Chapter 14 - The Lake House
Maya dropped behind a wooden pew.
Victoria fell beside the altar.
A second bullet struck the stone wall.
Federal agents moved from the surrounding woods.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Vance’s voice came through Maya’s hidden earpiece.
“Stay down.”
Mercer had never entered the chapel.
The shots had come from a remote rifle fixed inside an abandoned bell tower.
By the time agents reached it, he was gone.
Victoria remained conscious.
She pressed one hand against her wounded shoulder.
Maya crawled toward her.
“Where is the lake property?”
Victoria laughed weakly.
“You still want to save me?”
“I want my mother.”
Victoria gave her the location.
The Sterling lake house stood ninety miles north beside a reservoir.
Mercer had chosen it because no cellular signal reached the surrounding forest.
Victoria was taken into custody at a hospital.
Before the ambulance doors closed, she grabbed Maya’s wrist.
“There is a tunnel beneath the eastern boathouse.”
“Conrad built it.”
“Mercer will expect agents at the main road.”
“Why are you helping me?”
Victoria’s fingers weakened.
“Because I spent twenty-four years telling myself that leaving you alive was mercy.”
Her eyes moved toward the bruise on Maya’s face.
“It was cowardice.”
The tactical team reached the reservoir shortly after midnight.
Maya remained inside the command vehicle.
This time, she did not argue.
She watched the officers approach through body-camera feeds.
The main house was empty.
The basement contained medical supplies and three recently used beds.
The eastern boathouse was locked.
Agents forced the door.
Beneath a loose section of flooring, they found the tunnel.
It led through the hillside to a concrete bunker.
Mercer had installed cameras throughout the passage.
He knew they were coming.
Vance entered first behind the tactical officers.
At the end of the corridor, they found a steel door.
A voice came through a speaker.
“Colonel Vance.”
Mercer sounded calm.
“You have spent half your life chasing ghosts.”
Vance looked toward the camera.
“Release the woman.”
“She does not know who she is.”
“Then she cannot threaten you.”
“She is evidence.”
A live video appeared on a wall monitor.
A silver-haired woman sat restrained in a chair.
Her face was bruised.
Her eyes were open but unfocused.
Maya saw the feed from the command vehicle.
She leaned toward the screen.
“Mom.”
The woman on the monitor lifted her head.
As though she had heard Maya across ninety miles of darkness, her lips moved.
May you like
One word escaped them.
“Mara.”
