"That makes no sense."
Mara walked toward him.
"Your mother discovered something during the final phase of Orpheus."
"What?"
"The system wasn't only analyzing human behavior."
Daniel waited.
"It was learning."
"Machines learn."
"Not like this."
Mara lowered her voice.
"It began creating profiles of people who had never existed."
Daniel frowned.
"What?"
"People who could theoretically become influential decades later."
"Predictions."
"Yes."
"Still not impossible."
"These weren't ordinary predictions."
Mara looked him in the eye.
"One of those profiles was you."
Daniel felt his chest tighten.
"Me?"
"Orpheus predicted that a child born in 1998 would eventually expose the entire system."
"That's why they watched me."
"Yes."
"And my mother knew."
"Yes."
"My father knew."
"Yes."
"Then why did they let me live?"
Mara's expression became grim.
"Because they couldn't agree on whether to kill you."
"Who couldn't agree?"
"The seven founders."
"Some wanted me dead."
"Yes."
"Others?"
"They wanted to use you."
Daniel looked confused.
"For what?"
Mara glanced at the dead men.
"To prove Orpheus was right."
A helicopter passed overhead.
Daniel watched it disappear into the clouds.
"What does that mean?"
"Your entire life was monitored."
"By whom?"
"Everyone who had access."
"School?"
"Yes."
"College?"
"Yes."
"My police academy?"
"Especially."
Daniel's hands curled into fists.
"My career."
"Was observed."
"Every relationship?"
Mara hesitated.
"Most."
Daniel looked at her.
"You knew?"
"I knew some."
"Who else?"
Mara said nothing.
Daniel stepped closer.
"Who?"
She finally answered.
"Your partner."
Daniel froze.
"Jake?"
Mara nodded.
"No."
"Yes."
"Jake doesn't know anything."
"He does now."
Daniel stared at her.
"Are you saying Jake was planted in my life?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"He was assigned to observe you."
Daniel's expression changed.
"For how long?"
"Six years."
Daniel remembered every conversation.
Every late-night coffee.
Every time Jake had asked about his mother.
Every time he had encouraged Daniel to stay in Blackridge.
Every time he had discouraged him from transferring to another department.
The memories suddenly looked different.
"Does Jake know who I am?"
"He knows enough."
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"Because he was afraid."
"Of Orpheus?"
Mara nodded.
"And of your mother."
Daniel turned toward the convoy.
"We're going back."
"No."
"Jake is still there."
"We can't."
"I don't care."
"Daniel."
"He's my partner."
"That's exactly why you can't go back."
Daniel looked at her.
"Why?"
Mara lowered her voice.
"Because if Jake is working for Orpheus, the station isn't safe."
Daniel stared.
"Then why did you leave him there?"
"He wasn't in the station."
"What?"
"He disappeared."
Daniel's stomach dropped.
"When?"
"Before we left."
"How?"
"We don't know."
The commander approached.
"We've lost communication with Blackridge."
Daniel looked at him.
"What?"
"No radio. No cellular."
Mara's expression changed.
"Orpheus is moving."
The commander nodded.
"Phase Two."
Daniel looked at the dead men.
"What's Phase Two?"
Mara answered quietly.
"The elimination of everyone who can expose the founders."
Daniel looked at her.
"How many?"
"We don't know."
"Then find out."
"We're trying."
"No."
Daniel stepped closer.
"We're going to find out."
Mara looked at him.
For a moment, she saw something in his face.
Not fear.
Determination.
The same expression she had once seen on his father.
"Fine," she said.
"Where do we start?"
Mara looked at the road.
"With your mother's second house."
They returned to the convoy.
The location was an old property in northern Blackridge County.
According to public records, Daniel's mother had never owned it.
But Mara had obtained a satellite image.
The house was hidden inside a dense forest.
No road led directly to it.
There was only a narrow trail.
Daniel stared at the image.
"I've never seen this."
"That was the point."
The convoy changed direction.
For nearly an hour, they traveled through increasingly remote terrain.
The road disappeared.
The vehicles continued through mud.
Finally, they reached the forest.
The commander ordered everyone out.
"We go on foot."
Daniel followed Mara.
They walked for twenty minutes.
Then they saw the house.
It was small.
White.
Old.
Almost ordinary.
Daniel stopped.
"I know this place."
Mara turned.
"How?"
"I dreamed about it."
She frowned.
"When?"
"When I was a child."
Daniel stared at the house.
"I used to dream about a white house in the woods."
Mara looked at him.
"What happened in the dream?"
"I don't remember."
"You do."
Daniel closed his eyes.
Then fragments appeared.
A hallway.
A red door.
His mother crying.
A man shouting.
A little boy hiding beneath a table.
And a voice.
His father's voice.
"Never open the red door."
Daniel opened his eyes.
"The red door."
Mara looked at the house.
"There is a red door."
They approached.
The front door was unlocked.
Mara raised her weapon.
The commander signaled the team.
They entered.
The house was empty.
Dust covered the furniture.
Old photographs hung on the walls.
Daniel walked slowly through the living room.
He stopped.
A photograph showed his mother.
She was younger.
Much younger.
Beside her stood Thomas Mercer.
And beside them stood a third person.
Mara.
But she was only a child.
Daniel turned.
"You knew my parents when you were a child."
Mara nodded.
"My father worked with your mother."
"How old were you?"
"Ten."
"What happened?"
Mara stared at the photograph.
"Your mother saved my life."
"From what?"
"The same people we're fighting now."
Daniel looked around.
"What is this place?"
"A safe house."
"For whom?"
"Children."
Daniel frowned.
"What children?"
Mara walked toward a locked cabinet.
She opened it.
Inside were dozens of files.
Each file had a name.
Daniel recognized some.
Politicians.
Scientists.
Military officers.
Journalists.
Then he saw something unexpected.
Children.
Dozens of children.
"Why were children monitored?"
Mara's voice became quiet.
"Because Orpheus believed certain children would become future threats."
Daniel felt sick.
"So they tracked them."
"Some were relocated."
"Some?"
Mara didn't answer.
Daniel understood.
"Some disappeared."
She nodded.
He opened another file.
A photograph fell out.
It was him.