CHAPTER 58 — ROSE’S LOST YEARS
Rose pressed her fingers against the photograph.
“I never met her.”
Sarah studied the café in the background.
“This was taken in Boston.”
Rose shook her head.
“I was living in Seattle.”
Margaret looked at her carefully.
“Are you certain?”
“I had an apartment. A job. Friends.”
“Have any of them contacted you since Gray Tide began?”
Rose opened her phone.
The contact list was full, but every number was disconnected.
Her photographs showed birthdays and vacations.
Yet Rebecca noticed something strange.
“You wear the same necklace in every image.”
Rose touched the chain around her neck.
The pendant looked ordinary.
Daniel opened it.
A thin memory chip was hidden inside.
They inserted it into the secure phone.
Videos appeared.
Rose receiving instructions.
Rose watching Claire.
Rose entering Lily’s school.
Rose reporting to Sarah.
Claire stepped back.
“You were working for them.”
“No. I don’t remember any of this.”
Sarah watched the screen.
“These reports weren’t sent to me.”
One video showed Rose standing over Claire while she slept.
Rose placed something beneath Claire’s pillow.
The recording ended before they could see what it was.
Claire remembered finding a small silver star under her pillow years ago.
She had assumed Lily had left it.
Margaret recognized the object.
“A convergence marker.”
“What does it do?”
“It tells Gray Tide when two identity subjects have formed an emotional bond.”
Rose looked sick.
“I marked her.”
“You may have been conditioned,” Mason said.
“But my hands still did it.”
The secure phone rang.
Ward’s dead brother appeared on the screen.
His face was badly distorted.
“Do not take Rose to Saint Orison.”
“Why?” Claire asked.
“Because Miriam is not accelerating Olivia’s pregnancy.”
Rebecca looked at the monitor.
“Then who is?”
The man on the screen pointed toward Rose.
“She is.”
Rose backed away.
Olivia’s monitor began flashing faster.
Rose whispered, “I don’t know how to stop.”
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The station doors locked.
The railway tunnel filled with the sound of a newborn baby crying.
