Chapter 10: The Hidden Manifest

Darkness swallowed the carriage.

For several terrifying seconds, Claire Moreau could see absolutely nothing.

The train continued moving beneath her feet.

Metal groaned.

Glass rattled.

Somewhere nearby, a woman screamed.

Then another voice shouted.

The sound echoed through the darkness before being swallowed by the roar of the train.

Claire's heart hammered in her chest.

The blackout felt different from the previous power interruptions.

This wasn't a technical failure.

Someone had deliberately cut the lights.

A hand grabbed her arm.

She nearly struck out before recognizing Adrian's voice.

Claire.

It's me.

Where's Weiss?

I don't know.

The answer came immediately.

Too immediately.

Claire realized Adrian had already searched for him.

Emergency lights suddenly activated.

Dim blue strips illuminated the carriage.

The soft glow transformed everything.

Shadows stretched unnaturally across the walls.

Faces became difficult to recognize.

The atmosphere felt cold.

Artificial.

Wrong.

Claire looked toward the place where Viktor Weiss had been standing.

Empty.

He was gone.

The Nightglass operative was gone too.

Only the abandoned briefcase remained on the seat.

The tracker light had stopped flashing.

Claire grabbed it immediately.

Not losing that again.

Adrian nodded.

Agreed.

The train shook violently.

Outside the windows, powerful searchlights swept across the snow-covered mountains.

The extraction site had become chaotic.

Vehicles moved in different directions.

Figures ran between floodlights.

Something unexpected had happened.

The question was what.

Claire moved toward the window.

Can you see anything?

Not clearly.

But somebody is attacking them.

That much was obvious.

Gunfire flashed in the distance.

Brief bursts of light.

Too organized to be random.

Whoever had arrived was trained.

Adrian watched carefully.

This operation wasn't supposed to be interrupted.

Then who are they fighting?

He looked genuinely uncertain.

And that worried Claire.

Adrian always seemed to have answers.

Not complete answers.

But enough to stay ahead.

Now he looked lost.

A metallic beep came from inside the briefcase.

Both immediately looked down.

The sound repeated.

Once.

Twice.

Then stopped.

Claire carefully opened the case again.

Most of the documents remained where they had been.

Passenger lists.

Photographs.

Internal reports.

Transfer schedules.

Nothing new.

Then Adrian noticed something.

Hidden compartment.

Where?

Bottom layer.

Claire examined the interior carefully.

A thin seam ran beneath the document tray.

Easy to miss.

Almost invisible.

Adrian pressed against one corner.

A click sounded.

The false bottom lifted.

Claire stared.

Inside lay a single black folder.

No labels.

No markings.

Only a red stripe running across the front.

Adrian removed it slowly.

Whatever this is, someone didn't want it found.

Claire opened the folder.

The first page immediately caught her attention.

PROJECT NIGHTGLASS.

MASTER MANIFEST.

Below the title appeared hundreds of names.

Thousands, perhaps.

Each accompanied by numbers, classifications, and locations.

Claire turned pages quickly.

The list seemed endless.

Every name represented a person connected to Nightglass.

Missing individuals.

Transferred subjects.

Recovered assets.

Classifications she still didn't fully understand.

Then she found something alarming.

Several names appeared more than once.

Duplicate entries.

Different classifications.

Different dates.

The same people.

How is that possible?

Adrian examined the pages.

Maybe it isn't duplication.

Then what?

Replacement.

The word settled heavily between them.

Claire remembered the message from the briefcase.

IDENTITY RECORD REMOVED.

STATUS: DECEASED.

Officially dead.

Yet still alive.

The implications were horrifying.

Nightglass wasn't simply taking people.

It was rewriting them.

Erasing identities.

Creating new ones.

Building entirely different lives.

The scale exceeded anything Claire had imagined.

A folded photograph slipped from the folder.

She picked it up.

Then froze.

No way.

What?

Claire handed it to Adrian.

The photograph showed a large mountain facility.

High fences.

Security towers.

Multiple buildings.

Snow-covered peaks in every direction.

A hidden compound.

But that wasn't why Claire had reacted.

At the bottom of the image stood a group of recently arrived subjects.

One face stood out immediately.

Sofia Brandt.

The woman from Seat 19.

Alive.

Standing beside dozens of others.

The photograph looked recent.

Very recent.

Maybe weeks old.

Maybe days.

Which meant Sofia's appearance on the train made even less sense.

She shouldn't have been there.

Unless someone wanted Claire to see her.

The realization made her uneasy.

A note was written on the back of the photograph.

Claire turned it over.

Coordinates.

Nothing else.

Just coordinates.

Adrian's eyes widened.

What?

Those aren't random.

You recognize them?

Yes.

Where?

The Alps.

Claire stared.

The Alps cover multiple countries.

Not these coordinates.

He pointed.

They're less than fifty kilometers from our current location.

The hidden facility.

Most likely.

Claire's pulse accelerated.

For the first time all night, they had something concrete.

Not theories.

Not guesses.

A location.

A destination.

A place where answers might exist.

The train suddenly lurched again.

Harder this time.

Several windows cracked.

The carriage lights flickered.

A voice echoed through the speakers.

Not the usual Nightglass voice.

A different one.

Urgent.

Human.

All personnel report to defensive positions.

Defensive positions?

Claire looked at Adrian.

The attackers.

He nodded.

They're getting closer.

Gunfire erupted outside.

Much closer now.

Bright flashes illuminated the mountains.

The battle was moving toward the train.

Toward them.

A loud explosion shook the entire carriage.

Passengers screamed somewhere farther back.

The train tilted slightly before correcting itself.

Claire nearly lost her balance.

Adrian caught her.

We need to move.

Where?

Front of the train.

Still?

Especially now.

The command center will be evacuating.

Meaning?

Meaning people make mistakes when they're afraid.

Claire looked at the hidden manifest.

Then at the chaos outside.

Then at the dark mountain peaks surrounding them.

Everything was accelerating.

The operation was collapsing.

Someone had attacked Nightglass.

Weiss had vanished.

The hidden manifest had revealed a facility in the Alps.

And somewhere ahead lay the answers they'd been chasing all night.

Claire carefully returned the manifest to the folder.

Whatever happened next, this information could not be lost.

It might be the only proof connecting everything.

The train entered a sharp curve.

Outside, one of the black vehicles overturned after an explosion.

Flames erupted into the night.

Adrian watched through the window.

Whoever those attackers are, they're winning.

Claire didn't know whether that was good news or bad.

Because she still didn't know who they were.

The enemy of Nightglass wasn't automatically a friend.

Especially not on a train where people vanished and identities could be erased with a few keystrokes.

Another explosion echoed through the mountains.

The carriage lights dimmed.

Then returned.

Adrian looked toward the front of the train.

Ready?

Claire took a deep breath.

Not even close.

Good.

He started moving.

Claire followed.

Behind them, the hidden manifest remained tucked inside the black briefcase.

Ahead of them, the command center waited.

And somewhere beyond the mountains, a secret facility held the answers to every disappearance connected to Project Nightglass.