Chapter 16 - THE FACILITY IN THE MOUNTAINS
The facility was buried beneath the mountains.
No signs.
No roads.
No obvious entrances.
Only a concrete structure disguised as an abandoned research station.
Michael knew the security system.
He had once worked there.
Maya hated the thought of that.
But they had no other option.
Inside, the air smelled of dust and metal.
Rows of empty rooms lined the corridor.
Michael moved quickly.
“Conrad abandoned this place years ago.”
Maya looked around.
“Then why does it have electricity?”
Michael stopped.
They all heard it.
A generator.
Someone was here.
Daniel drew his weapon.
Maya's heart pounded.
They followed the sound.
A door stood at the end of the corridor.
Locked.
Michael entered a code.
The door opened.
Inside was a small room.
A bed.
A table.
Medical equipment.
And photographs covering the wall.
Maya stepped forward.
Every photograph showed her.
As a child.
At school.
At sixteen.
At twenty.
Her wedding.
Her son.
Her life.
Someone had been watching her for decades.
Then she noticed the most recent photograph.
Taken three weeks earlier.
Her family outside their house.
Maya turned toward Michael.
“He was watching me.”
Michael nodded.
“Someone was.”
“Who?”
A voice answered from behind them.
“Me.”
Maya turned.
A man stood in the doorway.
Older.
Thin.
Gray hair.
He leaned heavily on a cane.
Maya stared.
Something inside her recognized him before her mind did.
His eyes.
His jaw.
The slight tilt of his head.
The way his fingers moved.
She whispered:
“Dad?”
The man stopped breathing.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then he said:
“Maya.”
Her knees nearly collapsed.
Alexander Hawthorne was alive.
Older.
Scarred.
Broken.
But alive.
Maya ran toward him.
He dropped the cane.
They embraced.
She cried into his shoulder.
“You left me.”
His arms tightened around her.
“I never left you.”
“You were gone.”
“I was trying to find you.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I thought you were dead.”
They held each other like two people trying to recover twenty-four years in one moment.
Finally Maya pulled away.
“Why didn't you come home?”
Alexander looked at Michael.
Then at Daniel.
“Because every time I tried, someone died.”
Maya wiped her tears.
“Who?”
“Anyone connected to me.”
He looked toward the photographs.
“They watched you for twenty-four years.”
“Why?”
“Because you were the last piece of leverage they had.”
Maya's stomach turned.
“What do they want?”
Alexander's face hardened.
“The evidence.”
“The evidence in the red room?”
“Yes.”
Maya froze.
“It's gone.”
Alexander stared at her.
“What?”
“We found it.”
His face changed.
“Then they know you're alive.”
A distant alarm began sounding.
Michael cursed.
“They found us.”
Alexander grabbed his cane.
“Get her out.”
“No.”
Maya shook her head.
“I'm not leaving you again.”
Alexander looked at her.
For the first time, he smiled.
“You really are my daughter.”
May you like
Then the lights went out.
And gunfire erupted outside.
