Chapter 6 - The Sister She Lost Was Working for the Enemy
The shooter disappeared before Moretti's men reached the opposite building.
But Natalya knew what she saw.
The crescent mark.
The face.
Her sister.
The woman who had been used by Bellandi had become one of his most dangerous operatives.
Moretti didn't dismiss her.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“You're not imagining her.”
“No.”
S returned.
“We found the rifle.”
“Any prints?”
“None.”
Moretti looked at Natalya.
“She wanted you alive.”
“Because she could have killed me.”
“She was close enough.”
Natalya nodded.
“She's warning us.”
The next clue came from the rifle.
A coded message was taped beneath the stock.
One sentence.
Stop looking for the poems.
Find the man who never appears in photographs.
Moretti frowned.
“Who?”
Natalya immediately understood.
“There's someone behind Orpheus.”
“Bellandi?”
“No.”
She remembered the blurred man in the photograph from 1990.
The man standing behind her and her father.
He never showed his face.
He never appeared clearly.
He was always there.
Watching.
Her father had called him The Archivist.
A man who kept copies of everyone's secrets.
Moretti recognized the name.
“My father mentioned him.”
“Did he know who he was?”
“No.”
They began searching.
Not for a person.
For absences.
Men without photographs.
Companies without founders.
Bank accounts without owners.
Properties whose records had been erased.
They found one name.
Victor Hale.
No photograph.
No birth certificate.
No driver's license.
No school records.
Nothing.
Yet he controlled eleven shell corporations.
And one of them had paid Judge Henderson.
Another had paid Marco Bellandi.
And a third had paid for Viktor Petrov's fake funeral.
Moretti's face became grim.
“Victor Hale doesn't exist.”
Natalya whispered.
“That's why he is dangerous.”
They traced the money to a private hospital.
An executive suite had been rented under another name.
They went there.
Inside, they found a man in his sixties sitting beside a window.
He did not look frightened.
He looked amused.
“You took your time.”
Moretti aimed his gun.
“Victor Hale.”
The man smiled.
“That's not my name.”
Natalya stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The man looked at her.
“Viktor's daughter.”
“Yes.”
“I wondered when you would appear.”
“You knew my father.”
“I knew everyone.”
“Is he alive?”
The man smiled sadly.
“Yes.”
Natalya's knees nearly gave out.
“Where?”
“Not where you think.”
Moretti grabbed the man's collar.
“Talk.”
The man glanced at him.
“Adrien Moretti.”
“You know me.”
“I knew your father.”
“What did he do?”
“He regretted loving power more than people.”
Moretti's eyes darkened.
“Where is Viktor?”
“He disappeared because he learned the truth.”
“What truth?”
Victor Hale looked at Natalya.
“The people you think are enemies have been protecting you.”
She froze.
“My sister?”
“Yes.”
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“Moretti?”
“Yes.”
Natalya stared.
“Then who is the enemy?”
The man smiled.
“Your father.”
Silence.
“No,” Natalya whispered.
Victor continued.
“Viktor created Orpheus. He believed he could control it.”
Moretti frowned.
“That contradicts everything.”
“He tried to destroy it later.”
“Why?”
“Because his daughter was born.”
Natalya stared.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Viktor had realized that Orpheus could become an inheritance.
He did not want his children to inherit a machine built on lies.
So he created a final plan.
He divided the archive.
He hid the pieces.
He made himself disappear.
But someone betrayed him.
Elisa had been taken.
Elena was forced underground.
And Viktor became a prisoner.
“Where is he?”
Victor Hale finally answered.
“Brooklyn.”
Moretti's phone rang.
S answered.
“Boss.”
“Talk.”
“We found the warehouse.”
“What warehouse?”
“The one where Viktor Petrov died.”
Moretti looked at Victor Hale.
The man's smile disappeared.
“That building was demolished twelve years ago.”
May you like
S replied.
“Apparently it wasn't.”
