Chapter 9 — The Living Archive
Chapter 9 — The Living Archive
Nicholas released Grace.
“What does that mean?”
Margaret looked at her daughter.
“When you were seventeen, Alexander knew Shaw would destroy the footage. He created an encrypted biological key.”
Grace shook her head.
“No.”
“Your retinal pattern, voice and DNA together can unlock the external archive.”
“Where is it?”
Margaret hesitated.
“The old Mnemosyne clinic.”
Nathan stared at her.
“The place where you kept me prisoner?”
Margaret lowered her eyes.
“I didn’t know you were there.”
“You knew enough.”
“I was trying to protect Grace.”
Grace laughed bitterly.
“By letting them erase me?”
Margaret’s face crumpled.
“I made one terrible decision. Then another to hide the first.”
Nicholas grabbed Margaret’s locket and tore it from her neck.
“Take us to the clinic.”
Margaret refused.
Nicholas aimed the gun at Nathan.
“Take us there, or Grace becomes a widow again.”
They were driven to an abandoned medical facility outside the city.
The building appeared empty, but underground generators still powered its lower floors.
Nicholas forced Grace into a biometric chamber.
A red scanner passed over her eyes.
VOICE CONFIRMATION REQUIRED.
Nicholas pressed the gun against Nathan’s head.
“Speak.”
Grace stared through the glass at him.
“My name is Grace Miller Cole.”
DNA CONFIRMATION REQUIRED.
A needle extended from the console.
Grace placed her finger against it.
The machine drew a drop of blood.
The wall opened.
Behind it stood a secure terminal containing thousands of records.
Politicians.
Judges.
Executives.
Police officials.
Every person whose memory had been altered or controlled.
Nicholas’s eyes filled with triumph.
“With this, I can own everyone.”
Nathan looked at Grace.
“No. He can destroy them.”
Nicholas began copying the archive.
Margaret moved closer to Grace.
“There is a purge command.”
“Where?”
“Beneath the terminal.”
Grace reached downward.
A guard noticed.
“Stop!”
Gunfire erupted.
Margaret threw herself in front of Grace.
The bullet struck her in the side.
Nathan attacked the nearest guard.
Grace dropped beneath the terminal and found two switches.
One labeled PURGE.
The other labeled RELEASE.
Nicholas shouted, “Don’t touch either one!”
Grace looked at Margaret bleeding on the floor.
“What does release do?”
Margaret struggled to breathe.
“It sends every file to the victims.”
Nicholas raised his gun.
Grace pressed RELEASE.
Thousands of encrypted messages left the server simultaneously.
Phones began ringing throughout the underground facility.
Nicholas stared at the screen in horror.
May you like
Grace had not destroyed his weapon.
She had given the truth to everyone he had controlled.
