Chapter 4 - The Woman Julian Never Knew
Kalin looked at Nathan.
"Say that again."
"The biometric record identifies you."
"I've never seen that locker."
"I know."
Julian stepped closer.
"How can you know?"
Nathan ignored him.
Kalin examined Arthur's photograph.
Someone knew Keystone.
Someone had access to Croft systems.
Someone could duplicate Julian's credentials.
Now someone had duplicated hers.
"Deep administrative access," Kalin said.
Arthur nodded.
"Exactly."
"Who has it?"
"Six people."
"Names."
Arthur began listing them.
Julian.
Arthur.
Chief Financial Officer Malcolm Voss.
Chief Operations Officer Elaine Mercer.
Director of Systems Peter Shaw.
And—
Arthur stopped.
Kalin noticed.
"And?"
Arthur looked at Julian.
"Your father."
Julian's face changed.
"My father has been dead for nine years."
"His credentials were never deleted."
"Why?"
Arthur didn't answer immediately.
"Because someone kept reactivating them."
The room became silent.
Kalin swung her legs carefully from the bed.
Nathan objected.
She ignored him.
"I need clothes."
"You need rest."
"I can rest after we find out who used my identity."
Nathan studied her.
He knew arguing would only waste time.
Forty minutes later, Kalin left through a restricted service corridor wearing loose black clothing beneath a medical support garment.
Every step hurt.
She welcomed the pain.
It kept her focused.
Croft headquarters stood twenty minutes away.
They didn't use the main entrance.
Arthur led them through an underground garage and into a private elevator.
Julian followed.
Kalin hadn't invited him.
Arthur had.
The elevator rose.
"Why did you marry him?"
Arthur suddenly asked.
Julian stared at his grandfather.
Kalin almost smiled.
"Interesting timing."
"I've wondered."
"I loved him."
Julian looked at her.
She didn't look back.
"Past tense?" he asked.
Kalin finally met his eyes.
"You left me bleeding on concrete."
He looked away.
The elevator opened.
Private archive level.
No employees.
No reception.
Just a narrow hallway.
Locker 417 stood at the end.
Its door was open.
Nathan raised a hand.
Everyone stopped.
He moved first.
Clear.
Kalin followed.
The locker wasn't really a locker.
It was a doorway.
Behind it was a compact records room.
Shelves.
Paper files.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
Everything Arthur didn't trust to a network.
And someone had searched it.
Folders covered the floor.
A hard drive had been smashed.
Arthur whispered a curse.
Kalin crouched painfully.
"Don't touch anything."
She scanned the mess.
Someone had been rushed.
That mattered.
Professionals could fake chaos.
But hurried people made patterns.
One shelf had been emptied.
Another remained untouched.
A drawer stood open.
Kalin looked inside.
"Arthur."
He approached.
"What was here?"
His face drained.
"The Lantern ledger."
"Paper?"
"Yes."
"Names?"
"Everything."
Gone.
Kalin examined the drawer.
A tiny blonde hair was caught in the hinge.
Julian saw it.
"Clara."
"Maybe."
"Who else?"
Kalin looked at him.
"Evidence first."
Julian almost smiled bitterly.
"You always were better at this than me."
"That stopped being flattering years ago."
Nathan moved toward a desk.
"Kalin."
A monitor had turned on.
No one had touched it.
White text appeared against black.
WELCOME BACK, KEYSTONE.
Everyone froze.
Another line appeared.
YOU SURVIVED.
Kalin stepped closer.
Then:
JULIAN WAS SUPPOSED TO FINISH THE JOB.
Julian went pale.
"I didn't—"
Kalin raised one hand.
More text.
HE FAILED.
Nathan searched for the machine's network connection.
"Local trigger."
Arthur whispered, "Whoever did this knew we'd come."
The screen changed.
A video appeared.
Security footage.
The west alley.
Kalin watched herself being hit.
Julian taking her radio.
Clara crouching beside her.
Kalin felt no emotion at first.
Then the recording switched angles.
An angle her insignia couldn't have captured.
Someone else had been filming.
The video zoomed toward Julian.
Audio played.
His voice.
"If she survives, everything changes."
Kalin turned slowly.
Julian stared at the monitor.
"I never said that."
The recording continued.
His voice again.
"Make sure she doesn't."
Arthur backed away from his grandson.
Julian shook his head.
"No."
Kalin watched carefully.
Something was wrong.
The cadence.
Julian could be cruel.
Arrogant.
Negligent.
But she knew his voice.
She had listened to it in darkness for years.
The breaths between words were wrong.
"Generated," Kalin said.
Nathan looked at her.
"What?"
"That isn't him."
Julian stared.
Kalin hated that she was defending him.
Truth didn't care.
"Someone synthesized his voice."
Nathan examined the file.
"Could be."
Julian exhaled.
Kalin turned on him.
"That doesn't absolve you."
"I know."
It was the first time he had said those words without defending himself.
Arthur picked up a photograph from the floor.
His face changed.
"Kalin."
She took it.
A woman stood beside Arthur twenty-five years earlier.
Blonde.
Young.
On the back:
ELIZABETH BENNETT — SYSTEMS ARCHITECT.
Kalin looked at Julian.
"Bennett."
Arthur sat down.
"Clara's mother."
Julian stared.
"You knew her?"
Arthur nodded.
"Elizabeth designed the earliest version of Lantern."
"What happened to her?"
"She died."
Clara had told Julian her mother had been a schoolteacher.
Kalin turned the photograph over again.
"When?"
Arthur answered.
"Nine years ago."
The same year Julian's father died.
Kalin felt the pieces shifting.
"Together?"
Arthur looked at her.
"Same accident."
Julian's face went white.
"My father died alone."
"No," Arthur said.
"He didn't."
Before Julian could respond, footsteps sounded outside the archive.
Nathan drew his sidearm but kept it lowered.
A shadow crossed the doorway.
Then a woman's voice came from the hall.
"Arthur?"
He stopped breathing.
Kalin looked at him.
Arthur whispered a name she had never heard before.
May you like
"Elizabeth."
The door began to open...
