Chapter 11 - The Signal Hidden in the Watch
David Carter slowly descended the metal staircase.
His movements were careful, almost painful.
Emily could not take her eyes off him.
For twelve years she had imagined this moment in a hundred different ways.
In none of them had she been surrounded by armed strangers inside an abandoned rail warehouse.
David stopped several feet from the bus.
"Emily."
She stared at him.
"You let me believe you were dead."
His face tightened.
"I had no choice."
"There is always a choice."
Daniel watched them from the aisle.
David's eyes moved toward him.
"You were never supposed to marry her."
Daniel's expression darkened.
"You don't get to judge anyone."
"You were assigned to watch her, not control her."
Emily turned toward Daniel.
"Assigned?"
David spoke before Daniel could stop him.
"Daniel's father worked for the organization I investigated. After the warehouse fire, they placed Daniel near you to learn whether I had left anything behind."
Emily looked sickened.
"Our entire marriage was a mission?"
Daniel answered quietly.
"It started that way."
"And then?"
He looked at her stomach.
For a second, regret appeared in his eyes.
Then Dr. Ward interrupted.
"This reunion is touching, but we are running out of time."
David lifted his wrist.
The silver watch caught the warehouse light.
Emily recognized it immediately.
The same watch from the video.
Dr. Ward's face changed.
"You kept it."
David pressed the small crown on its side.
A low electronic pulse moved through the warehouse.
The masked figures' communication devices sparked and shut down.
The bus doors opened.
Thomas shouted to the passengers.
"Everyone out!"
People rushed toward the exit.
The nurse held Emily's arm, but Emily refused to leave.
"My father is here."
"So are dangerous people."
"I need answers."
Dr. Ward reached beneath her coat.
David moved first.
He threw the watch toward Thomas.
Thomas caught it.
"Break the glass!" David shouted.
Thomas slammed the watch against a metal pole.
The face shattered.
Inside, instead of gears, a tiny red light began blinking.
Dr. Ward screamed.
"No!"
A deep mechanical sound rolled beneath the warehouse floor.
Metal panels shifted.
The ground trembled.
Daniel looked around in panic.
"What did you activate?"
David kept his eyes on Dr. Ward.
"The real archive."
A section of concrete floor slowly opened.
Beneath it appeared a narrow staircase descending into darkness.
Cold air rose from below.
Dr. Ward ordered the masked figures to stop David, but their disabled equipment had left them confused.
Thomas moved beside Emily.
"Your father didn't hide the evidence in my scar."
David nodded.
"The capsule is only a key."
"A key to what?"
David looked down the staircase.
"To everything they have spent twelve years trying to erase."
A heavy sound echoed from below.
Not machinery.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Approaching the surface.
David's face lost all color.
"That is not supposed to be possible."
Emily looked into the darkness.
A shadow appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
Then a man wearing her father's old black coat stepped into the light.
May you like
He had David Carter's face.
But he was at least twenty years younger.
