Chapter 52: The Man in the Rain

Darkness swallowed the underground archive.

Rose gasped somewhere behind me.

"Nobody move," Victor ordered.

His voice echoed through the vault.

"Arthur?"

"Here."

"Damien?"

"I'm here."

"Vivian?"

"I'm fine."

Only the sound of slow breathing answered him.

Then...

Footsteps.

Not ours.

Soft.

Measured.

Somewhere deeper inside the archive.

"He's still here," Arthur whispered.

Victor switched on his flashlight.

Nothing.

The beam flickered twice before dying.

"EMP pulse," Arthur muttered.

"It killed every battery."

"Convenient," Damien said.

"Planned," Victor corrected.

The old emergency lighting finally activated.

Thin red strips illuminated the corridor just enough to see.

The vault looked completely different beneath the crimson glow.

Long shadows stretched across the shelves.

Every aisle became a maze.

Another set of footsteps echoed.

Closer this time.

"Split up?" Damien asked.

"Absolutely not," Victor replied.

"That's exactly what they want."

I looked toward the office where we'd found the photograph.

The chair was moving.

Slowly.

Still spinning.

Someone had left only moments earlier.

"This way," I whispered.

We hurried through the narrow aisle.

The footprints in the dust continued beyond the office.

Toward another steel door.

"There wasn't a second exit on the plans," Arthur said.

"There wasn't a basement either," Victor answered.

Arthur forced the door open.

Cold night air rushed inside.

The hidden passage led outside.

Rain poured relentlessly.

We emerged behind Verline, beneath the old railway bridge.

A black umbrella disappeared around the corner.

"Stop!" Damien shouted.

The figure began running.

"Go!" Victor yelled.

Damien and Arthur sprinted after the stranger.

Victor stayed beside me.

"They're heading toward the river."

The chase cut through deserted streets.

Rain blurred every streetlight.

The stranger never looked back.

Only the black umbrella remained visible.

"They're fast," Arthur shouted.

"Too fast," Damien replied.

Suddenly the umbrella fell.

The figure vanished into an alley.

Damien reached it first.

Empty.

No one.

Only the abandoned umbrella lying in a puddle.

"Impossible," Arthur whispered.

There had been nowhere to go.

Brick walls blocked every direction.

"Look up," Victor called as he arrived.

A metal fire escape climbed the side of the building.

Fresh muddy footprints marked every step.

They climbed.

The rooftop overlooked the harbour.

Dozens of warehouses stretched into the distance.

One rooftop stood opposite.

A lone silhouette waited there.

Tall.

Broad-shouldered.

Long dark coat.

Rain concealed every detail except one.

The man wasn't running.

He simply stood watching us.

"Mercer," Victor whispered.

The stranger slowly removed his hat.

Too far away to recognise his face.

Then he raised one hand.

Not in greeting.

In warning.

A bright laser dot suddenly appeared on the concrete beside Damien's foot.

"Sniper!" Arthur yelled.

Everyone dropped instantly.

A suppressed gunshot cracked through the rain.

Concrete exploded where Damien had been standing.

"Move!" Victor shouted.

More shots followed.

Not aimed to kill.

Aimed to herd.

They scrambled toward the rooftop access door.

When they looked back...

The man across the rooftops was gone.

"Did anyone see his face?" Victor asked.

Nobody answered.

Because nobody had.

Arthur retrieved the abandoned umbrella.

"There's something inside the handle."

He twisted the grip.

A rolled piece of waterproof paper slid out.

Victor unfolded it.

Only a simple sketch.

No words.

It showed a family tree.

At the top...

Ashford.

Below it...

Eleanor.

Damien.

Then another branch.

Blank.

No name.

Instead, a question mark.

"What's this supposed to mean?" Damien asked.

Victor remained silent.

His eyes fixed on the empty branch.

"Someone's missing," he finally said.

"Not from the drawing."

"From the family."

I looked again.

The blank branch wasn't beneath Eleanor.

It began beside her.

As though another child should have been there.

"Eleanor only had one son," Damien said quietly.

"That's what everyone believes," Victor replied.

The rain continued falling.

None of us noticed the second sheet hidden behind the sketch until Arthur separated the damp pages.

It contained only six handwritten words.

"Ask Eleanor about the first child."