Daniel grabbed Elena and pulled her behind a filing cabinet.
Another shot shattered the window.
"Get down!"
Elena crawled toward the entrance.
Through the broken glass, she saw a black vehicle parked outside.
Two figures stood beside it.
One held a rifle.
The other was wearing a police uniform.
"Police!" Elena shouted.
The figures opened fire.
Metal shelves shook as bullets struck the walls.
Rachel crawled toward the back exit.
"Come on!"
They ran through a narrow corridor and burst into an alley.
The black vehicle accelerated toward them.
Daniel pushed Rachel behind a dumpster.
Elena raised her weapon and fired twice.
The vehicle swerved and disappeared around the corner.
For several seconds, all three remained silent.
Then Rachel looked at Daniel.
"Did you get the memory card?"
He checked his pocket.
It was gone.
His face turned pale.
"Someone took it."
Elena looked back toward the building.
A shadow moved behind one of the broken windows.
Then a familiar figure stepped into view.
Officer Mark Bennett.
He was holding something in his hand.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
His father's old police badge.
Bennett smiled.
Then he held up his phone and made a call.
"Captain," he said.
"They found the archive."
A pause.
"Yes, sir. The detective is still alive."
He looked directly at Elena.
"And Daniel has his father's badge."
They spent the next three hours hiding inside an abandoned apartment building.
Rachel had a contact who could provide temporary shelter, but she refused to reveal his identity until she was certain they were safe.
Elena sat beside a broken window, watching the street below.
Daniel paced across the room.
"My father's badge," he said. "Why would Bennett have it?"
Rachel leaned against the wall.
"Because it was never officially returned after his death."
"How do you know?"
"I was there when they took his belongings."
Daniel stopped.
"You knew my father?"
Rachel looked at him.
"Michael Reeves was the only officer in Black Lantern who believed the truth mattered more than his career."
"What happened to him?"
Rachel lowered her eyes.
"He discovered who was controlling the operation."
"And?"
"He disappeared."
Daniel frowned.
"His car was found in a river."
"That doesn't mean he was inside it."
Elena turned around.
"Are you saying Michael Reeves could still be alive?"
Rachel didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she opened her bag and removed a small notebook.
"Your father gave me this two days before he disappeared."
Daniel took it.
The pages were filled with handwritten numbers, dates, and names.
One page contained a list of locations.
The courthouse.
The central police station.
A warehouse near the river.
And an address in the northern district.
Elena recognized the last location.
"That's an old recording studio."
Rachel nodded.
"Black Lantern used it to store recordings."
"What recordings?"
"Interrogations. Conversations. Meetings. Everything."
Daniel turned another page.
A sentence had been written in red ink.
The truth is not in the files. It is in the voices.
Elena stood up.
"We need to get there."
Rachel shook her head.
"Not tonight."
"Why?"
"Because the studio is being watched."
"By whom?"
Rachel looked toward the window.
"By people who don't wear uniforms."
Daniel closed the notebook.
"Then we'll go tomorrow."
Elena looked at him.
"Tomorrow might be too late."
She opened her phone and examined the photograph of Captain Hayes outside the police station.
There was something in the background she hadn't noticed before.
A second person.
Standing beside the entrance.
A man wearing a long coat.
She enlarged the photograph.
The man's face became clearer.
Elena froze.
She recognized him.
It was Jonathan Bell.
The man officially declared dead twenty years earlier.
"Rachel."
The woman approached.
Elena showed her the photograph.
Rachel's face turned white.
"Where did you get this?"
"An anonymous message."
Rachel stared at the image.
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Because I saw Jonathan die."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Could it be someone else?"
Rachel shook her head.
"No. I would recognize him anywhere."
Elena zoomed in on the image.
The man was holding a newspaper.
The date printed on the front page was yesterday.
"He is alive," Daniel whispered.
Rachel looked at him.
"Or someone wants us to believe he is."
Suddenly, Daniel's phone rang.
An unknown number.
He answered.
"Hello?"
A man's voice responded.
"Daniel Reeves."
"Who is this?"
"Someone who knew your father."
Daniel exchanged a glance with Elena.
"Do you know where he is?"
The man ignored the question.
"Your father left something for you. Something he never managed to deliver."
"What?"
"A recording."
"Where?"
"At the old studio."
Rachel immediately shook her head.
"Don't go there."
The caller continued.
"Come alone. Midnight."
Daniel frowned.
"Why should I trust you?"
"Because the recording contains the last words of your mother."
Daniel went completely still.
"My mother?"
The caller laughed softly.
"You thought your father was the only one who disappeared?"
Then the line went dead.
Daniel lowered the phone.
Elena looked at him.
"Your mother died when you were young?"
He nodded.
"She died three years before my father."
"Do you have any photographs of her?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Only one."
He opened his wallet and removed a small photograph.