Chapter 12 - The Waiter Behind the Mask
Samuel raised the rifle.
“Take off the mask.”
The waiter placed the tray on the center table.
“No weapons are permitted in Mercer House.”
His voice was distorted by a device hidden beneath the cloth.
Samuel aimed at his chest.
“Try stopping me.”
The waiter pressed a button inside his sleeve.
Samuel’s rifle emitted a sharp electronic sound and became useless.
Claire stared.
“A biometric lock.”
Samuel threw the weapon aside.
The waiter gestured toward the three glasses.
“One contains a sedative. One contains clean water. One contains a chemical marker that will identify the person who drinks it anywhere in the city.”
Daniel looked at the glasses.
“We are not drinking anything.”
“Then the doors remain locked.”
Smoke began slipping through the ceiling vents.
Claire moved toward the kitchen doors, but the waiter blocked her.
“You have two minutes.”
Daniel studied him.
The man’s hands were old.
Scarred.
One finger was missing.
A memory surfaced.
At his mother’s funeral, Victor had introduced Daniel to a quiet man who stood near the cemetery gates. The stranger had been missing the same finger.
“You were at my mother’s funeral.”
The waiter went still.
Samuel looked at Daniel.
“You know him?”
Daniel stepped closer and pulled at the mask.
The man resisted briefly, then allowed it to come free.
Elias Crowe stood before them.
Claire gasped.
“But Elias is upstairs.”
“No,” Samuel said. “Someone who looks like Elias is upstairs.”
The man smiled sadly.
“The person you met in the founder’s office is my younger brother, Edmund.”
Daniel tried to process the revelation.
“Why pretend to be the same man?”
“Because the network believed Elias Crowe died in the fire. Edmund took my identity so I could disappear.”
Claire looked toward the smoke.
“Why trap us now?”
“To determine who carries Victor’s command phrase.”
Elias pointed toward the guest ledger.
“It cannot be opened by keys alone. It responds to a spoken sentence. Victor placed that sentence inside one of you years ago.”
Samuel frowned.
“That is impossible.”
“Hypnotic conditioning,” Elias said. “Triggered by stress, memory, or sound.”
Daniel remembered Victor speaking to him as a child. Repeating the same phrase before every Christmas dinner.
Important guests must always come first.
His stomach tightened.
Elias saw the recognition in his face.
“You know the phrase.”
Daniel stepped backward.
“No.”
The three brass clasps on the guest ledger clicked open by themselves.
Nobody had touched it.
Elias stared at Daniel.
“What did Victor teach you to say?”
Daniel’s voice trembled.
“Important guests must always come first.”
The ledger opened.
Every chandelier went dark.
A hidden speaker beneath the table played Victor’s voice.
“Thank you, Daniel.”
The floor beneath Samuel collapsed.
He disappeared into the darkness below.
Claire screamed and grabbed the edge, but someone seized her from behind.
Elias turned toward the kitchen.
Dozens of masked waiters were now standing there in silence.
Victor stepped between them, wearing a perfectly tailored black suit.
May you like
He looked at Daniel and smiled.
“Now,” he said, “we can finally begin your training.”
