CHAPTER 5 – THE MEMORY CARD
CHAPTER 5 – THE MEMORY CARD
For several seconds, no one moved.
The only sound was Emma's terrified breathing against my shoulder.
The elegant woman smiled as though she'd just arrived at a family reunion instead of the middle of a forest in the dead of night.
"There you are, sweetheart," she said warmly. "Come to Aunt Victoria."
Emma clung to me so tightly that her tiny fingers hurt.
"No..." she whimpered. "She lies."
My heart sank.
Children that young didn't invent fear like this.
David slowly stepped in front of us.
"You promised no one would get hurt," he said, his voice shaking.
The woman looked at him with open disappointment.
"I promised your daughter would stay alive."
She paused.
"You complicated that arrangement."
Dr. Graves lowered his eyes.
It was the first sign that even he feared her.
"Victoria," he said quietly, "the situation has changed."
"I can see that."
Her pleasant expression vanished.
"You've all become liabilities."
She snapped her fingers.
The armed men raised their weapons.
My pulse thundered in my ears.
Emma suddenly tugged at my necklace.
"The picture..."
I looked down.
The tiny memory card hidden inside my locket pressed against my skin.
She remembered.
This was what everyone wanted.
But why?
Victoria noticed the movement.
Her smile returned.
"Mrs. Carter."
She took one slow step forward.
"I'll make this very simple."
"You hand me what's inside that necklace..."
"...and your family survives."
David looked at me in confusion.
"What necklace?"
I hesitated.
If I handed it over, perhaps Emma would live.
But something deep inside warned me that people willing to fake a child's death would never leave witnesses behind.
I pulled the memory card from the locket.
It looked insignificant.
Barely larger than a fingernail.
Yet every pair of eyes locked onto it.
Victoria's calm façade cracked for the first time.
"There it is."
Dr. Graves whispered,
"I told you she had it."
David stared at the card.
"What is that?"
Victoria answered before anyone else could.
"Insurance."
Emma's late mother had apparently known she was going to die.
Before her "illness" worsened, she had secretly copied files from a secure computer belonging to the private medical research company where she worked.
Names.
Financial records.
Hidden laboratory footage.
Patient files.
Illegal human trials.
And one video that showed a child—
Emma—
being taken into a restricted laboratory against her parents' wishes.
My blood ran cold.
They hadn't targeted Emma because of who she was.
They had targeted her because she had survived.
A survivor...
And the only living witness.
Before anyone could react, headlights exploded through the trees from the opposite direction.
Another convoy.
This one different.
Black SUVs.
No headlights flashing.
No shouting.
Just precision.
Victoria frowned.
"Impossible."
One of her men ran toward her.
"We've been tracked!"
By whom?
The answer came seconds later.
A voice echoed through the forest.
"Federal agents! Drop your weapons!"
Gunfire erupted instantly.
The peaceful woods became chaos.
David shoved me behind a fallen log.
"Run!"
"What about you?"
"I'll hold them."
"No!"
Another burst of gunfire forced us apart.
Smoke filled the clearing.
Emma screamed.
May you like
When I looked back—
David was gone.
