Chapter 15: The Sound of the Gear
A soft click sounded from the shadows of the bell.
Elias spun, his hand on his holster, but a red laser dot was already centered on his heart.
"I told you the locket was leaking, Elias," Julianna's voice came from the darkness behind the clock's massive brass gears.
She stepped out, a suppressed pistol in her hand. She wasn't wearing her DA blazer now. She was in tactical black, her hair pulled back, her eyes devoid of the warmth he'd seen that morning.
"Julianna, stop," Elias said, his voice cracking. "Kaelen is right here. He's alive. You don't have to do this."
Julianna looked at the scarred man standing next to Elias. She didn't cry. She didn't scream. She looked at him like he was a ghost she had already buried.
"I know he's alive, Elias," she said softly. "Who do you think has been feeding him the targets? Who do you think has been keeping him hidden in the tunnels for twenty years?"
The Plot Twist: Kaelen and Julianna weren't at odds. They were a team. The "Wild Card" wasn't a third party—he was the weapon, and she was the hand that swung it.
"Then why the show at the office?" Elias asked.
"Because we needed you to find the Ledger for us," Julianna said. "The Senator hid the location in a code only your hyperthymesia could break. And now that you have... we don't need the 'Vault Keeper's son' anymore."
The clock struck twelve. The massive bell began to toll, the vibrations shaking the very floor beneath them.