Chapter 46 - The Secret Sewn Under the Flesh
Arthur froze, staring wide-eyed at the frosted windowpane.
"What key?" Arthur whispered, his mind racing through years of hospital visits, surgeries, and blank memories.
Outside, Davenport tapped the barrel of his rifle against the wooden siding.
"Think back to the private clinic in Zurich after your car accident fifteen years ago," Charles said smoothly.
"The head trauma that stole your memory wasn't an accident, Arthur. Eleanor arranged it."
Vance stepped toward Arthur, his sharp detective’s eyes narrowing in the dim cabin light.
Vance reached out, pulling the collar of Arthur's frozen shirt down to expose his left clavicle.
A four-inch surgical scar ran along the bone, pale, raised, and perfectly straight.
"She didn't just rebuild your shoulder," Vance murmured, running his thumb over the skin.
Underneath the scar tissue, a hard, rectangular lump rested against the bone, completely rigid.
It was a micro-drive, encapsulated in surgical titanium and stitched beneath Arthur's living flesh.
Arthur gasped, recoiling as nausea washed over him.
"She turned you into a safety deposit box," Vance said, horrified. "The entire network's ledger is inside your body."
"That ledger holds forty million dollars in unlaundered bearer bonds," Davenport’s voice rang out from the porch.
"Eleanor was getting greedy. She wanted to crack you open and keep it all for herself."
The glass of the front window exploded inward in a shower of lethal icicles.
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A heavy iron grappling hook tore through the frame, ripping the wooden crossbar from the door.
The heavy cabin door blew inward, framed by the howling storm and Davenport's silhouette.
