Chapter 74: The Man They Buried

"That's my father," Victor whispered.

Nobody moved.

The unconscious man inside the transport chamber looked at least twenty years older than the photographs Victor had shown us.

Grey hair.

Sunken cheeks.

A beard that had never been properly trimmed.

But the resemblance was unmistakable.

"Victor..." I said carefully.

"You told us your father died fifteen years ago."

"That's what they wanted us to believe," he answered without taking his eyes off the monitor.

"Just like Elias."

"Another manufactured death," Margaret murmured.

Arthur replayed the security footage frame by frame.

"He's alive."

"Barely," Damien observed.

"Look at the IV line."

"They're keeping him sedated."

Victor clenched his fists.

"They've kept him alive all these years."

"Why?"

"Because dead men can't reveal secrets," Margaret replied.

"Living prisoners can be questioned forever."

The station loudspeaker crackled.

"Transfer Team Three, report to Platform Two."

"Departure in eight minutes."

Arthur checked the surveillance feed.

"The transport chamber is moving."

"Straight toward the last carriage."

"If we wait any longer," Damien said,

"We'll lose him."

Victor looked at me.

"Nathaniel warned us not to rescue the wrong prisoner."

"But he never said to ignore the right one."

I nodded.

"We divide."

"One team follows Elias."

"The other intercepts the transport chamber."

"Too risky," Arthur replied.

"We're already outnumbered."

"Then we create confusion," Margaret said.

She pointed toward a row of fuel tanks beside the abandoned warehouse.

"One explosion."

"No casualties."

"Just enough panic to split their security."

Victor finally smiled.

"Now you're thinking like Nathaniel."

Arthur quickly assembled a remote distraction using equipment from his backpack.

"Thirty-second delay."

"After that... every guard will be looking the wrong way."

"Good," Victor said.

"Damien, Vivian—you take the transport chamber."

"Arthur and I will shadow Elias."

"Margaret stays on overwatch."

"No heroics," she warned.

"We've all promised that before," Damien muttered.

The timer reached zero.

A deafening blast echoed from the far side of the freight yard.

Flames shot into the night sky.

Alarm sirens erupted instantly.

"Move!" Victor ordered.

Guards abandoned their positions.

Some ran toward the burning fuel tanks.

Others began shouting conflicting orders.

Exactly the confusion we needed.

Damien and I sprinted across the tracks.

The transport chamber stood briefly unattended.

"Cover me," Damien whispered.

He knelt beside the electronic lock.

"Military encryption."

"Can you open it?"

"Give me fifteen seconds."

Behind us, boots pounded across the platform.

The guards were recovering faster than expected.

"Ten seconds," Damien said.

"Five..."

The lock clicked.

The chamber door slowly opened.

Cold vapour drifted into the night.

Victor's father lay strapped to a medical stretcher.

His eyes remained closed.

Machines monitored his heartbeat.

An identification bracelet circled his wrist.

Instead of a name, it carried only two words.

"Subject Zero."

"Zero?" I whispered.

"The first recruit," Damien answered grimly.

"Or the first prisoner."

Suddenly the man's eyelids fluttered.

His breathing became uneven.

Slowly, painfully, his eyes opened.

They were clouded with exhaustion.

Yet somehow focused.

He looked directly at me.

"Vivian...?"

I froze.

"How does he know my name?"

Before anyone could answer, he whispered something else.

"Nathaniel... kept... his promise..."

Then his eyes shifted toward Damien.

"Protect... the journal..."

"Which journal?" Damien asked urgently.

The old man struggled to lift one shaking hand.

He pointed toward the train.

"Not... Richard's..."

"The black one..."

His strength failed.

The monitors began beeping wildly.

"He's crashing," Damien said.

At that exact moment Arthur's voice burst through the earpiece.

"Victor!"

"Change of plans!"

"Elias isn't boarding the train!"

"He's escorting someone."

"Who?" Victor demanded.

Arthur's answer was drowned out by automatic gunfire.

Then came Victor's shout.

"No... stop him!"

The transmission dissolved into static.

A single gunshot echoed across Blackridge Station.

Silence followed.

Then Arthur's broken voice returned.

"Victor's down..."