CHAPTER 17 RICHARD WALKS AGAIN
00:09:56
The countdown kept moving.
Nine minutes.
That was all we had.
I stared at the black screen.
My mother's face was gone.
But her last words remained inside my head.
Don't come for me.
I turned toward Richard's father.
“What did you do to her?”
He smiled.
“You should listen to your mother.”
I raised my gun.
“Where is she?”
“Somewhere you cannot reach.”
Richard stepped beside me.
“Tell us.”
His father looked at him.
“You always were impatient.”
“You tried to kill me.”
“I tried to protect the family.”
“You destroyed it.”
“No.”
His father's eyes moved toward me.
“She destroyed it.”
He pointed at Ofelia.
“She allowed Julian to steal one daughter.”
Ofelia's face went pale.
“I saved her.”
“You betrayed us.”
“I saved a child.”
“You destroyed Nightfall.”
Ofelia looked at me.
“That was the only thing I was ever proud of.”
Richard's father pressed another button.
The doors opened.
Guards rushed in.
Richard fired.
Miguel pulled me behind a pillar.
My sister grabbed Ofelia.
“Move!”
We ran.
The hallway erupted with gunfire.
Then something happened.
Richard stopped.
He dropped his weapon.
And grabbed the wall.
“Richard?”
He couldn't breathe.
His legs trembled.
He collapsed.
I ran toward him.
“Richard!”
Miguel shouted:
“Get him out!”
“I can't leave him!”
“I'll carry him.”
Miguel tried to lift Richard.
Richard pushed him away.
“No.”
He looked at his legs.
Then at me.
“I can feel them.”
“What?”
“My feet.”
He grabbed the wall.
Slowly—
he stood.
I stared.
Richard was standing.
Not with support.
Not for a second.
He was standing on his own.
His injured legs trembled beneath him.
But they held.
“My God,” Helena whispered.
Richard took one step.
Then another.
He looked at me.
“I haven't walked in eight months.”
I smiled through tears.
“Then walk.”
He took another step.
And another.
Then he laughed.
A real laugh.
The first I'd heard from him.
“I can walk.”
Miguel stared.
“How?”
Richard looked at Helena.
She immediately understood.
“The injections.”
Richard nodded.
“What injections?”
“The medication they gave you after the accident.”
She checked his pupils.
“They suppressed your muscle response.”
“And now?”
“The Nightfall system was interrupted.”
She looked at me.
“When Maya transmitted the evidence, the neural-control network lost its remote signal.”
Richard flexed his foot.
“So they were controlling my paralysis.”
“Partly.”
I looked at him.
“Can you keep walking?”
Richard smiled.
“I intend to.”
We escaped through the service tunnel.
Richard insisted on walking.
Every step was painful.
But he refused help.
At the end of the tunnel, he stopped.
“My father knew.”
“Yes.”
“He knew I could walk.”
“Probably.”
“He kept me in that chair because it made me harmless.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
Richard stared at me.
“It made everyone believe you were harmless.”
He understood.
His expression changed.
“My father wasn't protecting me.”
“No.”
“He was hiding me.”
“Yes.”
“From the board.”
“From everyone.”
Richard looked down.
Then he whispered:
“He was afraid of what I'd find.”
We reached an abandoned security office.
Miguel locked the door.
Helena checked the monitors.
My sister searched for my mother.
Ofelia sat silently in the corner.
I walked toward her.
“Tell me where she is.”
Ofelia looked at me.
“Who?”
“My mother.”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You've lied to me enough.”
“I am not lying.”
“You knew where my sister was.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my father was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Nightfall existed.”
“Yes.”
“And you don't know where my mother is?”
Ofelia looked at me.
“No.”
I believed her.
For the first time.
“What do you know?”
She took a deep breath.
“Your mother wasn't taken by Richard's father.”
“Then who?”
“Eleanor.”
Richard turned.
“My mother?”
Ofelia nodded.
“She took Isabel four years ago.”
My sister froze.
“Why?”
“Because your mother discovered that Eleanor was still working with Nightfall.”
Richard stared.
“I thought Eleanor protected me.”
“She did.”
“Then why would she take Isabel?”
“To protect her.”
My sister laughed bitterly.
“From what?”
“From yourself.”
Everyone went silent.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Ofelia looked at my sister.
“Your mother was afraid of what Nightfall would do if they discovered you were alive.”
“So she hid me.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Ofelia hesitated.
“In the one place no one would search.”
“Where?”
“Under the mansion.”
Richard frowned.
“My mansion?”
“Yes.”
I stared at her.
“The mansion had another level?”
“Three.”
We returned to the Vance estate.
Richard walked through the front doors.
For years, he had entered that mansion in a wheelchair.
Now he walked.
The guards stared.
Some dropped their weapons.
Others simply backed away.
Richard looked at them.
“Anyone who wants to live through tonight should leave.”
Nobody moved.
Then one guard slowly removed his badge.
Another followed.
Then another.
Richard turned to me.
“They're afraid.”
“No.”
I looked around.
“They're finally free to choose.”
We entered the library.
Ofelia walked toward an old fireplace.
She removed a brass ornament.
A hidden mechanism clicked.
The floor opened.
A staircase appeared.
Richard stared.
“My father never told me about this.”
“Because it wasn't his.”
Ofelia looked at me.
“It belonged to Julian.”
We descended.
The hidden level was different from Nightfall.
No laboratories.
No machines.
Just shelves.
Documents.
Photographs.
Boxes.
And a large wooden table.
On the table was a handwritten note.
FOR MAYA.
I picked it up.
My father's handwriting.
I opened it.
If you found this room, Ofelia finally kept her promise.
I looked at her.
She was crying.
The letter continued.
She will tell you she betrayed me.
That is only partly true.
She betrayed Nightfall.
She never betrayed you.
I looked at Ofelia.
She covered her mouth.
I kept reading.
When Daniel died, Ofelia realized what Nightfall really was.
She agreed to work with me.
Her role was simple.
Protect Maya.
Protect Isabel.
And wait.
Then the final line:
If Eleanor ever disappears, trust Ofelia.
I looked up.
“Eleanor disappeared?”
Ofelia nodded.
“Four years ago.”
“When?”
“The day your father was supposedly buried.”
Richard stepped closer.
“What happened?”
“Eleanor came to me.”
“Why?”
“She told me the board had discovered she was protecting Richard.”
Richard stared.
“She asked me to hide her.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Ofelia pointed toward the wall.
“Behind there.”
Richard opened the hidden panel.
A small room appeared.
Empty.
Except for a photograph.
Richard picked it up.
It showed Eleanor.
Standing beside my mother.
Both alive.
And beneath them—
a date.
FOUR YEARS AGO.
On the back:
WE ARE GOING UNDERGROUND.
My sister suddenly grabbed the edge of the table.
“Maya.”
I turned.
She was staring at another document.
“What?”
“This is my file.”
She opened it.
Inside were pages from twenty-seven years ago.
But one page was different.
SUBJECT ISABEL TORRES — CURRENT STATUS
My sister read it.
Her face changed.
“What?”
She handed it to me.
I read the final line.
SUBJECT TRANSFERRED TO FAMILY PROTECTION PROGRAM — SPONSOR: ELEANOR VANCE.
Richard stared.
“My mother protected you.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she lie?”
“Because someone was watching her.”
I looked at the date.
Four years ago.
The same year my father supposedly died.
The same year Helena disappeared.
The same year Nightfall began again.
I whispered:
“She wasn't hiding my sister.”
My sister looked at me.
“She was hiding her from the board.”
Suddenly, the old television turned on.
No one touched it.
A live feed appeared.
My mother.
She was sitting in a small room.
No restraints.
No injuries.
But she looked exhausted.
I stepped closer.
“Mom.”
She looked into the camera.
“Maya.”
I touched the screen.
“Where are you?”
She looked away.
“I can't tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because they're listening.”
My sister stepped beside me.
“Mom.”
My mother's eyes filled with tears.
“Isabel.”
They looked at each other.
Twenty-seven years apart.
Mother and daughter.
Neither knew what to say.
Then my mother whispered:
“You found each other.”
My sister nodded.
“Yes.”
My mother smiled.
Then she looked at me.
“I am proud of you.”
I cried.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“Why didn't you come home?”
“Because home was never safe.”
She took a breath.
“Your father tried.”
“Where is he?”
Her expression changed.
“He's close.”
“Where?”
“Don't trust the man who tells you he is your father.”
I froze.
“My father?”
She shook her head.
“Not Julian.”
Richard looked at me.
“Then who?”
My mother looked directly into the camera.
“Richard's father.”
The screen went black.
A second later, every monitor in the room activated.
A file appeared.
NIGHTFALL PHASE FOUR
Then:
PRIMARY SUBJECT: MAYA TORRES
SECONDARY SUBJECT: ISABEL TORRES
TERTIARY SUBJECT: RICHARD VANCE
I stared.
Richard's face went pale.
“What does tertiary subject mean?”
My sister answered:
“It means you're part of the experiment.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
Helena stepped toward the screen.
“There's more.”
She opened another file.
NEURAL RESPONSE TEST — RICHARD VANCE
AGE: 50
ACCIDENT DATE: EIGHT MONTHS PRIOR
PURPOSE: TEST REMOTE MOTOR SUPPRESSION
Richard stared at the screen.
“My accident was an experiment.”
“Yes.”
“And Maya…”
“They brought you into the mansion because they needed a second subject.”
I felt sick.
“They used us both.”
“Yes.”
Richard clenched his fists.
“But why?”
My sister looked at the final line.
OBJECTIVE: DETERMINE WHETHER MEMORY AND MOTOR FUNCTION CAN BE CONTROLLED SIMULTANEOUSLY.
Silence.
Then Richard laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because the truth was finally too cruel to deny.
“They didn't want to control one person.”
He looked at me.
“They wanted to control an entire population.”
A notification appeared.
PHASE FOUR ACTIVATED.
Then another.
PUBLIC TRANSMISSION BEGINNING.
I looked at my sister.
“What does that mean?”
Her face went white.
“The evidence we released…”
“Yes?”
“It wasn't only evidence.”
“What was it?”
“A trigger.”
“For what?”
She looked at me.
“The system is now transmitting Nightfall's neural architecture to every connected medical network in the world.”
I froze.
“They're spreading it?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“They're waking every device capable of receiving it.”
Richard looked horrified.
“How many?”
My sister whispered:
“Millions.”
The television suddenly showed emergency broadcasts.
Hospitals.
Ambulances.
Neurological monitoring systems.
Patients collapsing.
Doctors screaming.
Machines malfunctioning.
My heart stopped.
“We have to stop it.”
My sister nodded.
“Yes.”
“How?”
She looked at my pendant.
“There is only one person who can shut down the original core.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
Richard stood.
“Then let's go.”
I looked at him.
“You can barely walk.”
He smiled.
“I've spent eight months sitting down.”
He took another step.
“I'm done.”
Miguel loaded his weapon.
Helena picked up the files.
Ofelia stood slowly.
“I know where the core is.”
I looked at her.
“Where?”
She pointed beneath the floor.
“Directly under us.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
Ofelia whispered:
“Nightfall began beneath this mansion.”
Then the floor trembled.
A deep mechanical pulse echoed beneath our feet.
Once.
Twice.
Then—
THUMP.
The lights went red.
A hidden elevator opened.
Inside was a single message:
MAYA TORRES — FINAL SUBJECT.
And beneath it:
COME ALONE.
I looked at my sister.
She shook her head.
“No.”
I looked at Richard.
He stepped beside me.
“No chance.”
Miguel checked his weapon.
“Not happening.”
I smiled faintly.
“For once…”
I stepped into the elevator.
“…I'm not surviving alone.”
The doors closed.
And the elevator began descending.
LEVEL -1
LEVEL -2
LEVEL -3
LEVEL -4
Then the display changed.
LEVEL -10
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
A man was waiting.
Gray-haired.
Calm.
Smiling.
Richard's father.
He looked at me.
Then at Richard.
Then at my sister.
And finally said:
“You're finally ready.”
He stepped aside.
Behind him was the largest machine I had ever seen.
And at its center—
a chair.
The same chair from my childhood.
The chair where Nightfall began.
The chair where everything had been taken from me.
My father.
My mother.
My sister.
My memories.
My life.
Richard's father smiled.
“Sit down, Maya.”
I stared at the chair.
Then I smiled.
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
May you like
I raised my gun.
“You're going to sit.”
