Chapter 72: Blackridge Station

The card remained in my hand.

"Bring Ash to Blackridge..."

"Or you'll never learn who taught Raven to recruit children."

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

Victor finally folded the note and slipped it into his pocket.

"It's exactly what Nathaniel warned us about."

"They're baiting us."

Arthur examined the empty velvet pouch.

"The signet ring wasn't stolen by accident."

"They need it."

"Need it for what?" Damien asked.

"To open something," I answered.

"Richard said the ring opened the vault."

"Maybe there are other vaults."

Margaret slowly nodded.

"Raven never builds a single archive."

"Every operation has backups."

"If Blackridge is another archive..."

"Then they need the ring before we get there."

Victor turned toward Arthur.

"How long until tomorrow night's transfer?"

"Twenty-one hours."

"Enough time to prepare."

"Not enough time to make mistakes."

Rose entered carrying fresh coffee.

"No reporters have left the estate."

"They're still waiting outside."

"Good," Victor replied.

"Let them."

"Tonight they'll become part of our plan."

Damien frowned.

"Explain."

"If Raven is watching the news, they'll expect us to disappear quietly."

"Instead..."

"We'll leave publicly."

"A convoy?" Arthur asked.

"Exactly."

"Half the country will watch us drive away."

"Meanwhile," Victor continued,

"The real team enters Blackridge another way."

I looked at him.

"You already have a route."

He smiled faintly.

"Richard left one."

Arthur unfolded the railway map again.

A faded maintenance tunnel connected Ashford Manor to an abandoned freight line.

"It hasn't appeared on public maps for thirty years," Arthur explained.

"The tunnel exits less than a mile from Blackridge Station."

"So we split up," Damien said.

"Public convoy and hidden approach."

"Exactly."

Margaret placed another folder on the table.

"There's something else you should know before we leave."

"What?"

"Blackridge wasn't simply a railway station."

"It was a government relocation centre during the Cold War."

"Officially abandoned."

"Unofficially... several underground facilities still exist."

"Meaning Raven inherited them," Arthur concluded.

"Most likely."

Victor looked toward me.

"Vivian... you're staying behind."

"No."

"It's too dangerous."

"Nathaniel left the evidence to me."

"Richard trusted me with the ring."

"And Raven specifically invited Ash."

"Not me."

"I'm coming."

Damien stepped beside me.

"She's right."

"If Raven believes Vivian holds the missing evidence, they'll keep revealing themselves."

Victor sighed.

"I hate agreeing with you."

"Get used to it," Damien answered.

For the first time in days, the room almost felt lighter.

Almost.

Arthur's laptop interrupted the moment.

"I've recovered part of the deleted audio from Nathaniel's stolen cassette."

"Recovered?" Victor asked.

"The thieves copied it through the manor's recorder."

"Some fragments remained in memory."

"Play it."

Static crackled through the speakers.

Nathaniel's voice emerged briefly.

"...if they steal this recording..."

"...it means they've already lost..."

The audio skipped.

"...don't follow the first train..."

"...the second arrives empty..."

"...that's where they hide the living..."

The recording ended.

"The second train," I whispered.

"Not the first transfer."

"Nathaniel was warning us."

"Which means the photograph of Elias may have been the first train," Arthur said.

"A decoy."

"Exactly," Victor replied.

"The real movement happens later."

Margaret checked her watch.

"Then we stop chasing photographs."

"We watch the trains."

That evening Ashford Manor became unusually busy.

Security vehicles arrived.

Journalists crowded the gates.

Television helicopters circled overhead.

Exactly as Victor intended.

By sunset the convoy rolled out through the front entrance.

Five black SUVs.

Dozens of cameras recording every second.

News anchors announced that the Ashford family was travelling to an emergency board meeting.

No one noticed four figures leaving the estate an hour later through the forgotten freight tunnel beneath the greenhouse.

The air inside the tunnel was cold.

Water dripped steadily from the ceiling.

Rust covered the abandoned tracks.

"Richard really prepared for everything," Damien murmured.

"He prepared for failure," Victor replied.

"That's why we're still alive."

After nearly an hour of walking, a faint light appeared ahead.

Arthur raised his hand.

"Stop."

He crouched beside the tunnel exit.

"Voices."

We remained perfectly still.

Two armed guards stood outside the abandoned railway entrance.

"Shift changes in ten minutes," one of them said.

"Then the second train comes through."

"Good," the other replied.

"The Founder wants the prisoner delivered before midnight."

Victor slowly looked at me.

Nathaniel had been right again.

There really was a second train.

And somewhere aboard it...

Someone they called the prisoner.