Chapter 6 - The Locked Medicine Room
The emergency lights came on almost instantly.
Marco was still there.
His hands were raised.
Rafael had his weapon against Marco's chest.
"Don't move."
"I didn't."
Gideon stared at the bracelet.
"Samuel Vale was your brother?"
"Half brother."
"And you never told me?"
"My mother changed our names after he died."
"Why keep his bracelet?"
Marco's eyes lowered.
"Because he wasn't the monster you think he was."
Gideon laughed once.
Coldly.
"My mother died."
"Samuel tried to stop it."
Silence.
Marco looked at Norah.
"Evelyn Blake knew."
"Then tell us," Norah said.
Marco exhaled.
"Samuel created the poisoning method under Victor Soren's orders. At first he believed it would be used to weaken targets, not kill them. When he discovered the truth, he tried to expose Soren."
"And my father?" Gideon asked.
"Your father was paying Soren."
Gideon's expression became unreadable.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Convenient."
"It's the truth."
Norah remembered the tape.
The person responsible isn't Victor Soren.
Someone inside the Wolf family gave him access.
"What happened to Samuel?" she asked.
Marco looked at her.
"He went to Evelyn."
"My mother?"
"She was the accountant who could prove the payments. They planned to expose everything."
"But he died."
Marco nodded.
"Before they could."
"And my mother?"
"She ran."
Norah's throat tightened.
"Until they found her."
Marco looked away.
Gideon paced slowly.
His strength was returning, but each step still cost him.
"Why didn't you tell me any of this?"
"Because I didn't know who inside your family was responsible."
"My father is dead."
"That doesn't mean the network died with him."
Rafael lowered his weapon slightly.
"Who attacked the convoy using Marco's route?"
Marco shook his head.
"Not me."
"Someone got your route."
"Then someone monitored me."
Norah remembered something.
"The medicine room."
Everyone looked at her.
"What?" Gideon asked.
"The person delivering the counterfeit supplies had access to the medicine room."
Rafael nodded.
"So?"
"Who controls the access logs?"
Marco's face changed.
"I do."
"Then if someone wanted to frame you..."
"They'd use my credentials."
They went immediately.
The estate's medicine room was located beside the private clinic.
Rafael opened the electronic lock.
Inside, shelves of drugs lined the walls.
Hart began checking inventory.
Norah examined the access terminal.
"Can you see deleted logs?"
Marco approached.
"Not normally."
"Normally?"
"The backup server keeps raw entries for thirty days."
He accessed it.
Thousands of records appeared.
They searched Gideon's illness period.
Marco's credentials appeared repeatedly.
2:13 a.m.
4:47 a.m.
1:08 a.m.
Times when Marco insisted he had been asleep.
Rafael checked security records.
"Your location confirms it."
Marco looked at Gideon.
"Someone cloned my credentials."
Norah pointed at another column.
"What's that?"
Device ID.
Every false entry came from the same terminal.
ADMIN-04.
Rafael's face changed.
"Where is that?"
Nobody answered.
Then Gideon did.
"My father's office."
The room went silent.
His father's office had been sealed since his death.
Gideon kept it untouched.
Not for sentimental reasons.
Because there were some rooms even powerful men avoided.
They crossed the estate.
Gideon stood before the old office.
Rafael unlocked it.
Dust covered the desk.
Portraits lined the walls.
Gideon entered alone at first.
Norah followed after a moment.
"Your father?"
Gideon stared at a photograph.
"He taught me everything."
"Good things?"
A bitter smile.
"Some."
"And the rest?"
"How to survive men like him."
They found ADMIN-04 beneath the desk.
The computer was powered on.
Someone had been using it.
Recently.
Norah touched the keyboard.
Warm.
"Someone was here."
Rafael searched the adjoining room.
Gideon opened a drawer.
Inside was an old ledger.
Not counterfeit.
Original.
Payments to Samuel Vale.
Payments to Victor Soren.
And another name.
A. WOLF.
Norah looked at Gideon.
"Who's A. Wolf?"
His face went white.
"My uncle."
"Alive?"
Gideon stared at the page.
"Anthony Wolf disappeared ten years ago."
Rafael cursed softly.
Norah turned another page.
A recent entry had been written beneath the old records.
September 14.
Three days earlier.
N.B. IDENTIFIED.
G.W. TERMINATION FAILED.
SECOND PHASE AUTHORIZED.
Norah's skin prickled.
"Second phase?"
An alarm sounded.
Hart's voice came through Rafael's radio.
"Get back to the clinic."
"What happened?"
"The medicine room."
"What about it?"
"The door locked itself."
Rafael tried his access panel.
No response.
Hart continued.
"And Norah's not the only name in the records."
Norah looked at Gideon.
"What name?"
Static.
Then Hart answered.
"There's another Blake."
Norah froze.
"My mother was an only child."
"No," Hart said.
"This one has your date of birth."
Norah stopped breathing.
A second file appeared on the office computer.
A photograph began loading.
Gideon stared at the screen.
Norah stepped closer.
The image resolved.
It showed two newborn babies.
And beneath them were two names.
May you like
Norah Blake.
And Natalie Blake.
