Chapter 13 - The Call From Level Three
I didn't touch the phone.
“Marcus.”
His voice came through the speakers.
“Gemma.”
“You knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“You were his supervisor.”
“Yes.”
“You let me work here for seventeen months without mentioning it.”
“That was deliberate.”
Declan scanned the corridor.
No visible movement.
No guards.
Catherine remained near the table.
“Is he watching?” I asked her.
“Yes.”
“Listening?”
“Yes.”
“Can you leave?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Marcus answered for her.
“Because Catherine has spent eighteen years trying to dismantle something she helped create.”
Her face tightened.
Declan looked at his mother.
“True?”
“Partly.”
“Which part?”
“I helped Patrick.”
“With Atlas?”
“With protecting you.”
“How?”
Marcus interrupted.
“Family therapy later.”
I ignored him.
“Mrs. Morrow, did you know Thomas Cole?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
Declan's eyes snapped toward her.
Catherine looked horrified.
“No.”
“Did Patrick?”
“No.”
“Marcus?”
Silence.
That silence was everything.
Marcus laughed softly through the speaker.
“Careful.”
I looked upward.
“My father discovered you.”
“Your father discovered a system.”
“You audited his work.”
“I improved it.”
There.
Admission.
“Atlas is you.”
“No.”
“Fourth anchor.”
Pause.
He hadn't expected that.
Good.
“Thomas really did leave you something.”
“He taught me accounting.”
“Same thing.”
“Did you order his death?”
Catherine whispered, “Gemma.”
“No.”
I needed the answer.
Marcus sighed.
“I ordered no one's death.”
“Did you cause it?”
Another pause.
“Your father had a heart condition.”
I felt cold.
Nobody had ever mentioned one.
“You knew?”
“I read his medical insurance file.”
“Why?”
“Because leverage comes in many forms.”
Declan stepped toward the nearest camera.
“If you touched Thomas—”
“Declan, you should worry less about the dead.”
A metallic click sounded.
Doors sealed at both ends.
Marcus continued.
“And more about the woman standing beside you.”
Declan moved closer to me.
I hated how comforting that was.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“The device opened.”
“You need my biometric.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Then Gemma dies.”
Simple.
No theatrics.
That made it believable.
Catherine stepped forward.
“He's lying.”
“Am I?”
She looked toward the camera.
“You don't need Declan.”
Marcus laughed.
“Finally.”
Declan looked at his mother.
“What does that mean?”
She didn't answer.
“Mother.”
Her composure broke.
“Patrick wasn't your biological father.”
I closed my eyes briefly.
Of course.
One more family secret.
Declan looked almost bored from shock.
“What?”
“Patrick raised you.”
“That wasn't my question.”
“No.”
“Who?”
Catherine swallowed.
“Thomas Cole.”
The world stopped.
I thought I'd misheard.
Declan did too.
Nobody spoke.
Then Marcus laughed.
And I knew it was true.
I stared at Catherine.
“My father?”
Her eyes filled.
“Yes.”
I looked at Declan.
He looked at me.
Every conversation we had ever had rearranged itself inside my head.
“No,” I said.
Catherine stepped toward me.
“Thomas and I—”
“No.”
“It was years before—”
“No.”
“Gemma.”
“My father was married.”
“So was I.”
That did not help.
Declan's face had lost all expression.
“How long did Patrick know?”
“From the beginning.”
“Why raise me?”
“Because he loved me.”
“That's not enough.”
“In Patrick's world, it was.”
Marcus spoke again.
“Touching. Now perhaps everyone understands the device.”
I did.
Direct bloodline authentication.
Patrick's biological descendants weren't the only possible access.
If the device had been modified by my father, maybe Thomas's bloodline mattered.
Me.
Or—
Declan.
We shared a father.
The realization hit like another injury.
Declan and I were half-siblings.
Except—
Catherine suddenly shook her head.
“No. That's what Marcus wants you to believe.”
I stared.
“What?”
She looked directly at me.
“Thomas never fathered Declan.”
Marcus's voice sharpened.
“Catherine.”
She smiled faintly.
“Now you're nervous.”
Declan stepped closer.
“Explain.”
“Patrick told Marcus that lie.”
“Why?”
“To protect the actual key.”
Marcus swore.
For the first time, control slipped.
Catherine continued.
“Thomas built the hidden partition after he discovered Marcus manipulating the network. He didn't use Morrow blood.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
“He used mine?”
“No.”
“Then whose?”
Catherine looked at the phone.
“Yours.”
I stared.
“Mine?”
“Thomas configured Gemma as the recovery identity.”
“But I was fifteen.”
“He used medical authentication data stored in family records.”
Marcus interrupted.
“Enough.”
Catherine raised her voice.
“He cannot open the ledger without you.”
I looked at Declan.
The whole demand to bring him was theater.
Marcus wanted us to believe Declan was the key.
The actual key was me.
Which meant my attack had never really been about the phone.
It was about delivering both components.
Device.
And me.
The realization made me nauseous.
Marcus continued.
“Gemma, place your hand on the device.”
“No.”
“I can make this unpleasant.”
“You already broke my leg.”
“That wasn't my order.”
Everyone apparently wanted credit for not breaking my leg.
I was tired of it.
“Then your organization has quality-control problems.”
Declan almost smiled.
Marcus didn't.
“Last warning.”
A screen on the wall activated.
Live video.
Parking garage.
Level three.
Huron.
A man stood beside my car.
Same garage.
Same place where I'd been attacked.
But the camera angle revealed something new.
The two attackers.
Recorded from another camera.
The footage continued.
They took my phone.
They left.
Then another man appeared.
Marcus.
He walked from behind a support pillar.
He had been there.
Watching.
He approached me while I lay on the concrete.
He bent down.
And spoke.
The audio came through.
“Your father should have stopped when I told him.”
My skin went cold.
Then headlights appeared.
Adrian's vehicle.
Marcus retreated.
That was why he hadn't finished whatever he intended.
Adrian arrived.
The missing fifty-three minutes finally had a witness.
Marcus himself.
“You were there,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“You watched.”
“Yes.”
“You let them attack me.”
“I needed the phone separated from you.”
“You could have taken it.”
“I needed Sheldon implicated.”
Of course.
He had used the substituted attackers.
Made sure I heard Sheldon's voice.
Created an obvious villain.
“Why?”
“Because Sheldon had become unreliable.”
“You framed him.”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel?”
“Patrick did that himself.”
Marcus sounded almost proud.
“Families are remarkably efficient at destroying one another without help.”
Declan moved toward the phone.
I grabbed his sleeve.
“No.”
“He'll hurt you.”
“He needs me.”
“That doesn't mean—”
“Trust me.”
The words stopped him.
I limped toward the table.
Marcus sounded satisfied.
“Good.”
I placed my hand on the encrypted device.
The screen illuminated.
BIOMETRIC RECOVERY DETECTED.
Then:
GEMMA COLE.
I heard Declan inhale.
Marcus had been telling enough truth.
The device requested a passphrase.
Marcus said, “Enter it.”
“I don't know it.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
“Thomas gave it to you.”
“My father died when I was fifteen.”
“He gave it to you before that.”
A memory surfaced.
Pancakes.
Dad tapping my forehead.
What did he always say?
Trust is nice.
Checking is better.
I typed:
CHECKINGISBETTER.
Access denied.
Marcus cursed.
I thought harder.
Something else.
When numbers don't add up—
I entered:
WRONGQUESTION.
The device unlocked.
Folders appeared.
Hundreds.
Marcus went silent.
I smiled.
“Found it.”
“Open Atlas.”
I selected the folder.
Password.
But beside the field was a note.
One sentence from my father.
Gemma, if someone is forcing you to open this, audit the auditor.
My heart jumped.
A choice appeared.
OPEN.
AUDIT.
Marcus couldn't see the tiny screen clearly.
“Do it.”
I pressed AUDIT.
The device vibrated once.
Then displayed:
EVIDENCE DISTRIBUTION INITIATED.
Marcus screamed.
“What did you do?”
I looked toward the camera.
“My job.”
All across Chicago, eighteen years of hidden records began transmitting to destinations my father had programmed long before his death.
May you like
And somewhere in the building, Marcus Vale realized he had spent eighteen years chasing a ledger that had been designed to destroy him the moment he finally opened it.
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