Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN MARIN BURIED
Marin attended her mother’s funeral.
Closed casket.
Cancer.
At twelve, she did not ask to see the body.
Now the pattern looked different.
Who arranged everything?
A charity hospice.
Name:
Northlake Family Care.
Of course.
Tessa pulled records.
Lena Callaway’s death certificate existed.
Cause:
Metastatic ovarian cancer.
Physician:
Dr. Samuel Kerr.
Current status:
Dead.
Maybe legitimate.
Then photo.
Could be old.
Could be manipulated.
They checked metadata.
Recent.
Location:
Somewhere industrial.
Then facial comparison.
Likely Lena.
Older.
Thinner.
Alive.
Marin did not cry.
She became very quiet.
Asa noticed.
He was released from hospital after nine days.
Still weak.
No supernatural recovery.
Medication.
Monitoring.
He came to Tessa’s office.
Not Marin’s apartment.
Boundary.
Then he said:
“If your mother is alive—”
“She abandoned me.”
“Maybe.”
Marin looked at him.
“No excuses.”
“Not excuses.”
Good.
Then Nolan traced the photo background.
Northlake research campus outside Milwaukee.
Officially closed.
Property still owned by a pharmaceutical holding company.
Federal investigators were already interested after doctors reported the unknown compound.
This was no longer only mafia business.
Authorities became involved.
Asa hated it.
Marin liked that he hated it.
The campus was searched through warrants.
No shootout.
No vigilante raid.
Inside:
Old records.
Lab equipment.
Three current staff.
No Gideon.
No Lena.
But surveillance archives showed Lena entering repeatedly.
Voluntarily?
Appeared so.
Then one recording.
Lena speaking with Gideon.
Audio:
“You promised Marin would never be used.”
Gideon:
“She was always the second generation.”
Lena:
“No.”
Marin’s stomach turned.
Then:
“You want Asa stabilized, use my blood.”
Gideon:
“Yours stopped working years ago.”
There.
Lena had remained involved.
Maybe as unwilling participant.
Maybe collaborator.
Then another clip.
Gideon:
“Marin owes fifty thousand. She’s exactly where we need her.”
Lena slapped him.
Marin watched twice.
Then once more.
Her mother knew about the debt.
Knew Marin was being tracked.
Yet never contacted her.
Why?
Next recording.
Lena:
“If I go near her, you’ll activate M-2.”
Gideon:
“I already did.”
Marin stopped breathing.
Activated?
What did that mean?
Tessa found the research terminology.
M-2 activation did not mean biological trigger.
It meant surveillance status escalation.
Marin’s life had moved from passive monitoring to active observation at age eighteen after hypothermia.
Then another code:
M-2 pairing candidate: A.T.
Asa Thornton.
The two of them had been placed in the same file years before meeting.
Marin looked at Asa.
May you like
He looked sick.
Their collision had been planned long before the hotel.
