CHAPTER 25 — CLAIRE’S SISTER
The passage beneath Lake Emery led to an underground railway once used to transport medical supplies.
Peter knew the route.
His memory failed every few minutes, but his body remembered the turns.
They reached a sealed maternity annex built beneath North Harbor.
The Number Nine key opened the final door.
Inside, rows of infant records filled the walls.
Claire searched for Caroline Bennett.
No file existed.
Peter pointed toward another cabinet.
“Children were renamed after transfer.”
Claire found a list dated the day of her birth.
C-17A — CLAIRE BENNETT
C-17B — CAROLINE BENNETT
TRANSFER NAME — REBECCA HALE
Claire stopped breathing.
Rebecca.
The woman who had helped open the pendant.
The woman who had guided Claire through Gray Tide’s files.
The woman Daniel had accused Claire of choosing over Olivia.
Claire called her.
Rebecca answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“Tell me your birth date.”
Rebecca became silent.
“Claire—”
“Tell me.”
Rebecca gave the date.
The same date as Claire’s.
Claire turned the record toward the others.
“Did you know?”
“I suspected after I decrypted Margaret’s files.”
“How long?”
“Three weeks.”
“You stood beside me and said nothing.”
“I needed proof.”
“You had proof.”
“I had a program record. Gray Tide created false siblings, false parents, and false identities.”
Peter took the phone.
“Caroline?”
Rebecca inhaled sharply.
“Who is that?”
“It’s Peter.”
Rebecca began crying.
Claire had never heard her lose control.
“I thought you were dead.”
“They told me the same about you.”
The call suddenly changed.
Rebecca’s image appeared on a monitor inside the annex.
She sat in a white room.
Her wrists were fastened to a chair.
Sarah stood behind her.
The telephone conversation had been prerecorded.
Claire looked at her own phone.
The line was dead.
Sarah rested one hand on Rebecca’s shoulder.
“Two daughters,” she said. “One raised by Margaret. One raised by Gray Tide.”
Claire turned toward her mother’s records.
Rebecca had been inside the program her entire life.
Sarah continued.
“Rebecca believed she escaped us. She became an investigator, learned our systems, and eventually found you.”
Rebecca looked at the camera.
“I did find you.”
“Tell her why,” Sarah ordered.
Rebecca’s face tightened.
“I was told Claire had the key to locating Olivia.”
Claire moved closer to the screen.
“You used me?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
“You were my sister.”
Sarah smiled.
“A touching distinction.”
Rebecca pulled against the restraints.
“I copied everything. I left access points in every Gray Tide server.”
“You also gave us Claire’s location after Mason took Lily.”
Rebecca looked down.
Claire felt the betrayal before Rebecca spoke.
“They had Olivia. I thought I could save both of them.”
Sarah bent toward the camera.
“She chose Olivia over Lily.”
“No,” Rebecca said. “I gave them a false route.”
“Which still led them close enough to find the hospital.”
Claire pressed her hand against the monitor.
“Where are you?”
Rebecca looked toward something beyond the camera.
Then she said, “Room Nine.”
The image shook.
Olivia entered the background.
She held one hand over her stomach.
Sarah moved beside her.
“Claire believed Lily was the final heir.”
A medical monitor turned on.
A fetal heartbeat filled the room.
Sarah placed her palm against Olivia’s stomach.
“She was wrong.”
Rebecca stared into the camera.
“Claire, Olivia’s baby carries the same Vane succession markers as Lily.”
Sarah’s smile widened.
May you like
“And only one child is required to complete the transfer.”
The screen went black.
