Chapter 9: The Man Waiting Beneath St. Agnes
The name of St. Agnes had barely left Richard Bell's mouth before Luca was moving.
He pushed through the corridor toward the garage, Adrian close behind him and Marco already issuing orders.
Nobody mentioned Richard's final words.
Nobody needed to.
Your father.
Luca had spent fifteen years believing his father was buried beneath a marble headstone on the north side of the family cemetery.
He had attended the funeral.
He had watched the coffin lowered.
He had listened to Helena cry.
He had stood beside Adrian, both of them dressed in black, while Richard Bell read the final prayer.
Now Richard was telling him his father was waiting beneath an abandoned hospital.
Luca wanted to believe it was another lie.
Unfortunately, too many of Richard's lies had turned into truths.
The convoy left the estate without headlights.
Rain had stopped, leaving the road slick and black beneath the tires.
Richard sat restrained in the vehicle behind Luca.
He had refused to answer questions.
Adrian sat beside Luca.
For several miles, neither brother spoke.
Finally Adrian said, “If Dad is alive…”
Luca stared out the window.
“Don't finish that sentence.””
“You think Richard was lying.””
“I think Richard lies whenever the truth is inconvenient.””
“But the hospital.””
Luca looked at him.
“You know the place.””
Adrian nodded.
“I went there once.””
“When?””
“After the accident.””
Luca frowned.
“While I was in the hospital?””
“No.””
Adrian looked away.
“After they told me you were dead.””
Luca's expression changed.
“You were there.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because Victor told me somebody was keeping records there.””
“What records?””
“Human trials.””
Luca felt cold.
“The Lazarus files.””
Adrian nodded.
“I found one room. Then someone started shooting.””
“And you ran.””
“I was nineteen.””
“You ran.””
“Yes.””
Adrian looked at him.
“I've regretted it every day.””
Luca looked down at his hands.
“Me too.””
A strange silence followed.
It wasn't forgiveness.
Not yet.
But it was the first silence between them that didn't feel like a wall.
The hospital appeared at the end of an empty street.
St. Agnes was a massive stone building with broken windows and vines climbing across the walls.
The sign above the entrance had lost several letters.
It looked abandoned.
But one light was glowing on the third floor.
Luca saw it immediately.
“Someone is inside.””
Marco nodded.
“Thermal imaging shows movement.””
“How many?””
“Seven.””
Luca looked toward Richard's vehicle.
“Eight.””
Richard was brought to the entrance.
Luca stopped in front of him.
“Where is Maya?””
Richard stared at the building.
“I don't know.””
“You told me she was here.””
“She was.””
“When?””
“Twenty minutes ago.””
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“Then where did she go?””
Richard swallowed.
“Underground.””
Luca looked at Marco.
“There's a basement?””
“According to city records, three levels.””
Adrian stepped closer.
“Not three.””
Luca looked at him.
“There are four.””
“How do you know?””
“I found a sealed elevator when I was here.””
Richard suddenly spoke.
“You won't need the elevator.””
Luca turned.
“Why?””
“Because they opened the old surgical wing.””
A distant metallic sound echoed through the hospital.
Then the lights went out.
Marco immediately raised his weapon.
“Move.””
They entered through the side door.
The smell hit Luca first.
Dust.
Mold.
And something medicinal underneath it all.
The building was not truly abandoned.
There were fresh footprints across the floor.
Power cables had been installed along the walls.
Someone had been living here.
Working here.
Waiting.
They moved through the first corridor.
A door opened.
A man appeared.
Marco raised his weapon.
The man immediately dropped to his knees.
“Don't shoot.””
“Who are you?””
“A technician.””
“For whom?””
The man stared at Richard.
Richard looked away.
Luca rolled closer.
“How many people are downstairs?””
The technician swallowed.
“Five.””
“Where is the girl?””
“I don't know.””
Luca grabbed his jacket.
“You do.””
“She was brought here.””
“Where?””
The technician pointed toward a freight elevator.
“Level four.””
Adrian looked at Luca.
“That's where the old operating theater was.””
Marco turned to Richard.
“You said it was sealed.””
“It was.””
“What changed?””
Richard said nothing.
Luca understood.
The elevator doors opened.
Inside was a single metal chair.
A child's backpack sat on it.
Maya's.
Luca took it.
The zipper was open.
Inside was a notebook.
Crayons.
A half-eaten granola bar.
And a folded piece of paper.
Luca unfolded it.
Maya's handwriting filled the page.
*Mr. Costello, I found the room.*
Underneath:
*They don't know I know.*
Luca read the final sentence.
*Your father is not alone.*
The elevator began descending.
Everyone became silent.
Level one.
Level two.
Three.
The numbers disappeared.
Then the display showed nothing.
Adrian looked at the doors.
“That's the fourth level.””
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
A long corridor stretched before them.
Bright surgical lights illuminated the ceiling.
Unlike the upper floors, everything here was clean.
Too clean.
The walls were covered in glass.
Behind the glass were rooms filled with old equipment.
Medical beds.
Machines.
Monitors.
Luca saw photographs.
Patients.
Dozens.
Some children.
Some adults.
Every photograph had a number.
He stopped.
One image showed him.
Young.
Unconscious.
Connected to machines.
The date was three days after his accident.
He stared at it.
“Someone took this.””
Adrian stood beside him.
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because they were documenting your response.””
Luca looked farther down the corridor.
“Where's Maya?””
A voice answered.
“She's safe.””
Luca turned.
Dr. Victor Shaw emerged from a side room.
He looked exhausted.
There was blood on one sleeve.
Luca immediately noticed.
“Whose blood?””
Victor didn't answer.
“Where is Maya?””
“She's with him.””
“Who?””
Victor looked toward the end of the corridor.
The final door opened.
A woman stepped out.
Helena.
She was crying.
Luca stared.
“You again.””
She looked at Adrian.
Then Luca.
“I tried to stop this.””
“You brought them here.””
“I brought you here.””
“You took Maya.””
“No.””
“Then who did?””
Helena closed her eyes.
“The man behind the door.””
Luca looked past her.
A shadow moved.
Then a familiar voice spoke.
“Luca.””
He froze.
Adrian's face drained of color.
The voice had aged.
It was rougher.
Slower.
But there was no mistaking it.
Their father's voice.
Luca rolled forward.
The door opened.
Inside was a private medical room.
A man sat beside the window.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
Oxygen tube beneath his nose.
Hands resting on a blanket.
Older.
Weaker.
But alive.
Enzo Costello looked directly at his son.
Luca couldn't move.
For fifteen years, he had remembered his father's final smile.
Now that memory shattered.
“Dad?””
Enzo nodded.
“Yes.””
Luca's eyes filled with tears.
He hated himself for them.
He hated his father for making them happen.
“You're alive.””
“Yes.””
“You let us bury you.””
“I had no choice.””
“You always had a choice.””
Enzo's eyes lowered.
“You're right.””
Adrian stepped forward.
“Why?””
Enzo looked at him.
“I thought I was protecting you.””
“You disappeared.””
“I was taken.””
“By whom?””
Enzo looked toward Richard.
Richard had gone pale.
Luca turned.
Richard stepped backward.
Enzo said, “Tell him.””
Richard shook his head.
“No.””
“Tell him what you did.””
“I did what I had to do.””
Luca's voice became dangerously quiet.
“What did you do?””
Richard stared at him.
“Your father discovered The Meridian.””
“I know.””
“He tried to expose them.””
“I know.””
“They offered him a deal.””
“What deal?””
Richard's silence stretched.
Enzo answered for him.
“They offered me my life in exchange for yours.””
Luca stopped.
Adrian looked at their father.
“What?””
Enzo looked at Luca.
“They wanted the empire.””
“You gave it to them?””
“No.””
“They wanted control.””
“Yes.””
“And you refused.””
“Yes.””
Richard laughed bitterly.
“Your father always believed morality mattered more than survival.””
Enzo looked at him.
“It does.””
Richard's face twisted.
“You cost everyone everything.””
“No.””
Enzo pointed toward Luca.
“You did.””
Richard reached into his coat.
Marco reacted instantly.
“Drop it.””
Richard pulled out a phone.
He smiled.
“You think this ends because you've found him?””
He pressed the screen.
Every monitor in the underground facility turned on.
Documents appeared.
Names.
Accounts.
Photographs.
Then a live feed.
Maya.
She was sitting in another room.
Alone.
She looked at the camera.
“Mr. Costello?””
Luca stepped toward the screen.
“Maya.””
A message appeared beneath her image.
*THE AUCTION BEGINS IN TEN MINUTES.*
Luca stared.
“What auction?””
Richard smiled.
“The empire.””
“You said you wanted control.””
“I wanted everyone to believe you were dead.””
“What changed?””
Richard looked at Enzo.
“He did.””
Enzo closed his eyes.
Richard continued.
“Your father created something the Meridian has wanted for years.””
“What?””
“A network.””
Luca's expression hardened.
“An information network.””
Enzo nodded.
“The names of everyone who betrayed them.””
Richard pointed toward the screens.
“The entire archive is about to be sold.””
“To whom?””
“Anyone willing to pay.””
Luca understood.
“The auction isn't for money.””
“No.””
Richard smiled.
“It's for power.””
Adrian stepped toward him.
“And Maya?””
Richard's expression became cold.
“She is insurance.””
Luca looked at the screen.
Maya was staring directly into the camera.
Then she raised one finger.
Luca remembered the first day she came through the hedge.
The confidence.
The questions.
The way she noticed things other people ignored.
One finger.
Then two.
Then three.
She was counting.
Luca looked at the camera feed.
There was a small clock in the corner.
Ten minutes.
But Maya wasn't counting time.
She was counting something else.
“Zoom in,” Luca said.
Marco did.
Behind Maya was a wall.
On it was the same crescent-and-three-lines symbol.
Luca stared.
Then noticed something beneath it.
A tiny crack.
Three horizontal lines.
Exactly three.
He remembered the notebook.
The photograph.
The secret room.
Maya's habit of noticing things.
“She found another exit,” Luca whispered.
Adrian looked at him.
“How do you know?””
“Because she wants me to see it.””
Maya raised her hand again.
This time she pointed toward the floor.
Luca looked at the blueprint displayed on the monitor.
The room beneath Maya's location had a maintenance shaft.
It connected directly to the old surgical wing.
“Marco.””
“Yes?””
“Get me there.””
Richard laughed.
“You won't make it.””
Luca looked at him.
“You still don't understand.””
“What?””
Luca pointed toward the screens.
“You think this is your operation.””
Richard frowned.
Luca smiled.
“It isn't.””
The monitors suddenly flickered.
The auction screen disappeared.
A new message appeared.
*UPLOAD COMPLETE.*
Richard's face went white.
“No.””
Luca looked at him.
“What happened?””
Richard turned toward the servers.
“They uploaded everything.””
“Who?””
Richard stared at Maya's live feed.
Then at Luca.
“Your little friend.””
Silence.
Maya appeared on the screen again.
She smiled.
And in that moment, Luca finally understood why she had been able to see what grown men had missed for twelve years.
She wasn't powerful.
She wasn't protected.
She simply paid attention.
And that had been enough.
Suddenly alarms began screaming throughout the underground facility.
Red lights flashed.
Doors unlocked.
The hidden elevator opened.
Adrian looked at Luca.
“What did she upload?””
Luca stared at the thousands of files flashing across the screens.
“Everything.””
Outside the hospital, dozens of phones began ringing simultaneously.
Newsrooms.
Law offices.
Police departments.
Government buildings.
Private companies.
People who had spent years believing their secrets were buried were suddenly receiving copies of them.
Richard backed toward the wall.
“No.””
Luca looked at him.
“You said my empire was your prize.””
He rolled forward.
“Now everybody gets the truth.””
Then the lights above them exploded.
Gunfire erupted from the corridor.
Maya's room door slammed open.
A shadow moved behind her.
May you like
And Luca heard a child's voice scream one final word.
“RUN!””
