Chapter 7 - THE ARCHITECTThe Architect sent us an address.
Mom said no.
Grandma said no.
Mara said absolutely not.
Adrian went anyway.
So Mom followed him.
Which meant Grandma followed Mom.
Which meant Emma and I were locked in a safe room.
We lasted eleven minutes.
The safe room had a ventilation panel.
Emma found it.
I unscrewed it with a coin.
Mara found us halfway into the wall.
She stared at our feet.
“Seriously?”
Emma said, “We were worried.”
Mara pulled us out.
“You are staying here.”
“Is Adrian going to die?” I asked.
Mara stopped.
Adults hate direct questions.
“No.”
“You don't know.”
“No,” she admitted. “I don't.”
The address led to an abandoned Vale Meridian warehouse.
Adrian entered wearing a transmitter.
Mom waited in a security vehicle.
Grandma stayed beside her.
We watched through Mara's tablet.
Julian was tied to a chair.
A man stood behind him.
When he stepped into the light, Mom screamed.
“Dr. Mercer.”
I knew the name.
He was Mom's neurologist.
The first doctor who treated her after the accident.
The man who said recovery was unlikely.
The man who recommended reducing treatment.
Dr. Samuel Mercer smiled at the camera.
“Hello, Claire.”
Mom began shaking.
Adrian stared at him.
“You're the Architect?”
Mercer laughed.
“No.”
Julian closed his eyes.
Mercer continued.
“The Architect isn't a person.”
He opened a metal case.
Inside were files.
“Black Harbor is a system.”
For thirty years, wealthy men bought influence.
Then influence learned to protect itself.
Judges protected police.
Police protected companies.
Companies financed politicians.
Nobody controlled the entire network anymore.
It controlled itself.
Adrian whispered, “Then why the ledger?”
“Because names create fear.”
Mercer looked toward the camera.
“Claire's ledger can destroy thousands of powerful people.”
Mom said, “Good.”
Mercer heard her.
“No, Claire. Chaos doesn't only kill guilty men.”
He raised a gun.
Adrian moved.
A shot exploded.
The video died.
Mom screamed Adrian's name.
Mara ordered teams forward.
Then the mansion alarm sounded.
Again.
This time, fire filled the east hallway.
It had been a distraction.
Men entered through the medical wing.
They came for us.
Grandma pushed Emma and me into a closet.
“Don't move.”
“Grandma—”
“Don't move!”
She locked the door.
We heard shouting.
Glass breaking.
Then silence.
Emma held my hand.
Two squeezes.
Danger.
The closet opened.
A man wearing a mask grabbed us.
We screamed.
I kicked.
Emma bit him.
He cursed.
Then Grandma hit him with a lamp.
He fell.
“Run!”
We ran.
Smoke filled the hallway.
At the stairs, another man appeared.
Mara shot him.
She grabbed us.
“Where is Ruth?”
“Behind us!”
We turned.
Grandma wasn't there.
The fire grew.
Mom arrived thirty minutes later.
Adrian was with her.
Alive.
Blood covered his shoulder.
Mom ran to us.
“Grandma,” Emma sobbed.
Adrian sent every guard into the mansion.
They found Grandma in the medical wing.
Unconscious.
She had dragged Mom's medical records from the fire.
When Grandma woke, Mom shouted at her.
Then hugged her.
Adrian stood beside us.
His shoulder was bandaged.
“Julian?” Mom asked.
“Alive.”
“Mercer?”
“Escaped.”
Adrian looked at the burned mansion.
“They wanted us divided.”
Mom nodded.
“So we stop running separately.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What are you suggesting?”
Mom's expression changed.
“The ledger.”
“Claire—”
“We release it.”
“All of it?”
“No.”
She looked at Emma.
Then me.
“We make them turn on each other.”
For the first time since she woke from her coma, my mother smiled.
It was not a nice smile.
Adrian smiled too.
Emma whispered, “They're scary together.”
May you like
I nodded.
“I know.”
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