Chapter 33 - DONOVAN'S LAST FILE
Daniel carefully opened the cabinet.
Unlike the dusty files surrounding them, everything inside had been preserved in airtight containers.
Medical records.
Photographs.
Audio tapes.
Security badges.
At the very back rested a thick black binder labeled in silver lettering.
DONOVAN — PERSONAL ARCHIVE.
Bennett placed it gently on the examination table.
Alex opened the first page.
Instead of reports, the binder began like a diary.
Day 1
I accepted this assignment believing Orion would protect innocent children.
Day 143
I realized the children were never the purpose.
Daniel turned the page.
Day 811
I have begun creating false identities. If they discover what I'm doing, they will execute everyone involved.
Alex's chest tightened.
Donovan had spent years secretly hiding children.
Including him.
Several pages later, another handwritten paragraph appeared.
If Alex Carter ever reaches this archive, tell him his grandfather never lied.
Alex stopped reading.
"But..."
"He told me I was his grandson."
Daniel quietly nodded.
"Maybe you were."
Alex looked confused.
"The transfer order said another name."
Daniel pointed to the diary.
"Names can be changed."
"Families are harder to erase."
Bennett continued reading.
The final completed page had been written only days before Donovan disappeared.
I have hidden the final evidence somewhere they will never search.
But if Elias Voss finds me first...
the map must never fall into his hands.
Alex immediately looked around.
"What map?"
At that exact moment, a folded sheet slipped from between the diary pages and floated onto the floor.
Daniel picked it up.
It wasn't a map of the building.
It wasn't a city map.
It was a hand-drawn diagram of an underground complex extending far beyond Levels B and C.
At the bottom, one location had been circled repeatedly in red ink.
LEVEL D
May you like
Beside it, Donovan had written only four words.
The truth was buried here.
