PART 4 — THE SECRET UNDER THE STATION
Victoria stared at the message on her phone.
THIS TIME, COME ALONE.
She looked at Marcus lying unconscious on the pavement, then at the burning wreckage behind her.
Everything she had believed about her life had collapsed in less than an hour.
Her father was alive.
Her superior had lied to her.
Someone inside the Official Investigations Unit wanted her dead.
And now someone was waiting for her at an abandoned railway station.
Victoria stood slowly.
The first traffic officer approached her cautiously.
“Miss Morgan…”
She raised a hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped immediately.
She looked down at Marcus.
“Is he alive?”
The officer nodded.
“He’s breathing.”
“Call an ambulance.”
“I will.”
Victoria turned away.
“And don’t tell anyone where I’m going.”
The officer stared at her.
“You’re really going?”
Victoria looked toward the dark road stretching into the distance.
“My whole life, I thought my father was dead.”
She tightened her grip around the phone.
“If there’s even a chance he’s alive, I’m going.”
“But they told you to come alone.”
“I know.”
“That’s exactly why it’s dangerous.”
Victoria gave him a cold smile.
“That’s also why I have to go.”
She walked toward her car.
Then stopped.
The vehicle was damaged, but another unmarked vehicle remained near the patrol cars.
She took the keys from the fallen agent and climbed inside.
Before starting the engine, she checked her phone again.
The location was still there.
One hundred and eighty-seven miles away.
Abandoned Blackridge Station.
Victoria drove into the night.
She didn’t know that someone was watching her from the trees.
A man lifted a phone to his ear.
“She’s on her way.”
A voice answered.
“Good.”
“Should we stop her?”
“No.”
A pause.
“Let her reach the station.”
The man frowned.
“Why?”
The voice became colder.
“Because that’s where she will finally meet her father.”
Three hours later, Victoria arrived at Blackridge Station.
The place looked abandoned for decades.
Broken windows.
Rust-covered tracks.
Weeds growing through the platform.
No lights.
No cars.
No people.
She stepped out of the vehicle and immediately felt that something was wrong.
The silence was too perfect.
She slowly walked toward the station entrance.
The wooden door creaked open before she touched it.
Victoria stopped.
Someone was inside.
She drew her weapon.
“Come out.”
Nothing.
She stepped forward.
“Last warning.”
A voice came from the darkness.
“You always were impatient.”
Victoria froze.
Her breath caught in her throat.
She knew that voice.
She had heard it every night in her childhood memories.
A voice she had spent twelve years trying to forget.
“Dad?”
A man stepped into the weak moonlight.
Older.
Thinner.
Gray streaks in his hair.
But unmistakably him.
Thomas Morgan.
Victoria lowered her weapon.
Tears filled her eyes.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then Thomas whispered her name.
“Victoria.”
She ran toward him.
He caught her in his arms.
She held him tightly.
“You were alive.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You were alive!”
Her voice broke.
“Why did you let me believe you were dead?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Because if you knew I was alive, they would have killed you.”
Victoria pulled away.
“Who?”
Thomas looked toward the windows.
“Everyone.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only answer I can give you.”
Victoria wiped her tears.
“Marcus said you disappeared because you wanted to.”
Thomas’s expression darkened.
“Marcus told you that?”
“Yes.”
“He was lying.”
Victoria stared at him.
“Then tell me the truth.”
Thomas took a slow breath.
“Twelve years ago, I discovered that the Official Investigations Unit wasn’t investigating corruption.”
He paused.
“It was controlling it.”
Victoria’s face went still.
“What does that mean?”
“Certain officials, judges, police commanders, businessmen, even politicians were being blackmailed.”
“By whom?”
Thomas looked directly at her.
“By the people who controlled the evidence.”
Victoria felt a chill run down her spine.
“Your department?”
“Not exactly.”
He walked toward an old table.
On it were dozens of photographs.
Victoria picked up the first.
It showed senior government officials meeting in secret.
The second showed police officers accepting envelopes.
The third showed a judge entering a private building.
Then she saw a photograph that made her blood run cold.
Marcus.
Standing beside several men she didn’t recognize.
And beside them was Daniel Cross.
Victoria stared at it.
“Marcus was involved.”
Thomas nodded.
“For years.”
“Then why did he recruit me?”
“Because you were the perfect replacement.”
Victoria looked up.
“Replacement for what?”
Thomas didn’t answer.
He opened a metal box.
Inside was a folder marked:
PROJECT VICTORIA.
Her hands began to shake.
“What is that?”
Thomas looked at his daughter with sorrow.
“It’s the reason they chose you.”
Victoria slowly opened the folder.
The first page contained her photograph.
The second contained her birth records.
The third contained a list of psychological assessments.
But the fourth page made her stop breathing.
There was a single sentence:
SUBJECT HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OF HER TRUE PARENTAGE.
Victoria looked at her father.
“What does this mean?”
Thomas’s face turned pale.
Before he could answer, the station lights suddenly came on.
Every window illuminated at once.
Victoria spun around.
Outside, headlights appeared.
One vehicle.
Then another.
Then another.
Thomas grabbed her arm.
“They found us.”
Victoria raised her weapon.
“How?”
Thomas looked at the folder.
“Because they wanted you to find me.”
A loudspeaker crackled outside.
Then a familiar voice echoed through the abandoned station.
Marcus.
“Victoria, step away from your father.”
She stared toward the window.
Marcus’s voice continued.
“You’ve been lied to your entire life.”
Victoria shouted back.
“By you!”
“No.”
A pause.
“By him.”
Thomas’s face changed.
Victoria turned toward her father.
Marcus spoke again.
“Ask Thomas who your real mother was.”
Victoria’s heart stopped.
She slowly looked at her father.
“Dad…”
Thomas said nothing.
“Who was my mother?”
Still nothing.
Victoria’s voice trembled.
“Who was she?”
Thomas finally whispered:
“Your mother wasn’t a civilian.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“Then who was she?”
Thomas looked toward the surrounding vehicles.
“She was the woman who created the Official Investigations Unit.”
Victoria stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Your mother is the person they’ve been searching for all these years.”
Victoria’s eyes widened.
“She’s alive too.”
Thomas nodded.
And then the station doors exploded inward.
Armed agents stormed into the room.
Thomas grabbed Victoria’s hand.
“Run!”
They raced toward a hidden door beneath the old platform.
Behind them, someone shouted:
“Don’t let Victoria escape!”
Victoria looked back.
Through the smoke, she saw Marcus standing among the agents.
But he wasn’t giving the orders.
Someone was standing behind him.
A woman.
Elegant.
Calm.
Untouched by the chaos.
Victoria couldn’t see her face clearly.
Then the woman stepped forward.
Victoria stopped dead.
The woman looked exactly like her.
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