The project had been dead for twenty-two years. So why did its final file contain a photograph of her?
CHAPTER 2
Nora killed her flashlight.
The footsteps stopped.
Silence swallowed the basement.
She held her breath.
Then she heard the sound again.
Slow.
Measured.
Someone walking down the stairs.
Nora backed toward the filing cabinets.
Her hand found the metal handle of a drawer.
The footsteps came closer.
A shadow appeared on the wall.
Then a man’s voice echoed through the darkness.
“Nora?”
She almost screamed.
The flashlight came on.
A man stood halfway down the stairs.
Late thirties.
Dark jacket.
Unshaven.
His eyes immediately went to the photograph in her hand.
“You found it.”
Nora stepped backward.
“Who are you?”
“Ethan Cole.”
“How do you know my name?”
“Because I’ve been looking for that file for eight years.”
Nora didn’t lower the photograph.
“Are you following me?”
“Yes.”
At least he was honest.
She almost laughed.
Almost.
Ethan continued down the stairs.
“I’m not here to hurt you.”
“That’s exactly what someone here to hurt me would say.”
He stopped.
“Your father used to say the same thing.”
Nora’s expression changed.
“You knew my father?”
“No.”
A pause.
“I knew what he was investigating.”
Ethan pulled a folded newspaper clipping from his pocket.
It was old.
The headline read:
FEDERAL RESEARCH FACILITY CLOSES AFTER FUNDING DISPUTE
Nora looked at it.
“Bellwether.”
Ethan nodded.
“The government said it was a failed emergency communications project.”
“What was it really?”
“That’s what I’ve spent eight years trying to find out.”
He pointed toward the photograph.
“Your father was one of the last engineers assigned to Bellwether.”
Nora swallowed.
“My father never talked about this.”
“Because he was told not to.”
“By whom?”
Ethan looked at the ceiling.
“People who don’t like old stories being reopened.”
Nora turned toward the filing cabinets.
“What happened here?”
Ethan didn’t answer immediately.
Finally he said:
“Bellwether was supposed to predict disasters.”
“Natural disasters?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“People.”
Nora frowned.
“People?”
“Riots. Protests. Panic. Mass evacuations. Social unrest.”
He took another document from his coat.
“The system collected information from thousands of people.”
Nora scanned it.
Phone calls.
Public records.
Bank transactions.
Medical data.
Employment histories.
Social media didn’t exist at the beginning, but the project had apparently used everything available.
“What were they trying to predict?”
“Who would cause trouble.”
Nora’s stomach tightened.
“That’s insane.”
“It was worse.”
Ethan pointed toward the photograph.
“Your father discovered Bellwether wasn’t simply predicting events.”
“What was it doing?”
“Someone was using its predictions to decide which events should happen.”
The basement seemed colder.
Nora looked at the photograph again.
Her father wasn’t smiling.
He was looking directly at the camera.
Almost as if he knew someone would eventually find it.
Ethan’s voice dropped.
“Your father didn’t disappear because he wanted a new life.”
Nora turned.
“What?”
“He disappeared because he tried to shut Bellwether down.”
Before Nora could respond, every light in the basement turned on.
Then the facility’s old speakers crackled.
A recorded voice whispered:
“Unauthorized access detected.”
Ethan looked toward the ceiling.
His expression changed.
“Someone just activated the system.”
