CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Betrayal
The boat reached the Belize shoreline just before dawn.
The sky was beginning to change from black to gray when Gila stepped onto the wooden pier.
For several seconds, she simply stood there.
Belize.
The place her mother had spent years trying to reach without being seen.
The place Rymus knew they were coming.
The place where someone they trusted was waiting.
Gila looked back at the river.
The boat that had followed them was gone.
That frightened her more than if it had remained visible.
Her mother stepped onto the pier beside her.
"Keep moving."
"Where?"
"There's a car waiting."
Gila looked around.
At first, she saw nothing.
Then a vehicle emerged from behind a row of buildings.
It stopped near the pier.
The driver stepped out.
Gila recognized him.
Her heart sank.
"No."
Thelma looked at her.
"What?"
Gila couldn't answer.
The man had helped them before.
He had been there when they needed transportation.
He had provided information when everyone else refused to help.
He had been one of the few people Gila believed she could trust.
And now he was standing beside the car with two unfamiliar men.
Her mother immediately grabbed Gila's arm.
"Don't move."
The man smiled.
"Gila."
She stared at him.
"You."
"I've been waiting."
"Why?"
He looked toward her mother.
"For her."
Gila stepped forward.
"You told us you didn't know where my mother was."
"I didn't."
"Then how did you know we'd come?"
He smiled again.
"Because she told me."
Gila turned toward her mother.
Her mother looked away.
Gila's chest tightened.
"Mom?"
Her mother shook her head.
"Not like that."
The man laughed softly.
"Still protecting her."
Gila's expression hardened.
"Who are you working for?"
He didn't answer.
Thelma moved closer.
"I asked you a question."
The man's smile disappeared.
"You should have stayed at the university."
Gila understood.
The university.
The archives.
The professor.
The files.
Everything connected.
They hadn't discovered the network.
The network had allowed them to discover it.
The realization was horrifying.
The man opened the rear door of the vehicle.
"Give us the box."
Gila held it tightly.
"No."
"You don't understand what you're carrying."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
Her mother stepped forward.
"Leave her out of this."
The man looked at her.
"You know that's impossible."
One of the men reached for Gila.
She moved backward.
Thelma grabbed a wooden pole lying beside the pier.
"Touch her and find out what happens."
The man stopped.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Gila noticed something.
A boat.
Farther down the shoreline.
A small fishing boat was drifting toward them.
Someone was inside.
Gila couldn't see the person's face.
But her mother could.
Her expression changed.
"That's him."
Gila looked at her.
"Who?"
Before her mother could answer, the boat came closer.
A man stepped onto the pier.
Rymus.
Gila's stomach dropped.
He walked toward them alone.
No visible weapon.
No guards.
No hurry.
He looked at the man beside the vehicle.
"You failed."
The man's face tightened.
"I had them."
"No."
Rymus stopped.
"You had nothing."
The man lowered his head.
Gila stared at Rymus.
"Why are you here?"
He looked at her.
"Because you have finally arrived where I needed you to be."
"Why?"
"Because the box cannot be opened anywhere else."
Gila looked at the wooden box.
Her mother's face had gone pale.
Rymus noticed.
"You never told her."
Her mother said nothing.
"Told me what?" Gila demanded.
Rymus looked at her.
"The box doesn't belong to you."
Gila held it tighter.
"My mother gave it to me."
"She kept it for you."
"What is the difference?"
"Everything."
He walked closer.
Gila didn't retreat.
"What is inside?"
Rymus looked toward the river.
"The names of everyone who betrayed the Circle."
The words stunned her.
"Everyone?"
"Everyone important."
"Then why do you want it?"
"Because my name is in there."
Gila stared.
Rymus continued.
"Not as a member."
"As a target."
Her mother finally spoke.
"Don't believe him."
Rymus looked at her.
"You know it's true."
Gila looked between them.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Her mother closed her eyes.
Rymus answered.
"Your mother stole the records from the Circle."
Gila looked at her mother.
"Is that true?"
Her mother nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"You stole them?"
"I did."
"Why?"
"Because I discovered what they were doing."
"What were they doing?"
Her mother looked toward the river.
"People were disappearing."
Gila felt the old fear return.
"People like us?"
"People like everyone."
Rymus interrupted.
"And she discovered something worse."
Gila turned toward him.
"What?"
"Children were being used to carry information."
The world seemed to stop.
Gila looked at her mother.
Her mother's eyes filled with tears.
"I was trying to get you out."
Rymus nodded.
"And she succeeded."
Gila stared at him.
"Then why did you hunt her?"
"Because she took something else."
"The box?"
"No."
Rymus looked directly at Gila.
"You."
Silence.
Gila felt as if the ground had disappeared beneath her.
"What does that mean?"
"Your mother didn't simply hide the records."
He pointed toward Gila.
"She hid the person who knew how to read them."
Gila shook her head.
"I don't know anything."
"You don't remember."
"Why?"
Her mother whispered:
"Because I made sure you forgot."
Gila stared at her.
The pain in her mother's face was unbearable.
"You erased my memories."
"I had to."
"You had no right."
"I know."
Gila stepped backward.
All the pieces were beginning to fit.
The photograph.
The symbol.
The box.
The river.
The Circle.
Her mother.
Rymus.
And the missing years inside her own memory.
She looked down at the box.
"What happens if I open it?"
Rymus's expression changed.
"You remember."
The words frightened her.
"And if I don't?"
"Someone else opens it."
"Who?"
Rymus looked past her.
Toward the city.
"The Circle."
A vehicle engine suddenly roared behind them.
Everyone turned.
Another vehicle was approaching.
This one was moving fast.
Rymus's expression became serious.
"Too late."
The vehicle stopped.
Three men stepped out.
But they weren't carrying weapons.
They were carrying briefcases.
One of them looked at Rymus.
"The order has changed."
Rymus narrowed his eyes.
"What order?"
"The girl is no longer to be brought in."
He paused.
"She is to be eliminated."
Gila felt Thelma grab her hand.
Rymus looked at Gila.
For the first time since they had met him, he looked genuinely afraid.
"Run."
Gila stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because this time, I'm not the one hunting you."
A gunshot cracked across the pier.
Rymus shoved Gila aside.
The bullet struck the wooden railing.
Chaos erupted.
People screamed.
Thelma pulled Gila toward the water.
Her mother shouted her name.
Rymus drew a weapon and fired back.
Gila ran.
The box remained pressed against her chest.
Behind her, the pier filled with gunfire.
And for the first time, Gila understood the truth.
Rymus had never been the final enemy.
He had been running from something too.
Something much bigger.
Something that had finally decided Gila was no longer worth keeping alive.