Chapter 23 - The Founder’s Burden
Daniel stared at his name.
The machine projected a file beside it.
Photographs from his childhood.
School records.
Medical reports.
Business contracts.
Private conversations.
Every important moment of his life had been collected.
“They watched me from the beginning,” he said.
Thomas lowered his eyes.
“I tried to keep you outside the Circle.”
“You made me a founder.”
“To protect the land.”
“You made me a target.”
The machine continued speaking.
“Successor Daniel Cole meets leadership conditions.”
Eleanor stepped in front of him.
“He will not take the chair.”
“Then select an alternative.”
Twelve names appeared.
Adrian Vale was among them.
So was Melissa Grant.
Victor Kane.
Samuel Price.
And several powerful individuals Daniel had seen in the unmasked photograph.
The final name surprised everyone.
THOMAS HAYES.
Thomas looked shaken.
“I was never a member.”
Eleanor’s returning memories told her otherwise.
“You were Number Twelve.”
Thomas said nothing.
Daniel turned toward him.
“You lied again.”
“I joined after Eleanor disappeared from the Circle. I thought I could dismantle it from inside.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“That is what everyone says after they lose.”
Thomas approached the chair.
“Choose me.”
Eleanor grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“I helped build the system that protected the archive. I should be the one who ends it.”
The machine scanned him.
“Candidate Thomas Hayes requires unanimous founder approval.”
Three approval panels rose from the floor.
One for Eleanor.
One for Daniel.
One for Thomas himself.
Thomas pressed his hand against his panel.
APPROVAL ONE CONFIRMED.
Eleanor hesitated.
“What happens if he becomes Number One?”
Thomas answered before the machine could.
“I may gain full control long enough to erase everything.”
“Or it may control you,” Daniel said.
The restaurant doors suddenly exploded inward.
A tactical police unit stormed inside.
Behind them walked Deputy Mayor Jonathan Reese, one of the men pictured among the twelve Circle members.
“Step away from the archive,” he ordered.
Adrian looked relieved.
“Number Four.”
Reese ignored him.
He pointed toward Eleanor.
“The succession cannot be interrupted.”
Daniel realized the police were not there to rescue anyone.
They had come to protect the machine.
Victor raised his weapon, but officers surrounded him.
Melissa whispered to Samuel.
“How many of them belong to the Circle?”
Samuel looked at the insignias on their uniforms.
“Enough.”
Reese approached the approval panels.
“Eleanor Hayes, complete the transfer.”
She refused.
He raised one hand.
Two officers dragged a frightened young woman into the restaurant.
Melissa gasped.
It was her daughter, Caroline.
Reese placed a gun against Caroline’s shoulder.
“You have thirty seconds.”
Melissa stepped forward.
“Take me instead.”
“This is not your decision.”
The machine began another countdown.
00:00:30.
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
Thomas looked at the approval panel.
Adrian watched everyone with renewed hope.
Then Samuel quietly opened Thomas’s journal beneath the table.
On the final page, written in invisible ink now revealed by the machine’s green light, were five words:
THE CHAIR IS NOT THE CONTROL.
Samuel looked toward the anniversary bell.
May you like
“The control is somewhere else.”
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