Chapter 5 - The Monster They Remembered
Adrian read the address twice.
“Old Lakeside Hotel.”
Viktor looked at the clock.
“Closed twenty years.”
Mara removed the chip from the server.
“That’s why he chose it.”
“You are not going alone,” Adrian said.
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
Mara looked at him.
“We have known each other for approximately four hours.”
“Long enough to know you make reckless plans look organized.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t praise.”
She pocketed the chip.
Viktor said, “Cross wants you isolated.”
“I know.”
“Then why give him what he wants?”
“Because he believes isolated means alone.”
Adrian understood.
“You have a plan.”
“No.”
“That is not comforting.”
Mara looked at him.
“I have experience.”
They spent eight minutes preparing.
Not weapons.
Information.
Mara copied the most important evidence packets to three devices.
Adrian created delayed transmissions.
Viktor contacted two remaining loyal crews through an encrypted radio.
Mara gave him strict instructions.
“No one enters until I say.”
Viktor bristled.
“You are giving orders now?”
“You can ignore me.”
“And?”
“You’ll lose your sister.”
Viktor stared.
“My sister is dead.”
Mara paused.
That explained the emotion.
Julian had taken something from everyone.
“My mistake,” she said.
Viktor nodded.
Accepted.
They reached the Lakeside at 12:39.
The hotel rose above the lakefront like a dead monument.
Mara entered alone.
No visible gun.
No armor.
Only Elena’s bracelet around her wrist.
The lobby smelled of mold.
A chandelier hung above cracked marble.
Funny, Mara thought.
Criminal men seemed unusually committed to chandeliers.
“Elevator,” a voice said through an old speaker.
Julian.
Mara entered.
The button for floor twelve illuminated automatically.
The elevator climbed.
Mara watched the numbers.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
She remembered Black Harbor.
Training rooms without windows.
Fake passports.
Foreign cities.
Men who believed violence made them important.
Women who survived by allowing men to underestimate them.
She had left because she wanted to become someone else.
Elena had helped her.
Sunday dinners.
Birthdays.
Bad movies.
Normal arguments.
Normal silence.
A life.
The elevator opened.
Julian waited in the hallway.
Alone.
“You came.”
“You expected me.”
“I hoped.”
“Where is Elena?”
“Upstairs.”
“Then why stop me here?”
Julian smiled.
“Because I wanted one minute.”
“For?”
“To see whether the stories were true.”
Mara’s face remained blank.
“What stories?”
“That when the Wraith enters a room, everyone inside becomes aware of their own heartbeat.”
Mara stepped out.
“You should read fewer employee newsletters.”
Julian laughed.
“Still hiding behind humor.”
“No. Humor is what I use when someone isn’t frightening.”
His smile weakened.
Good.
“You destroyed Black Harbor,” he said.
“It destroyed itself.”
“You embarrassed powerful people.”
“They survived.”
“Some didn’t.”
“Neither did their victims.”
Julian studied her.
“You could have run it.”
“I didn’t want it.”
“That is why you were dangerous.”
He stepped closer.
“Everyone else wanted something.”
“I wanted things.”
“What?”
“My sister to have a normal life.”
Julian smiled sadly.
“And how did that work?”
Mara hit him.
One clean strike.
Not dramatic.
Not theatrical.
Her fist caught his mouth.
He staggered.
Two hidden doors opened.
Six armed men appeared.
Mara did not move.
Julian wiped blood from his lip.
“There.”
He smiled.
“That’s who I came to see.”
“You came to see a memory.”
“No.”
He pointed toward the stairs.
“I came to wake her up.”
Mara looked at the guards.
“Are these your best?”
One man smirked.
Julian said, “Careful.”
Mara looked at him.
“You told them who I was?”
“Yes.”
“Then they’re already afraid.”
The smirk disappeared.
Julian motioned.
“Upstairs.”
They escorted her to the penthouse.
Elena sat near the windows.
When she saw Mara, she cried.
“Mara.”
Mara’s face softened.
“Hey, Ellie.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing.”
“I should’ve called.”
“You did.”
“Earlier.”
“Yes.”
“I thought I could fix it.”
“That runs in the family.”
Julian entered behind Mara.
A metal case rested on the table.
Mara looked at it.
“What is inside?”
Elena answered.
“Dad’s original records.”
Mara frowned.
“Where did you find them?”
“Samuel told me.”
“Why you?”
“Because he trusted Dad.”
Mara looked at the case.
Julian approached.
“Open it.”
“No.”
“I can have your sister—”
“If you intended to hurt her, you’d have done it already.”
Julian’s expression changed.
Mara stepped closer.
“You need us both alive because Samuel designed the release system that way.”
Julian said nothing.
“The drive is one key. Elena’s bracelet is another. But there is a third condition.”
Elena looked at Mara.
“You figured it out?”
Mara nodded.
“Blood.”
Julian frowned.
Mara smiled.
“You thought ‘blood’ meant family.”
Elena said, “It means consent.”
Adrian’s voice suddenly came through a hidden earpiece in Mara’s hair.
“Confirmed.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed.
Mara continued.
“Samuel designed the archive so neither sister could release everything alone. Elena’s token identifies her. My biometric profile confirms me.”
Julian stared.
“And now both of you are here.”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“Thank you.”
Mara smiled back.
“That’s the part you misunderstood.”
Elena lifted her bound hands.
The rope slipped free.
Julian turned.
Elena stood.
“I was never tied.”
The guards raised their weapons.
Mara shouted, “NOW.”
The lights died.
Sprinklers erupted.
A fire alarm screamed.
Adrian had triggered the hotel’s old emergency system remotely.
Mara moved through darkness.
One guard lost his weapon.
Another hit the floor after colliding with a table.
Elena ducked behind the couch.
Julian ran.
Mara followed.
He reached the stairwell.
She caught him at the door.
He turned with a small handgun.
Mara stopped.
Julian smiled.
“Even monsters bleed.”
Mara looked at the gun.
Then at him.
“Do you know why Viktor was afraid of me?”
“Because you destroyed empires.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“Because I never needed to.”
Sirens began outside.
Julian frowned.
Mara lifted both hands.
“Every file that mattered went to investigators twelve minutes ago.”
His face changed.
“You’re lying.”
“Ask yourself why I came here without the drive.”
Julian looked at her empty hands.
For the first time, real fear appeared.
Mara continued.
“You wanted the Wraith.”
She smiled faintly.
“She was never a killer.”
Sirens grew louder.
“She was an accountant with very good timing.”
Julian raised the gun.
A voice behind him said:
“Drop it.”
Adrian stood in the stairwell.
Viktor beside him.
Julian laughed.
“You think this ends with me?”
“No,” Mara said.
“I think it begins.”
Julian looked toward the windows.
Police lights painted the rain red and blue.
Then he smiled again.
Too confidently.
Mara saw it.
“What?”
Julian lowered the gun.
“Nothing.”
“What did you do?”
He looked toward Elena.
Elena’s face changed.
Her phone vibrated on the table.
One message.
She picked it up.
Read it.
Then looked at Mara.
“Mara…”
“What?”
Elena turned the phone around.
A photograph filled the screen.
Adrian’s office.
The server.
And a man standing beside it holding Mara’s father’s original letter.
Below the image was a message.
CROSS WAS NEVER THE ONLY ONE.
May you like
Then a name appeared.
And Viktor whispered, “That’s impossible.”
