CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Memory Beneath the Water
They escaped through a narrow alley behind the waterfront.
Gila ran until her lungs burned.
Thelma stayed beside her.
Her mother followed.
Behind them, gunfire continued.
"Where are we going?" Thelma asked.
"Anywhere away from them!"
They turned another corner.
A small abandoned warehouse appeared ahead.
Gila pushed the door open.
They rushed inside.
Thelma closed it behind them.
For several seconds, all three women stood in darkness, listening.
No footsteps.
No voices.
Only the distant sound of engines.
Gila looked at her mother.
"You knew."
Her mother looked down.
"I knew they would come."
"You knew they were going to kill me."
"I knew they might."
"You brought me here anyway."
"I brought you here because there was nowhere else."
Gila's eyes filled with tears.
"I don't know who to trust anymore."
Her mother stepped closer.
"Trust me."
"How?"
Her mother stopped.
Gila held up the box.
"You lied about everything."
"I lied to keep you alive."
"You erased my memories."
"Because they were trying to get inside your mind."
"Who?"
"The Circle."
Gila shook her head.
"That doesn't explain anything."
Her mother looked at the box.
"It will."
She pointed toward the floor.
"Put it down."
Gila hesitated.
"Why?"
"Because it isn't the box that contains the secret."
Gila frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"The box contains the key."
She knelt beside it.
"Open it."
Gila looked at Thelma.
Thelma nodded.
Slowly, Gila unlocked the metal clasp.
The lid opened.
Inside was almost nothing.
A small silver pendant.
A strip of folded paper.
And an old piece of glass.
Gila stared.
"That's it?"
Her mother nodded.
"The records aren't here."
"Then where are they?"
Her mother looked at Gila.
"Inside you."
Gila froze.
"What?"
"The box was designed to trigger your memory."
She picked up the pendant.
"You wore this when you were a child."
Gila touched it.
The moment her fingers closed around the silver leaf, something happened.
The warehouse disappeared.
She was somewhere else.
A river.
Sunlight.
She was a child.
Maybe eight years old.
Her mother was kneeling in front of her.
Behind them stood Rymus.
But he looked younger.
Gila watched the memory as if she were outside herself.
Her mother placed the wooden box into her hands.
"Listen carefully."
Young Gila nodded.
"If I tell you to remember the river, you must remember the river."
"Why?"
"Because the river knows the truth."
Young Gila looked toward Rymus.
"Who is he?"
Her mother looked at him.
"Someone who is trying to protect us."
The memory changed.
Gila was older.
A teenager.
She was standing in a room filled with maps.
Rymus was there.
So was her mother.
Several men surrounded them.
One of them held a folder.
"We need the information."
Her mother shook her head.
"She doesn't know anything."
The man looked at Gila.
"She knows everything."
Rymus stepped between them.
"Leave her alone."
The man laughed.
"You don't give orders here."
Then the memory shattered.
Gila saw water.
She was running.
Her mother was shouting.
Rymus was holding a door open.
Someone was chasing them.
Then her mother pushed Gila toward a boat.
"Go!"
"No!"
"Go!"
"Mom!"
Her mother grabbed her face.
"Forget me."
Gila cried.
"I don't want to."
"You have to."
Her mother pressed the silver pendant into her hand.
"The river will bring you back."
Then darkness.
Gila gasped.
She returned to the warehouse floor.
The pendant fell from her hand.
Thelma caught her.
"Gila!"
She struggled to breathe.
Her mother knelt beside her.
"You remembered."
Gila stared at her.
"Rymus was protecting us."
Her mother nodded.
"Yes."
"He wasn't the one who took you."
"No."
"He helped you escape."
"Yes."
Gila closed her eyes.
Everything she had believed about him had changed.
Not completely.
He was still responsible for terrible things.
But he wasn't the monster she had imagined.
"What happened after?"
Her mother looked toward the door.
"We were separated."
"How?"
"The Circle found us."
"And me?"
"I took you away."
"Where?"
"To a place where they could never find you."
Gila frowned.
"But they found me."
"Because someone betrayed me."
"Who?"
Her mother looked at Thelma.
Thelma immediately shook her head.
"It wasn't me."
"I know."
Gila looked between them.
"Then who?"
Her mother reached into the box again.
She unfolded the strip of paper.
There was a single name written on it.
Gila read it.
Her face changed.
"No."
Thelma looked at the name.
She went silent.
Gila whispered:
"He's been helping us."
Her mother nodded.
"That's why you must stop trusting him."
Outside, an engine passed.
Then another.
They all became silent.
Gila looked at the name again.
Someone they had relied on.
Someone who had guided them toward the truth.
Someone who had always seemed to know where they should go next.
The person had never been helping them discover the truth.
He had been guiding them toward it.
For the Circle.
Gila folded the paper.
"We need to find Rymus."
Her mother looked surprised.
"Why?"
"Because if he's really trying to escape the Circle, he may be the only person who knows how to stop them."
Thelma nodded.
"And where is he?"
Gila looked toward the river.
"Belize is no longer safe."
Her mother understood.
"Then where?"
Gila remembered the old photograph.
The dock.
The river.
The hidden box.
And a name that had appeared repeatedly in the records.
"The Amazon."
Her mother stared at her.
"That's where this began."
Gila picked up the box.
"Then that's where we're going."
A sudden knock came from the warehouse door.
Everyone froze.
Three knocks.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Gila looked at Thelma.
Thelma whispered:
"Who is it?"
A familiar voice answered from outside.
"It's me."
Gila's blood ran cold.
She knew that voice.
The person whose name was written on the paper.
The person they had trusted.
The person who had been leading them toward the truth.
Gila looked at her mother.
Her mother silently shook her head.
Don't open the door.
The voice came again.
"Gila, I know you're inside."
She tightened her grip on the box.
The footsteps outside multiplied.
They weren't alone.
Gila stepped backward.
The door handle began to turn.
And this time, there was nowhere left to run.