Chapter 20 - Shadows Beneath the Truth
The second recording had been made only three months earlier.
Daniel looked exhausted.
His beard was longer.
There was fresh blood on the sleeve of his jacket.
He spoke quickly.
"They're running out of time."
Behind him stood shelves filled with old binders.
Blueprints covered the walls.
The room resembled one of the underground chambers police had already discovered.
"Michael..."
Daniel said quietly.
"You've been told many lies."
"Some by enemies."
"Some by people who believed they were protecting you."
He unfolded a faded architectural drawing.
"This city has more tunnels than anyone realizes."
"The apartment building was only the entrance."
The map stretched beneath government buildings...
Old factories...
Churches...
Even Saint Matthew's Hospital.
Officer Ramirez enlarged the image.
"It connects everything."
Daniel nodded in the recording.
"They built it to move people without being seen."
Michael felt another question forming.
"Who are they?"
Almost as if hearing him across time, Daniel answered.
"You keep asking who."
"You're asking the wrong question."
He pointed to another document.
Instead of names, it listed generations.
Families.
Children.
Birth dates.
Some entries stretched back more than sixty years.
"They don't recruit strangers."
"They inherit responsibility."
Detective Bennett slowly lowered the folder she was holding.
"These are bloodlines."
Daniel continued.
"If you're seeing this..."
"...then someone inside your investigation already knows everything."
The command center became silent.
Every detective instinctively looked around the room.
One of them.
Someone standing only a few feet away.
Might already belong to the organization.
Before anyone could react, every monitor inside headquarters suddenly went dark.
Emergency lights switched on.
The backup generator failed.
The building's electronic locks clicked open simultaneously.
Officer Ramirez reached for his radio.
Nothing but static.
Then the security office called through the emergency landline.
Their voice trembled.
"Detective Bennett..."
"What happened?"
"We've just reviewed the exterior cameras."
"And?"
"No one entered the building."
Bennett frowned.
"Then why did the system shut down?"
The operator swallowed.
"Because..."
May you like
"...someone was already inside before today's investigation even began."
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