CHAPTER 9 THE RED DOOR
Daniel ran back toward the academy.
Clara caught him before he reached the entrance.
“The east wing is burning.”
“My brother is inside.”
“The building is collapsing.”
Daniel shoved past her.
Marcus and two officers followed.
Smoke filled the stairwell.
They reached the second floor and found the path to the bell tower blocked by fire.
Daniel shouted Nathan’s name.
A metal panel opened in the wall.
Nathan stumbled out of a narrow passage.
His prison uniform was torn, and blood covered one side of his face.
Daniel grabbed him.
“Are you hurt?”
“Not badly.”
“Did you take Mara?”
“No.”
“Did you help the people who did?”
Nathan met his eyes.
“I let them believe I would.”
Daniel struck him.
Nathan fell against the wall.
“You used a child as bait?”
“They already had her. I was trying to get her out.”
Daniel grabbed the front of his shirt.
“They knew where Lily slept.”
“I never told them.”
“One of them said you did.”
“They wanted you to believe I chose them.”
Daniel released him.
“Did you?”
Nathan looked toward the smoke.
“I chose the only way I could get close to the person running this.”
“Who is it?”
“They call her the Custodian.”
“Is she Isabel?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is she Elena’s sister?”
“I don’t know that either.”
Daniel’s anger rose again.
“What do you know?”
Nathan pulled a folded piece of paper from his shirt.
“A list of identity packages.”
Each package contained a birth certificate, passport, school record, and medical history.
Some belonged to real children.
Others were complete fabrications.
One name had been circled.
LILY BELL.
“Arthur created another identity for Lily,” Nathan said.
“Why?”
“To move her without triggering an alert. To control assets in her name. To make Daniel and Elena Whitmore legally disappear from her records.”
Daniel looked at the fire behind them.
“We need to leave.”
They reached the grounds seconds before part of the bell tower collapsed.
Police surrounded Nathan.
He raised his hands.
Clara showed them her badge.
“He is a cooperating witness. He remains in federal custody.”
Nathan looked toward Mara.
She sat inside an ambulance wrapped in a blanket.
She stared back at him.
Something passed across Nathan’s face.
Recognition.
Fear.
He approached slowly.
“What is your name?”
“Mara.”
“Mara what?”
“Mercer.”
Nathan stopped moving.
“Who was your mother?”
Mara looked toward Daniel.
“Celia.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Daniel noticed.
“You knew her.”
Nathan did not answer.
“Nathan.”
“I met Celia Mercer eleven years ago.”
“What was she to you?”
Nathan looked at Mara again.
“She worked for Arthur. I thought she was helping me expose him.”
“Were you involved with her?”
“Yes.”
Mara’s face changed.
Nathan continued.
“She disappeared before I learned the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That she was pregnant.”
Mara stood inside the ambulance.
“You’re lying.”
“I didn’t know you existed.”
“You were in the picture they showed me.”
“What picture?”
“You were standing beside my mother.”
Nathan looked toward Daniel.
“If Celia is alive, she may be the Custodian.”
Mara threw the blanket aside.
“My mother helped me escape.”
“Then she may be fighting the network.”
“Or she may have sent you to us,” Clara said.
Mara’s expression hardened.
“I didn’t ask to come here.”
Lily’s voice came through Daniel’s phone.
“Dad?”
He stepped away from the others.
“We found Mara. She’s safe.”
“Is Uncle Nathan with you?”
Daniel looked at his brother.
“Yes.”
“Then who is standing outside the library?”
Daniel’s heart stopped.
“What?”
“The camera shows Uncle Nathan in the hallway.”
“Lily, lock the door.”
“It already opened.”
Daniel heard Elena shout in the background.
The line filled with static.
Then a man spoke through Lily’s phone using Nathan’s voice.
“Bring the key marked 201 to the lake house.”
Daniel looked at the key in his hand.
The voice continued.
May you like
“Come alone, or Lily learns why Arthur chose her before she was born.”
The call ended.
