Chapter 10 - The Missing Page
Rourke brought it to a state police office under escort, his uniform jacket unbuttoned and his face hollow with fatigue.
I recognized Eli's handwriting before I touched the cover. Crooked letters. Too much pressure on the pen. He had written ATLAS EATS BETTER THAN I DO beside a ration count, and for one awful second I heard his laugh.
"Why give this to us?" Maya asked.
"Maybe they want us going to the wrong place," Rourke said. "Or maybe someone inside has decided to help."
The missing page followed the entry FOUR RED LIGHTS / CHECK SERVICE MIRROR. Underneath someone had pressed hard enough that the final lines left marks on the next sheet.
Maya brought in a forensic technician. With angled light and careful imaging, the impressions revealed three words and a number: WATER TOWER / 218.
"That's a location," Rourke said. "Old municipal relay compound."
We drove north at dawn in two unmarked vehicles. Maya's agents secured the gate. Atlas worked on a long line beside me, checking the ground before we entered. I kept my hand steady even when he pulled toward a utility shed.
A truck's engine ticked inside. Fresh tire tracks crossed the gravel.
"Somebody beat us here," I said.
An agent opened the shed and found dismantled electronic racks, severed cables, and a puddle of cooling oil. Whoever had come first had worked fast, but had left one metal panel on the floor.
Four tiny red lenses lined its face.
Rourke's expression changed. "The service terminal. They removed the storage core."
Atlas sniffed the panel, then moved toward the service tunnel beneath the water tower. He stopped at a steel door and scratched once.
We followed him down the stairs. Beyond the door stood a terrified young woman in civilian clothes, clutching a canvas bag.
"Nina?" I breathed.
Specialist Nina Flores was alive. I hadn't seen her since a military lawyer told me she'd transferred overseas.
She looked from my face to Atlas.
"You weren't supposed to find me," she whispered.
"Then why are you here?"
May you like
Nina lifted the canvas bag. Inside lay a black metal drive, no bigger than my palm.
"Because I stole their mirror," she said. "And because Eli Mercer didn't die believing you betrayed him."
