Chapter 9 - MARA’S FATHER
Robert Ellison had died in a private clinic after a supposed stroke.
Closed casket.
Mara had been traveling when it happened.
Her father's attorney handled everything.
Evelyn.
Mara turned slowly toward the sealed vault door as though she could see Evelyn through it.
Another lie.
But why?
Samuel showed her the photograph.
“He's alive.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You've known?”
“For six months.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every time I gave you a truth, I needed to know what you'd do with it.”
Mara stepped toward him.
“I am finished being tested.”
“I know.”
Something in Samuel's expression softened.
“That's why I'm telling you now.”
Celia whispered, “Robert was Conrad's witness.”
Graham nodded.
“Conrad didn't trust any Circle member.”
“Why my father?”
“Because Robert hated him.”
Mara frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It made perfect sense.”
Graham looked toward the old files.
“Conrad believed the safest witness was someone with no reason to protect him.”
The ventilation alarm beeped.
Twenty-seven minutes.
Mara forced herself to focus.
“How do we activate the third scanner if Robert isn't here?”
Celia searched around the mechanism.
“Conrad must have built an alternative.”
Mara picked up Daniel's envelope.
The message.
If Celia is alive, ask who killed Conrad Vale.
Maybe not merely a clue.
A sequence.
Celia.
Conrad.
Robert.
Daniel.
All connected.
She opened Daniel's box fully.
Beneath the recorder was a photograph.
Daniel and Robert.
Taken two months before Daniel died.
Mara stared.
Her father had told her he and Daniel hadn't spoken for more than a year before the accident.
Another lie.
On the back Daniel had written:
HE KNOWS WHERE THE WITNESS KEY IS.
Mara showed Celia.
“What is the witness key?”
Celia examined the photo.
“A voice phrase.”
“Meaning?”
“Conrad liked layered authentication.”
Graham smiled faintly.
“He didn't trust computers.”
“What phrase?”
Celia shook her head.
“Robert chose it.”
Mara thought about her father.
Distant.
Severe.
Obsessed with discipline.
He had never been sentimental.
Except once.
When Mara was nine, during a thunderstorm, he had found her and Daniel hiding beneath the stairs.
Their mother had recently died.
Robert sat with them in the darkness.
He said:
Fear is information.
Nothing more.
Daniel repeated the phrase for years.
Whenever Mara panicked before exams.
Before speeches.
Before her wedding.
Fear is information.
Nothing more.
Mara looked at the mechanism.
She pressed the third scanner.
“Fear is information.”
Nothing.
“Nothing more.”
A green light appeared.
Witness phrase accepted.
The emergency bolts released.
Everyone stared at Mara.
“How did you know?”
Julian asked.
“My father taught it to us.”
The door opened three inches.
Samuel and Julian pulled.
The seal released.
Fresh air rushed in.
The outer chamber was empty.
Bodies lay near the elevator.
Graham's guards.
Alive?
Some.
Mara crouched beside one.
Pulse.
Weak.
The attackers had used tranquilizers more than bullets.
They wanted access, not a massacre.
Theo appeared from a side corridor.
“Mara!”
Relief flashed across his face.
Elias followed.
“You have a terrible habit of getting locked inside billionaires' basements.”
“Put it on my list.”
Theo looked toward Graham.
“We caught one attacker.”
“Who?”
“No ID.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Talking?”
“No.”
Mara turned toward the vault.
“Then we use the archive.”
Graham stood in front of her.
“No.”
She almost laughed.
“You've lost your negotiating position.”
“If those files leave this room, governments fall.”
“Maybe some should.”
“Markets collapse.”
“Maybe some deserve to.”
“People die.”
That stopped her.
Graham continued.
“This isn't a morality play, Ms. Ellison.”
“No.”
Mara stepped closer.
“It's an accountability problem.”
Samuel began copying drives.
Graham looked furious.
Celia helped.
Beatrice stood motionless.
For the first time, she looked old.
Julian approached his mother.
“Who attacked us?”
Beatrice stared at Graham.
“Not mine.”
Graham nodded.
“Not mine.”
Mara turned.
“Then Circle member number eight.”
Graham's face changed.
There had been seven founders.
But perhaps not anymore.
“How many members are there now?”
Mara asked.
Nobody answered.
Theo's phone rang.
He stepped away.
Then looked toward Mara.
“We have a problem.”
“Another one?”
“The accounts Evelyn froze are reopening.”
Mara turned sharply.
“How?”
“Someone is overriding her authorizations.”
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
Theo handed her the phone.
“It requires someone with higher authority over the Ellison Trust.”
Mara stared at the screen.
TRUSTEE OVERRIDE:
ROBERT ELLISON.
Her father.
Alive.
And actively moving money.
Mara's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A voice she hadn't heard in three years said:
“Hello, Mara.”
Her knees almost gave way.
“Dad?”
May you like
Robert Ellison sighed.
“You really should have stayed away from the gala.”
