Chapter 4 - MY BROTHER'S BASEMENT
Police obtained a warrant.
Marcus's basement was immaculate.
Too immaculate.
Fresh paint.
New carpet.
Recently replaced furniture.
But rooms remember.
Investigators found trace blood beneath a baseboard.
DNA testing eventually matched Evan Rourke.
Marcus was questioned.
He denied kidnapping anyone.
Benjamin Cole denied everything.
Elisa claimed she'd never entered the basement.
Then the house recordings contradicted her.
One captured Elisa saying:
“You can't keep him here.”
Marcus answered:
“Then tell Ben to move him.”
Not kill.
Move.
That distinction gave me hope.
Evan might still be alive.
Marcus called again.
This time I answered immediately.
“Where is Evan?”
Silence.
“Where is he?”
“You're making assumptions.”
“His blood is in your basement.”
“You don't understand what Halcyon was.”
“Then explain it.”
Marcus laughed.
“You think Halcyon was stealing customer data?”
“That was our investigation.”
“You were investigating the smallest part.”
My anger cooled into fear.
“What were they doing?”
“Building profiles.”
“On whom?”
“Everyone.”
Government officials.
Judges.
Executives.
Journalists.
Activists.
Anyone useful.
Halcyon's systems collected compromised information through cybersecurity tools supposedly installed to protect clients.
Marcus had discovered it years earlier.
“And you helped them?”
“I contained them.”
“By tying Evan to a chair?”
“He stole an archive.”
“An archive proving what?”
Marcus became silent.
I understood.
Everything.
Names.
Recordings.
Blackmail material.
Evidence.
“Where is it?”
“I don't know.”
“You told Elisa to move it before I arrived.”
“Because I knew you'd destroy everything trying to expose it.”
“You mean expose you.”
“No.”
His voice changed.
For the first time, my brother sounded afraid.
“Michael, if that archive becomes public, innocent people will die.”
“Then give it to investigators.”
“Which investigators?”
I had no answer.
If Halcyon had compromised officials, we couldn't know how far it reached.
Marcus continued:
“Evan discovered that too.”
“Where is he?”
“Alive.”
My knees weakened.
“Where?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Marcus—”
“Because Ben moved him without telling me.”
Benjamin Cole.
The man Sophia had seen downstairs.
Then Marcus said:
“And Michael?”
“What?”
“Ben knows Sophia talked.”
The call ended.
I immediately called the detective assigned to Sophia's protection.
Before he answered, Alex's phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Then at me.
“It's the hospital.”
“What hospital?”
“The one where Sophia is being evaluated.”
My blood went cold.
Alex answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then whispered:
May you like
“Sophia's gone.”
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