Darkness swallowed the hidden room.
Amanda heard Tyler curse softly. Someone knocked over a metal shelf. Papers scattered across the floor.
Then came footsteps.
One set.
Then another.
Then another.
Four people.
Michael grabbed Amanda's wrist.
“Don't let them see me.”
Amanda pulled him behind her.
“I won't.”
A flashlight beam swept across the room.
Reyes shouted, “Police! Drop your weapons!”
A voice answered from the passage.
“Captain Reyes.”
It was Daniel's voice.
Reyes froze.
Amanda felt Tyler tense beside her.
The voice came again.
“You've made this harder than it needed to be.”
Reyes raised his weapon toward the darkness.
“Show yourself.”
A figure stepped into the light.
He looked like Daniel.
Not exactly.
The face was slightly wrong around the eyes.
But the voice was perfect.
Amanda's stomach turned.
The man smiled.
“Still protecting them, Javier?”
Reyes whispered, “You're not Daniel.”
“No.”
The man's face changed.
Not dramatically.
The lighting shifted across his features, and Amanda suddenly understood what she was seeing.
Makeup.
Prosthetics.
A flexible mask.
A practiced illusion.
The man removed it.
Underneath was a stranger.
Amanda had never seen him before.
But Michael had.
“That's him,” the boy whispered.
Evan raised his weapon.
“You.”
The stranger smiled.
“You remember me?”
“I remember the fire.”
“So do I.”
Tyler stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
The man looked at him.
“Your wife.”
Tyler's expression hardened.
“You're not taking her.”
“I don't need to.”
The stranger glanced at Amanda.
“She will come willingly.”
Amanda shook her head.
“Why?”
“Because you want the truth.”
He pointed toward the files scattered around the room.
“And because you still think the truth will save everyone.”
Amanda stared at him.
“What is your name?”
He smiled.
“You've known it for years.”
She searched his face.
Nothing.
Then she remembered a name written on one of Daniel's old reports.
A name beside Captain Lewis.
A name crossed out so heavily the paper had nearly torn.
“Samuel Voss.”
The man's smile disappeared.
Michael looked at Amanda.
“You remember.”
Samuel stepped backward.
“You should have stayed forgotten.”
Reyes fired.
The bullet struck the wall beside Samuel's shoulder.
Samuel disappeared into the passage.
Evan chased him.
Tyler started after them, but Amanda stopped him.
“Michael.”
The boy was staring at one of the papers.
He picked it up.
“Look.”
Amanda took it.
It was a transfer record.
The first witness had been moved six years ago.
The name listed was Claire Dalton.
The second witness was Michael.
But the final line was different.
PRIMARY WITNESS STATUS TRANSFERRED TO AMANDA MORGAN.
Amanda's blood ran cold.
“What does this mean?”
Michael answered.
“It means Daniel made you the witness.”
Amanda looked at Claire.
Claire nodded slowly.
“He did.”
“But why?”
“Because they were looking for me.”
Amanda looked at Daniel's handwriting.
“What happened that night?”
Claire took a shaky breath.
“I saw who was running the operation.”
“Who?”
Claire looked toward Samuel's abandoned mask.
“Someone inside the department.”
“Who?”
Claire shook her head.
“I never saw his real face.”
Michael spoke quietly.
“I did.”
Everyone turned toward him.
He pointed to the photograph.
“He was there.”
Amanda examined it.
Daniel.
Amanda.
Michael.
A fourth person stood behind them.
The face was blurred.
Amanda stared.
Then she noticed the hand.
A ring.
Black stone.
Her breath stopped.
“That ring.”
Tyler looked at her.
“Daniel's.”
“No.”
Amanda shook her head.
“Not Daniel's.”
Reyes leaned closer.
“Whose?”
Amanda remembered the woman in the blue room.
The false Amanda.
“She wore it.”
Claire's face drained of color.
“Evelyn.”
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
“She wasn't the one who wore it.”
“Then who?”
Michael pointed to the photograph.
“The woman standing beside Daniel.”
Amanda stared at the image.
Her own face.
The same face that had appeared outside the blue house.
The same face that had spoken through the station speakers.
The same face that had been used to imitate her.
Amanda whispered, “Who is she?”
Michael answered.
“Your sister.”
Silence.
Amanda stared at him.
“I don't have a sister.”
Michael's eyes filled with fear.
“You did.”
Tyler looked at Amanda.
She shook her head.
“My parents had one child.”
Michael whispered, “That's what they told you.”
A sound came from the passage.
Evan returned alone.
“Samuel escaped.”
Reyes lowered his weapon.
“Where?”
“Upstairs.”
Evan looked at Michael.
Then at Amanda.
“We need to leave.”
“No,” Amanda said.
Evan stopped.
“I need the rest of the files.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
Amanda lifted the photograph.
“You knew about her.”
Evan said nothing.
“You knew about my sister.”
His silence was answer enough.
Tyler turned toward him.
“Evan.”
Evan finally spoke.
“Her name was Anna.”
Amanda's knees nearly gave way.
The hidden room seemed to tilt.
“Anna Morgan,” Evan said.
“Your twin sister.”
PART 34 END
Click here to continue reading: PART 35: THE NAME THEY BURIED:
I Arrived With Balloons and Cake, Expecting My Husband to Laugh—Instead His Entire Crew Went Silent When They Saw Me
Part 34 of 40
