Chapter 17 - The Woman Who Should Have DiedThe address led them to an abandoned train station nearly two hours outside the city.
Marin hated the location immediately.
Too many exits.
Too many elevated platforms.
Too many blind corners.
Elias noticed her scanning the environment.
“You recognize it?”
“No.”
“Then why do you look like you want to burn the place down?”
“Because whoever selected this location understands how I think.”
Elias reached for her hand.
“Then we'll think differently.”
They entered together.
The station was empty.
Dust covered the ticket booths.
Broken clocks hung above the platforms.
A single fluorescent light flickered overhead.
Then a woman's voice echoed through the darkness.
“You always were difficult to kill.”
Marin froze.
Evelyn Shaw stepped from behind a concrete pillar.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably alive.
Marin's face hardened.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
“So are you.”
Elias raised his weapon.
Evelyn looked at him.
“You must be Elias Ferrante.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone who knew your wife before she became your wife.”
Marin stepped forward.
“Why bring me here?”
“Because there was no other way to speak to you without alerting the people watching your house.”
“Who?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Then she said one word.
“Lucian.”
Marin's expression changed.
Elias noticed.
“You know him.”
“I know the name.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Lucian Vale was the architect behind the program that trained people like us. The Raven wasn't the beginning. He was only a contractor.”
Elias lowered his weapon slightly.
“You're saying there was someone above him?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Evelyn looked directly at Marin.
“He isn't after your empire.”
“Then what does he want?”
“You.”
Marin's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“Because you were the only operative who disappeared without permission.”
Elias stepped closer.
“My wife owes you nothing.”
Evelyn looked at him with unexpected sadness.
“She doesn't owe me anything. But she owes herself the truth.”
She removed a small metal key from her coat.
“Your original file still exists.”
Marin stared at it.
“My file was destroyed.”
“No.”
Evelyn handed it to her.
“It was hidden.”
“Where?”
“In a place you would never search.”
Marin took the key.
Evelyn turned away.
“Wait.”
She stopped.
“You said they were watching the estate.”
“They've been watching it for weeks.”
“Who?”
Evelyn looked back.
“Someone inside your organization.”
Elias's expression became ice.
“That's impossible.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No. It's inevitable.”
She walked toward the darkness.
Marin called after her.
“Evelyn!”
The woman stopped.
“Why are you helping me?”
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered:
“Because I made one mistake thirty years ago.”
She disappeared into the shadows.
Marin looked at the key in her palm.
“What mistake?”
Evelyn's voice came faintly from the darkness.
“I trained the person who eventually became your greatest enemy.”
The lights went out.
A gunshot exploded somewhere inside the station.
Elias pulled Marin down.
They hit the floor together.
Another shot cracked through the darkness.
Then silence.
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When the emergency lights returned, Evelyn was gone.
And blood covered the floor where she had been standing.
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