Chapter 9 - The Girl in the Blue CoatMatteo drove through the cemetery as bullets struck the rear window.
Liana covered Nico with her body while Elena pressed against the incubator. Mrs. Bell crouched on the floor, gripping the memory card in one hand and the dashboard in the other.
“The child,” Liana said. “I heard a child.”
“There are no children here,” Matteo replied.
“I heard one.”
The cry came again, faint and frightened.
Matteo glanced at the mirror. One of the SUVs had stopped beside the open grave. Dante stood in the headlights, watching them leave.
“He wants us to hear it,” Matteo said.
“Or someone is actually there.”
“We cannot turn around.”
“Then stop the car.”
“Liana.”
“If that is Nora, I am not driving away.”
Matteo slammed on the brakes.
The sedan spun on the wet grass. The pursuing SUV overshot them and crashed through a row of stone angels. Matteo reversed toward the cemetery entrance, then cut the wheel and drove back toward the grave.
“Are you insane?” Elena shouted.
“Possibly,” he said.
They reached the vault. Dante had disappeared. The SUVs were scattered, their drivers recovering from the collision.
Liana jumped out and ran toward the sound.
The cry came from beneath a mausoleum.
She found a small blue coat caught in an iron gate. Behind it, a narrow passage descended beneath the cemetery.
“Matteo!”
He reached her with his gun drawn. “Stay behind me.”
They entered the passage. The crying grew louder. The walls were lined with old burial niches, many of them empty. At the end stood a steel door marked with the crescent symbol.
Matteo kicked it open.
Inside was a storage room filled with crates.
A girl sat in the corner.
She was perhaps seven years old, thin, pale, and wearing a blue coat too large for her body. A plastic identification band circled her wrist. Her eyes were enormous.
When she saw Matteo, she began to scream.
“No, no, no!”
Liana dropped to her knees. “It’s okay. We won’t hurt you.”
The girl stared at her. “You sing.”
Liana’s heart stopped.
“What is your name?”
The girl’s lips trembled. “Mara.”
“Where are your parents?”
“They said my mother was dead.”
Liana looked at Matteo.
Mara pointed toward a crate. “They keep the little ones there.”
Matteo tore open the crate nearest her. It contained blankets, medical supplies, and dozens of empty blue ampoules.
The girl seized Liana’s hand. “The babies go through the train.”
“What train?”
“The night train. They take them under the city.”
Elena entered with Nico. “We need to leave.”
Outside, engines roared.
Mara flinched. “They found us.”
Matteo lifted the girl. She fought him until Liana touched her cheek.
“He’s taking us somewhere safe.”
Mara looked at Matteo. “You’re the man from the picture.”
“What picture?”
“The one they showed us when they told us to be quiet.”
Matteo carried her toward the passage. “What did the picture show?”
“You standing beside a dead woman.”
His steps stopped.
Mara looked at Liana. “They said you killed her.”
“Who said that?”
“The man with your face.”
Dante.
They ran through the passage as the steel door behind them burst open. Men shouted. Matteo shoved Liana ahead and fired twice into the ceiling, forcing the attackers to slow.
They reached the car. Matteo placed Mara in the front passenger seat, Elena beside Nico, and Liana in the middle. Mrs. Bell climbed into the trunk.
“That is not safe,” Liana said.
“Neither is anything else tonight.”
The sedan tore away.
Mara remained silent, curled against the door. Liana wrapped a blanket around her.
“Do you know a girl named Nora?” she asked.
Mara stared ahead.
“Many babies had numbers. The little girl with the pink blanket was Number Ninety-Two.”
Liana’s breath caught. “What happened to her?”
“She was taken to the house with the black gates.”
Matteo gripped the steering wheel. “Which house?”
Mara raised a shaking hand and pointed toward the northern hills.
“The old Varric summer house.”
Matteo’s face hardened. “That property burned twelve years ago.”
“It didn’t burn,” Mara whispered. “They only made it look empty.”
Elena checked Nico. His monitor beeped erratically.
“We need the counteragent now,” she said.
“The old house may have one,” Liana replied.
“How do you know?”
Liana looked at Mara. “Because they kept the children there.”
Matteo turned onto a private road leading into the hills.
Rain turned to sleet. The city disappeared behind them.
“If Dante is there, he will expect us,” Elena warned.
“Then we surprise him.”
“With what?”
Matteo looked at the child in the passenger seat.
Mara reached beneath her coat and pulled out a small brass key.
“This opens the room where they keep the names,” she said.
Liana took the key. On its bow was engraved a number.
The summer house appeared through the trees, dark and silent, its windows covered by wooden boards.
But a single blue light glowed in the highest window.
Nico began screaming.
May you like
Mara covered her ears.
And from somewhere inside the abandoned house, a woman began singing Liana’s lullaby.
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