Chapter 22
The Protocol with Three Names
The notebook contained no diary entries.
It contained instructions.
Each page was divided into three columns: original, witness, transfer. Names appeared beneath them, sometimes crossed out, sometimes replaced by another hand.
Claire found Mara's name first.
Original: Mara Rowan. Witness: Claire Rowan. Transfer: R-01.
The next page listed Lucy Hart.
Original: Lucy Hart. Witness: Noah Hart. Transfer: L-02.
The third page listed Rowan Vale.
Original: Rowan Vale. Witness: Elise Vale. Transfer: R-01.
Daniel took the notebook from her.
“Elise was not a witness.”
“She was the witness the protocol needed.”
“She was sick.”
“She was also Rowan's mother.”
He turned the page.
The final column was empty for Claire.
Instead, beneath her name, someone had written: WITNESS REFUSES TO STAY WITNESS.
Tess read it aloud.
“What does that mean?”
Claire looked at the child drawing. “It means Mara thought I would become part of the process.”
“Did you?” Daniel asked.
Claire did not know.
The notebook's last page contained a route map. The lines connected Cabin 12, the old clinic, the county courthouse, and a fourth location marked only with a red square.
Tess recognized it first.
“The school.”
Daniel looked at her. “What school?”
“The old Bellwether elementary building. It closed after the flood.”
Claire studied the map. “Why would a memory program use a school?”
“Because children went there,” Daniel said.
The answer sat between them.
Outside the passage, water began to rise.
The lake had entered through a broken pipe. Daniel shoved the notebook into his coat.
“We leave now.”
Claire took the page with her name.
At the bottom, beneath the red square, a sentence had been added in Mara's handwriting.
The witness is safest where the children learned to disappear.