Chapter 18
1731 Words
CHAPTER 18
THE FLASH DRIVE
Amara stared at the identification card, unable to take her eyes from the photograph.
Her father.
Samuel Lin.
For twenty years, she had carried only fragments of his face in her memory: the warmth of his smile, the way he used to lift her onto his shoulders, the sound of his voice when he called her name. But the photograph in her hand brought him back with startling clarity. He looked younger than she remembered, serious but calm, wearing the white coat of a physician. Beneath his name was the title she had never known he had officially held at Jinhai International Hospital.
SAMUEL LIN — CONSULTANT PHYSICIAN.
Amara turned the card over.
There was nothing on the back except an old hospital stamp and a faded date.
Twenty years ago.
Her fingers tightened around it.
Why had her father's identification card been hidden inside Locker 17? And why had someone kept it for two decades?
She placed the card carefully on the floor beside her and reached for the brown envelope.
It was heavier than it looked.
There was no name written on it, no hospital seal, and no indication of who had placed it inside the locker. Only a small handwritten number appeared in one corner.
17.
Amara opened it carefully.
Inside was a folded sheet of paper.
She unfolded it and immediately recognized the handwriting.
Her father's.
For a moment, she couldn't breathe.
She had not seen Samuel's handwriting since she was six years old. Yet there was no doubt. The slant of the letters, the sharpness of certain strokes, even the way he crossed his t's—it was unmistakably his.
Amara lowered herself onto the floor and began to read.
Amara,
If you have found this, then something has gone wrong.
She stopped.
Her eyes moved to the next line.
I don't know how old you will be when you read this, but I pray you are old enough to understand why I kept the truth from you.
Amara swallowed hard.
She continued.
There are people who believe I stole from the Meridian Foundation. I did not. The money was moved because I discovered something that was never meant to be discovered.
Her heartbeat quickened.
The Meridian Foundation.
She remembered Ethan's explanation. Her father and Daniel Kwon had worked together. Money had disappeared. Samuel had been blamed.
But according to this letter, there had been something else.
Something hidden.
She read on.
The foundation was never only a medical organisation. Daniel and I discovered that someone had been using its accounts to move money between several countries. We began tracing the transactions, and the deeper we went, the more dangerous it became.
Amara's eyes widened.
This was no longer simply a story about stolen money.
I trusted very few people. Daniel was one of them. Your mother was another. But even among those closest to us, there was someone we should never have trusted.
The sentence ended there.
Amara stared at the page.
Someone.
Who?
She continued reading.
If I disappear, do not believe everything you hear about me. And whatever you do, do not go looking for me until you understand what happened to the foundation.
Her hands began to tremble.
Then she reached the final lines.
The flash drive contains the beginning of the truth. Not all of it. The rest was hidden somewhere only you can find.
Amara looked at the silver flash drive lying beside her.
A chill moved through her.
She turned the page over.
There was one final sentence.
Trust the compass, but be careful who carries it.
Amara slowly looked toward the compass pendant she had seen around Ethan's neck.
Her father's words echoed in her mind.
Be careful who carries it.
She folded the letter and placed it back inside the envelope.
Then she picked up the flash drive.
It was small and completely ordinary except for a tiny engraved symbol on one side.
A compass.
The same symbol.
Amara slipped the drive into her pocket.
She was about to close the locker when she noticed something scratched into the metal at the back.
At first it looked like random marks.
Then she leaned closer.
Three letters.
R.L.
Her heart skipped.
Ruth Lin?
No.
Ruth had never used the surname.
At least, not with Amara.
She took out her phone and photographed the markings.
A sound came from the corridor.
Amara froze.
Footsteps.
Someone was walking toward her.
She quickly closed Locker 17 and stepped back.
The footsteps grew louder.
She looked toward the entrance.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Someone stopped outside.
Amara held her breath.
The handle moved.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
She quietly reached for her phone.
Her fingers hovered over Ethan's name.
Should she call him?
No.
Her father's letter had warned her to be careful.
She moved silently toward the opposite end of the corridor. There was another door there, partially hidden behind a stack of old equipment. She had never noticed it before.
The handle turned easily.
Amara slipped inside and pulled the door closed.
The footsteps entered the archive.
She pressed herself against the wall and listened.
Nothing.
Then she heard the locker door opening.
A metallic click.
Silence.
Whoever had entered was searching Locker 17.
Amara covered her mouth with one hand.
A minute passed.
Then another.
Finally, the footsteps moved away.
The door opened.
Closed.
Silence returned.
Amara waited before emerging.
She hurried back to the locker.
The door was open.
The envelope was gone.
But she still had the flash drive.
Whoever had come for it had not realized she had taken it.
Amara looked down the empty corridor.
Someone had known about Locker 17.
Someone had known she would come here.
And now they knew the envelope had been opened.
Her phone vibrated.
She nearly dropped it.
An unknown number.
A message appeared.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT IT ALONE.
Amara stared at the screen.
Another message arrived.
YOUR FATHER MADE THE SAME MISTAKE.
Her blood ran cold.
Then a final message appeared.
ASK RUTH WHAT HAPPENED AT THE LAKE.
Amara read it twice.
The lake.
The photograph.
Her parents.
Daniel Kwon.
The unidentified woman.
And the man whose face had been scratched away.
Her mind raced.
She immediately called Ruth.
The call rang once.
Twice.
Three times.
No answer.
She called again.
This time the number was switched off.
Amara slipped the flash drive into the inside pocket of her coat and left the archive.
She walked quickly through the hospital corridors, trying to appear calm even though her thoughts were moving faster than she could control.
When she reached the main entrance, she stopped.
Across the road was a black sedan.
The same kind of car she had seen before.
Its windows were dark.
Amara stood perfectly still.
Then the rear window lowered slightly.
She couldn't see the driver's face.
But she saw the silver compass hanging from the rear-view mirror.
Her heart stopped.
The car pulled away before she could move.
Amara immediately reached for her phone.
This time she called Ethan.
He answered almost instantly.
“Amara?”
“Where are you?”
There was a brief silence.
“Why?”
“I found something in Locker 17.”
His voice changed.
“What did you find?”
“A letter from my father.”
Another silence.
Then Ethan asked quietly, “What did it say?”
“That he didn't steal the foundation's money.”
“I knew it.”
“And he said someone was using the foundation to move money between countries.”
Ethan didn't respond.
“Ethan?”
“I’m here.”
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You're lying.”
“Amara, listen to me. I knew my father believed Samuel was innocent. I didn't know about the accounts.”
She hesitated.
“There was something else.”
“What?”
“A flash drive.”
His breathing changed.
“What kind of flash drive?”
“Silver. It has a compass engraved on it.”
Ethan was silent for several seconds.
Then he spoke.
“Amara, don't open it.”
“Why?”
“Because if it's the drive I think it is, whoever has been watching you will know the moment you access it.”
She looked back toward the hospital.
“How?”
“I don't know. But my father spent years looking for that drive.”
Amara's grip tightened around the phone.
“Why?”
“Because it contains the records that could prove what happened to Samuel.”
She closed her eyes.
For the first time, she understood why someone had gone to such lengths to keep the past buried.
Her father had not simply disappeared.
He had discovered something.
Something powerful enough to make people wait twenty years rather than allow the truth to surface.
“Ethan,” she whispered.
“Yes?”
“There was a message.”
“What message?”
“Someone told me to ask Ruth what happened at the lake.”
Ethan went completely silent.
“Ethan?”
When he finally spoke, his voice was low.
“Don't ask Ruth.”
“Why?”
“Because Ruth was there that night.”
Amara's heart began pounding.
“How do you know?”
“Because my father told me.”
“What did he tell you?”
Ethan took a breath.
“He said there were four people at the lake that night.”
Amara looked down at the old identification card still in her hand.
“Four?”
“Yes.”
“But there were five people in the photograph.”
“I know.”
She felt a chill run through her.
“Then who was the fifth person?”
Ethan didn't answer immediately.
When he finally did, his voice had changed.
“That's the person my father spent twenty years trying to find.”
The call ended.
Amara stood motionless beneath the hospital lights.
She looked at the silver flash drive hidden inside her coat.
Then at the old photograph saved on her phone.
Five people.
One scratched-out face.
A missing father.
A woman named Ruth.
And a secret that had survived twenty years.
Whatever was stored on the flash drive, Amara knew one thing now.
She had crossed a line from which there would be no turning back.
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