.
And between them stood a little boy.
Noah.
But something was wrong.
Claire zoomed in.
Behind Noah was another child.
A girl.
Claire stared.
She looked exactly like herself.
But younger.
Much younger.
Maybe four years old.
Claire whispered:
“Who is that?”
Noah stepped closer.
“That's you.”
Claire shook her head.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
“You said you weren't raised with me.”
“I wasn't.”
“Then why are we in the same photograph?”
Noah looked at the image.
“Because this photograph was taken after your mother had already hidden you.”
Claire's heart pounded.
“Hidden me from whom?”
Noah didn't answer.
The terminal displayed another line.
SUBJECT C-04.
Claire read it twice.
“What is C-04?”
Noah's face changed.
“Don't open that.”
Claire looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because once you do, you can't pretend you don't know.”
Claire opened it.
A medical record appeared.
Subject: Claire Elizabeth Bennett.
Age: 4.
Status: Active.
Claire stared.
“Active?”
Noah closed his eyes.
“That was the program.”
“What program?”
“The children.”
Claire's stomach twisted.
“What children?”
Noah said quietly:
“The ones born into families connected to the network.”
Claire read the file.
Testing.
Observation.
Behavioral conditioning.
Access response.
Bloodline mapping.
She felt sick.
“My mother did this?”
“No.”
Noah shook his head.
“She found it.”
Claire looked at the image again.
“Then why am I here?”
“Because she infiltrated the program.”
“And I was one of the subjects.”
“No.”
Noah took a breath.
“You were supposed to be.”
Claire stared.
“She switched you with another child.”
Claire's eyes widened.
“What?”
“She erased your identity.”
“Whose identity?”
Noah looked at her.
“The child they expected.”
Claire slowly understood.
A hidden child.
Another identity.
A replacement.
Her mother had not simply protected her.
She had substituted her.
“For whom?”
Noah whispered:
“For me.”
Claire stared at him.
“She used you as the decoy?”
“She used my identity after I disappeared.”
Claire felt tears rise.
“You sacrificed my brother.”
Noah looked devastated.
“She sacrificed all of us.”
A sound came from behind them.
The door unlocked.
Hart stood there.
Blood covered one side of his uniform.
He looked at Claire.
“You found it.”
Claire aimed her weapon.
“You knew.”
Hart nodded.
“You were a child in the program.”
“And Noah?”
“Also.”
“My mother saved us.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you hunt us?”
Hart looked at Noah.
“Because I was ordered to.”
“By whom?”
Hart's eyes fell.
“By Elizabeth.”
Claire froze.
“No.”
“She asked me to keep you away from the network.”
“You tried to capture me.”
“To make you inaccessible to them.”
“By force?”
“Yes.”
Claire shook her head.
“That isn't protection.”
Hart looked at her.
“No.”
He pulled a small device from his pocket.
“This is.”
He activated it.
A recording began.
Elizabeth's voice filled the room again.
“Samuel, if Claire ever reaches the final gate, you must stop her from finding me.”
Claire's face went pale.
Hart looked at her.
“She knew you would eventually find out.”
Claire whispered:
“Why did she tell you to stop me?”
Hart answered:
“Because she wasn't hiding from them.”
May you like
He looked toward Noah.
“She was hiding you from herself.”
