Chapter 6 - The Truth Buried Beneath The Valley
The phone kept ringing.
Nobody moved.
Nobody wanted to touch it.
The name glowing on my father's screen felt impossible.
Claire Carter.
Six years ago, everyone believed she was gone.
Six years ago, I believed I had lost pieces of my own memory because of the crash.
And now her name was calling my father.
My father stared at the phone like it was something dangerous.
"Answer it," I said.
He looked at me.
Fear crossed his face.
Not hesitation.
Fear.
"Lauren..."
"Answer it."
The General stepped closer.
"Richard, if that is really Claire, we need to hear what she says."
My father slowly lifted the phone.
His hand was shaking.
He pressed the answer button.
"Hello?"
Nobody spoke.
We all listened.
For several seconds, there was only silence.
Then a woman's voice came through.
Older.
Tired.
But familiar.
"Richard."
My father's eyes closed.
Because he knew.
He knew before anyone else.
"Claire?"
The room changed.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Mike stepped backward.
I felt my entire body freeze.
Because the woman on the phone was real.
She wasn't a memory.
She wasn't a story.
She was alive.
"Where are you?" my father whispered.
A pause.
Then Claire answered.
"Where I should have been six years ago."
My father looked at me.
The guilt on his face was unbearable.
"Why are you calling now?"
Claire's voice became softer.
"Because Lauren finally found the truth."
My heart stopped.
I stepped closer.
"Claire?"
Everyone turned toward me.
My father held the phone out.
The voice on the other end became quiet.
"Lauren?"
Hearing my name from someone I had never met but somehow knew felt strange.
Like hearing a song you forgot you remembered.
"Who are you?"
The silence lasted several seconds.
Then she answered.
"I'm the person who watched you survive."
I felt a chill.
"What does that mean?"
"You don't remember me."
It wasn't a question.
"No."
A quiet breath came through the phone.
"I know."
I looked at Evelyn.
She was crying silently.
"Why don't I remember you?"
Claire didn't answer immediately.
When she finally spoke, her voice sounded broken.
"Because I asked them to remove your memories of that night."
The room exploded with silence.
My grip tightened around the phone.
"What?"
Nobody moved.
Not even the General.
"I didn't understand what I was asking for at the time," Claire continued.
"I thought I was protecting you."
I felt anger rise.
"You erased my memories?"
"No."
Her voice became urgent.
"Lauren, listen to me. I didn't erase them."
She paused.
"Someone else did."
The room went still.
I looked at the General.
Then Mike.
Then my father.
"Who?"
Claire took a breath.
"The person who changed your mission."
My stomach tightened.
"Tell me who."
Before she answered, another sound came through the phone.
A door closing.
Claire's voice changed.
"Richard, you have to leave."
My father frowned.
"What?"
"They know I contacted you."
The lights flickered again.
Everyone immediately looked around.
The General raised his hand.
A silent command.
Stay alert.
"Claire, where are you?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she whispered:
"Lauren, do you still have the photograph?"
I looked at the picture on the table.
The one with the message.
"Yes."
"Good."
A pause.
"Look at the back again."
I turned it over.
I had already seen the words.
Lauren, ask who pulled the trigger.
But now I noticed something beneath the handwriting.
A faded mark.
Almost invisible.
A symbol.
The same symbol from the metal fragment.
My breath stopped.
"Claire..."
"That symbol belonged to a private operation."
Evelyn stepped closer.
"Claire, tell her."
Claire went quiet.
Then she said:
"The mission wasn't changed because someone wanted you dead."
I waited.
"Someone changed it because they needed you to find something."
Nobody spoke.
The General looked disturbed.
"Find what?"
Claire answered:
"The person who betrayed them."
My mind raced.
"Who?"
Another silence.
Then Claire said:
"Your father knows."
Everyone looked at Richard.
My father froze.
"No."
The word escaped him.
Not anger.
Fear.
I stared at him.
"Dad."
He looked at me.
"I didn't know everything."
"But you knew something."
He lowered his head.
"Yes."
The confession hurt more than I expected.
After everything.
After all the lies.
He finally admitted it.
"What did you know?"
My father sat down slowly.
"When you were recovering, I was contacted by someone."
"Who?"
He looked at Claire's name still glowing on the phone.
"Someone who said they could explain what happened."
My voice became quieter.
"And?"
"I met them."
The room held its breath.
"What did they tell you?"
My father looked at me.
"They told me you weren't the target."
I frowned.
"Then who was?"
Before he could answer, Claire interrupted.
"Richard."
Her voice sounded urgent.
"Don't say that over the phone."
My father looked confused.
"Claire?"
"They are listening."
The General immediately reached for his communication device.
"Everyone move away from the phones."
Too late.
A loud crack came from the hallway.
Everyone turned.
Mike reacted first.
He pushed me behind him.
The private dining room door had a small hole in it.
Someone had fired from outside.
Nobody screamed.
Nobody panicked.
Years of training took over.
The General gave orders.
"Secure the room."
Mike moved toward the door.
The hallway outside was empty.
But something had been left there.
A small envelope.
My name was written on it.
Captain Lauren Hayes.
I picked it up.
The General stopped me.
"Don't open it."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
His expression was serious.
"Because whoever left that knows exactly what you are looking for."
I opened it anyway.
Inside was a single piece of paper.
One sentence.
My hands started shaking.
Because the handwriting wasn't Claire's.
It wasn't my father's.
It wasn't anyone I recognized.
It said:
"You survived because someone sacrificed themselves."
Below the sentence was another line.
A location.
Alhadar Valley.
The exact coordinates.
Mike looked at the paper.
His face changed.
"No."
I looked at him.
"What?"
He stepped closer.
"That location..."
He stopped.
The General looked at him.
"Mike."
Mike's eyes stayed on the coordinates.
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
He looked at me.
"Because that was where we found the body."
The room went silent.
"What body?"
Mike didn't answer.
His face had gone pale.
"The body of the person we thought was responsible."
My heart started beating faster.
"Who?"
Mike looked at the paper again.
Then at me.
And whispered:
"Lauren... the person we buried in that valley had your name on their identification tag."
Nobody moved.
The General immediately grabbed the paper.
But it was too late.
Because beneath the coordinates, a second message appeared.
Not written.
Printed.
A message that made Evelyn step backward.
"The wrong person was buried."
May you like
Then the lights went out.
And from somewhere inside the dark room, a woman whispered my name...
