Chapter 59 - MARIA’S CONDITION
Nicholas returned to Maria before making any decision.
Not Arthur.
Not Rose.
Maria.
She was in the independent safe residence kitchen cutting strawberries while Lucy colored at the table.
Ordinary.
Good.
Lucy looked up.
“Uncle Nicholas!”
He smiled.
“Hey.”
“Daddy says you fell in dirty water.”
Daniel looked offended from the other room.
“I said no such thing.”
Lucy pointed.
“Yes you did.”
Nicholas sat.
Maria watched him.
“You found something.”
“Yes.”
“Adult?”
“Yes.”
“Lucy?”
“No.”
“Certain?”
“As certain as we can be.”
Her shoulders loosened.
That mattered most.
Nicholas explained.
Root One.
Mercer.
The duplicate specimen.
Evelyn’s extraction.
No dramatic omissions.
No “I’ll handle it.”
When he finished Maria said:
“You’re going to Tarrytown.”
He frowned.
“How do you know?”
“You have the face.”
Apparently everyone did.
“Yes.”
“No.”
Nicholas looked at her.
“No?”
“You are not walking into another underground vault because someone put your name on a file.”
“It’s the best lead.”
“Then law enforcement gets the lead.”
“They are.”
“And?”
“I may be required to authenticate whatever is there.”
Maria put the knife down.
“You hear yourself?”
“Yes.”
“You’re volunteering to become the key.”
“I already am.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to behave like one.”
Silence.
Nicholas looked toward Lucy.
The little girl was drawing a blue rabbit.
Maria continued quietly:
“Every adult in this story keeps saying the system requires a person.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe the correct answer is that the system doesn’t get the person.”
Nicholas stared.
Simple.
Dangerous.
Correct.
“What if refusing leaves it active?”
“Then people whose job is systems dismantle it.”
“Mercer built around them.”
“Then they learn.”
Nicholas almost smiled.
“You make federal cyber-forensics sound very optimistic.”
“I make you sound less important.”
He actually laughed.
Good.
Then Maria said:
“If you go physically, I want one condition.”
“What?”
“You go as a witness.”
Not boss.
Not executioner.
Not family patriarch.
Witness.
“You carry no private assault team.”
“Fine.”
“No secret backup.”
He stared.
“Nicholas.”
“Fine.”
“If someone is arrested, prosecutors decide.”
“Yes.”
“And Lucy stays completely outside it.”
“Yes.”
“Not a photo.”
“Yes.”
“Not a medical sample.”
“Yes.”
“Not one more system entry.”
Nicholas’s voice hardened.
“Agreed.”
Maria nodded.
Then Lucy walked over.
She handed Nicholas the drawing.
Three stick people.
Maria.
Daniel.
Lucy.
And a fourth huge one.
Nicholas.
He frowned.
“Why am I enormous?”
“You eat more.”
Daniel laughed from the doorway.
Nicholas looked at Maria.
She almost smiled.
Lucy pointed at the drawing.
“You live here?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Maria answered:
“Because Uncle Nicholas has his own home.”
Lucy accepted.
Then:
“Can he come cookies Sunday?”
Maria looked at Nicholas.
“If he’s free.”
Not if he survives.
Not if he wins.
If he is free.
May you like
Nicholas understood the difference.
He wanted to stay that way.
