Chapter 6 - THE CHILD WHO REMEMBERED EVERYTHING
Moretti talked.
Not because Matteo threatened him.
Because Elena had evidence.
Years of it.
Names.
Payments.
Clients.
Moretti was only the broker.
The person above him was known as Shepherd.
Nobody knew the real identity.
Except Leah.
She didn't realize it yet.
Elena showed her photographs.
Politicians.
Executives.
Security contractors.
Doctors.
Leah recognized nobody.
Then one image appeared.
An elderly woman.
Leah stopped.
“I know her.”
Everyone turned.
“Who?”
“She came to our house.”
“When?”
“Last Christmas.”
Elena went pale.
“No one came last Christmas.”
“Yes.”
“You were with your grandmother.”
Leah shook her head.
“No. You were sick. She came through the kitchen.”
“What did she say?”
Leah remembered.
Children remember strange things.
Perfume.
A green scarf.
A gold ring shaped like a bird.
“She said she was from the school.”
Elena sat down.
The woman was Dr. Miriam Voss.
Founder of the security company where Elena had worked.
The woman who had taught Elena everything.
She was Shepherd.
And she was in New York.
Inside Leah's house.
The kitchen device had not been hidden there to follow Leah.
It had been waiting for Elena to return.
Voss believed Elena possessed the master encryption key capable of opening every client record in the network.
She was right.
But Elena hadn't hidden it in a computer.
She had hidden it somewhere nobody would search.
With a child.
Leah looked at Maya's rabbit.
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“Not the rabbit.”
She looked at Leah.
“Your necklace.”
Leah touched the cheap silver star around her neck.
Her mother had given it to her when she was six.
Inside was a micro-storage chip.
For four years, Leah had carried enough evidence to destroy billionaires, judges and criminal organizations.
She began crying.
“I didn't want it.”
Elena hugged her.
“I know.”
“I didn't want any of this.”
“I know.”
For the first time, Matteo understood something.
They had all been treating Leah like an unusually useful little adult.
She wasn't.
She was ten.
And she was tired.
So Matteo did something nobody expected.
He canceled everything.
No investigation.
No interrogation.
No movement.
For twenty-four hours.
He took Leah, Maya, Nico and Luca to a small house on the coast.
They ate pizza.
Maya got tomato sauce in Nico's hair.
Luca taught Leah cards.
Matteo burned dinner.
Elena laughed.
For one day, nobody saved the world.
Then at sunset, Leah walked to Matteo.
“I want to finish it.”
“Why?”
“So Maya doesn't have to.”
Matteo looked at her.
“That's an adult reason.”
“I know.”
“You don't need one.”
Leah thought.
Then gave him the real answer.
“Because I'm scared she'll come back.”
Matteo nodded.
“That one I understand.”
They opened the necklace.
And the first file contained something nobody expected.
A list titled:
CHILDREN SELECTED FOR PHASE TWO.
Nico Rinaldi was number twelve.
May you like
Maya Bennett was number one.
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