Nobody touched the photograph.
Mara stared at the shadows until her eyes hurt.
Twelve children.
Thirteen shadows.
The math was wrong.
Unless the person behind the camera had been standing somewhere the light could not explain.
Gabriel took the photograph.
His face changed.
"You've seen this before," Mara said.
"Yes."
"When?"
"The day the warehouse burned."
Thomas stepped toward him.
"That's impossible."
Gabriel looked at him.
"No."
He pointed to the lower corner.
"This photograph was taken after the fire began."
Mara's stomach tightened.
"Then who took it?"
Gabriel looked at her.
"Daniel."
She stared.
"My father was there?"
"Yes."
"But he was supposed to be at the hospital."
"He wasn't."
Mara felt the entire timeline collapse.
The hospital.
Nine days.
The warehouse.
The fire.
David.
The supposed death.
The recordings.
Everything had been built around a story that was only partly true.
"Where was my father during the fire?"
Thomas answered.
"Moving the children."
"And after?"
"Nobody knows."
Mara looked at Gabriel.
"You do."
Gabriel's silence was enough.
"Tell me."
"He came back for the ledger."
"The ledger was already hidden."
"The black ledger wasn't the evidence he wanted."
Mara looked down.
"What was?"
"The names of the people who had been replaced."
She frowned.
"Replaced?"
Gabriel nodded.
"People inside the network were sometimes removed and replaced by people carrying their identities."
Mara thought of David.
Peter.
Thomas.
Rivera.
Her own mother.
"How many?"
"Dozens."
"Then David could have been replaced."
Thomas looked at Gabriel.
"Don't."
Gabriel shook his head.
"She deserves the truth."
Mara's voice was steady.
"Was David dead?"
"No."
Thomas stepped back.
Mara looked at him.
"You told me he died eleven years ago."
"I believed he did."
"Why?"
"Because I saw his body."
Gabriel said quietly, "You saw a body wearing David's identity."
Thomas went pale.
Mara understood.
"The person in the room with Dad."
Gabriel nodded.
"Wasn't David."
"Who was it?"
Gabriel looked toward the dark ceiling.
"Someone who had been inside the network longer than Peter."
Mara's pulse quickened.
"Who?"
Before he could answer, the lights went out.
The courthouse alarm began screaming.
Rivera drew his weapon.
"Someone's coming."
Footsteps echoed above them.
Not one person.
Many.
Thomas grabbed the photograph.
"We have to go."
Mara took it back.
"No."
Thomas stared.
"The evidence stays here."
"If we leave it, they destroy it."
"We can't fight everyone."
"We don't have to."
Mara opened the black ledger.
The watch projected the twelve-key circle again.
But this time, one key was glowing.
Then another.
Then another.
Three properties had activated.
Mara looked at the map.
"The trust is opening."
Gabriel nodded.
"That means the legal chain is already moving."
"Can they stop it?"
"Only by killing you."
Mara looked toward the stairs.
"Then they know where I am."
Peter's voice came through the courthouse speakers.
"They do."
Mara looked up.
"Peter?"
"Yes."
"Are you helping us?"
A long pause.
"Yes."
Thomas looked stunned.
Peter continued.
"But I can't protect you from everyone."
The doors above slammed open.
Gunfire erupted.
Rivera moved toward the stairs.
"Stay here."
Mara stopped him.
"No."
"You don't know what's up there."
"I know exactly what's up there."
She picked up Box Twelve.
"People who think they can erase evidence by erasing me."
Rivera stared.
"That's not a plan."
Mara looked at him.
"It's the first honest thing anyone has said to me."
They climbed.
The courthouse corridor was empty.
But the front doors stood open.
A man waited outside.
Adrian Shaw.
He looked exhausted.
His coat was torn.
Blood marked one sleeve.
Mara raised her weapon.
Shaw raised both hands.
"I'm not here to arrest you."
Thomas stepped beside her.
"Then why are you here?"
"Because Raye ordered the courthouse sealed."
Shaw looked at Mara.
"And because I finally understood what Peter was doing."
Mara frowned.
"What was he doing?"
"Building a witness chain."
She lowered her weapon slightly.
"Against himself."
Shaw nodded.
"He knew eventually someone would have to expose the network. He couldn't do it openly because Raye controlled the courts."
"So he used me."
"Yes."
"Without my consent."
"Yes."
Mara's anger returned.
"Then he's no better than them."
Shaw didn't argue.
"No."
He looked toward the street.
"But he's trying to end it."
Mara studied him.
"Where is Raye?"
"Coming here."
"How long?"
"Minutes."
The courthouse lights flickered.
Shaw looked at the watch.
"You're already too late."
Mara felt the watch heat against her wrist.
The twelve symbols appeared.
Then a thirteenth.
Everyone stared.
Gabriel whispered, "That's impossible."
The thirteenth symbol was different.
It wasn't a key.
It was a circle containing a name.
Mara read it.
DAVID ELLISON.
Thomas staggered backward.
"No."
Mara looked at Gabriel.
"You said he was dead."
"I said I believed he was."
The courthouse doors slammed shut.
A voice came from the upper balcony.
"That's because I wanted you to believe it."
Mara looked up.
A man stood there.
His face was almost identical to Daniel's.
Older.
Scarred.
Alive.
David Ellison.
Thomas stared at his brother.
"David."
David smiled.
"You always were the easiest one to fool."
Mara's hand tightened around the watch.
David looked directly at her.
"Your father didn't die because Peter betrayed him."
Mara couldn't breathe.
"Then why?"
David descended one step.
"Because Daniel discovered what I was."
"What are you?"
David stopped.
"The original architect."
Peter's voice suddenly came through the courthouse speakers.
"No."
David smiled.
"Hello, Peter."
Peter's voice came back, colder than Mara had ever heard it.
"You're supposed to be dead."
"So was Daniel."
David looked at Mara.
"And yet here we are."
He held up a small black key.
The same symbol as her father's watch.
"The difference is that your father wanted to expose the system."
David smiled.
"I wanted to own it."
Click here to continue reading: PART 20: The Last Key
The Arrest Was Supposed to End in Minutes, Until the Woman Asked One Question That Changed Everything
Part 19 of 20
