Page 109 of In the Dark of the Past

Jordyn flinched as if I’d struck her. “I didn’t know that then.”

“But you know it now.”

A long pause. “Yes,” she said.

The word cost her something. I let it.

“Jordyn,” River said. Her voice had shifted. It hadn’t gone soft exactly, but it had turned precise. It was the voice she used when she wanted to be heard without being threatening. “Tonight, in that room, the wall, the Bennett file. Had you seen any of that before?”

“No,” Jordyn said, shaking her head. “I was told the basement archive was operational storage. Old intake records, maintenance logs, that sort of thing. I didn’t know what was down there.”

“Grant didn’t show you the room?”

“He showed me the door,” she said. “Gave me the code and told me to retrieve a specific box. He said it needed to be moved before the state review made the building accessible.” She swallowed. “I think he wanted me down there with him if someone showed up. And I think he was expecting you. He needed a witness. Someone in a uniform who could say she was present under orders.”

“He used you as insulation,” I said.

She nodded again.

Atlas uncrossed his arms. “The box he sent you to retrieve. What was in it?”

“He didn’t let me open it. He collected it himself when he arrived. Before you came in.” Her jaw tightened. “He was already there when I got there. Was in the room before I arrived.”

“Which means he really did know we were coming,” River said.

“He knew the moment you left the station,” Jordyn said quietly. “He still has someone close to you. It wasn’t just me. I don’t know who it is, but someone is still reporting to him.”

I filed that away. It was a problem for after nine.

“Grant seems to have been accelerating. How much of what was in that room has been moved or copied?”

Jordyn hesitated. “The wall is operational,” she said. “It’s a working file. They update it. But the originals?” She stopped. Seemed to be working through what she was allowed to say, or what she’d promised herself she’d say if it ever came to this. “The originals aren’t there. That room is current intelligence. The source documents. The founding records of the Fund, the original directives, the intake files from the early years…those are somewhere else.”

River leaned forward. “Where?”

“The annex,” Jordyn said. “There’s a sublevel behind the main Stonybrooke building. It’s a separate structure, different access. It predates the Fund. It was a maintenance facility in the sixties. They converted it. Reinforced it. It’s climate-controlled.” Her voice was flat now, recitative almost, the voice of someone who decided to empty themselves of everything they’d been carrying. “It’s where they keep everything that can’t be destroyed and shouldn’t be found. The files the Fund never wanted daylight to touch.”

The room was very quiet.

“Your mother knew about it,” Jordyn said to River. “Before they moved her to Stonybrooke, before the institutionalization, she was trying to get access. She’d been corresponding with someone on the outside about what she found. I don’t know how far she got. But Grant moved on her before she could do anything with it.”

River’s face didn’t change, but something in her eyes did. I wondered if she was thinking about her mother’s letter.

“The annex,” I said. “Access.”

“There are two entry points,” Jordyn said. “The main door, which requires a biometric that Grant controls. And a secondary maintenance access that was part of the original structure. It was supposed to be sealed in the 2009 renovation, but I know for a fact that the work order was never completed. It’s in the building permits if you know what to look for.”

Atlas was already moving toward the door. He didn’t need to be told what to look for.

“One more thing,” Jordyn said.

I stopped.

“When Grant triggered the Void Protocol tonight, that’s an escalation flag. It goes to the full inner circle. They’ll know the annex has been mentioned. They’ll know someone talked.” She looked up at me. “You have less time than you think.”

I looked at the clock on the wall.

We didn’t have much time until the state board convened. Maybe less time than that before Grant moved on the annex before we could.