Chapter 7 - The Decoy
Sarah Voss voluntarily came forward.
Without mask, she looked nothing like Rachel.
Same height.
Similar athletic build.
Brown hair rather than Rachel’s darker brunette shade.
No facial resemblance beyond what cap and mask concealed.
Her wrist was clean.
No scar.
At canteen she wore professional silicone scar patch supplied years earlier for decoy training.
Why still possess it?
Voss kept emergency disguise kit from Project Haven.
Sarah had been instructed by spoofed message:
WE NEED MERCER DECOY AGAIN. OLD SCAR. FULL COVER. BRENNAN CANTEEN.
She assumed father sent it.
That explained money shot.
There were never two Rachel Mercers.
There was Rachel and trained decoy.
Vanessa’s “There were never supposed to be two” meant Project Haven procedure prohibited principal and decoy appearing together because it destroyed protective illusion.
But Vanessa did not know Sarah was decoy until she saw scar? She recognized protocol and Sarah’s build. She suspected.
Why Voss said “You had one job, Vanessa”?
He believed Vanessa had summoned Rachel and failed keep situation controlled.
His one job remark referred to message telling Vanessa “keep Mercer isolated until I arrive,” another spoof.
Everyone had been manipulated through tailored messages.
Who sent them?
Cyber investigators traced through legacy Haven notification relay.
Credentials belonged to:
E. MERCER.
Rachel’s mother.
Created 2001.
Still technically active because account marked archival continuity.
Someone had reactivated it.
That did not prove Elizabeth alive.
Could be stolen credentials.
Then File 12 clarified post-crash payments.
Elizabeth did not receive money after death.
Her name was umbrella case identifier.
Haven predecessor used deceased caseworkers’ names as anonymized account labels.
Terrible practice by modern standards.
Payments under E. MERCER supported multiple families.
Rachel’s mother had helped design predecessor relocation process before dying.
Her account name persisted.
Thus seven months of payments did not prove survival.
Plane crash remained genuine.
Rachel’s hope hurt.
But she wanted truth, not comforting fiction.
Then why anonymous photograph of Elizabeth scar?
Whoever orchestrated reunion wanted Rachel connect scar to mother.
Maybe sender was teaching history.
Sarah said:
“There’s one person who knew your mother's old account.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
Voss denied activating.
System logs showed authentication via physical security token.
Token serial issued to Elizabeth Mercer in 2001.
Hardware should have been destroyed after death.
It wasn't.
Inventory note:
TRANSFERRED TO D. MERCER.
Rachel’s father David.
David had kept mother’s token.
After David died seven years ago, belongings went to Rachel.
She had never seen it.
Then she remembered small gray device in father’s lockbox.
She thought obsolete pager.
She had donated electronics? No.
Lockbox remained in storage.
Investigators recovered.
Token missing.
Storage access records showed one visitor during Rachel’s presumed death.
Authorized executor:
Vanessa Hale.
Rachel stared at Vanessa.
“You went through my father’s box?”
Vanessa nodded slowly.
“Under orders.”
“Whose?”
“Voss.”
Voss snapped:
“I never gave that order.”
Vanessa’s face collapsed.
She had received official-looking directive after Rachel death instructing secure Project Haven materials from her home.
She found token.
Turned it over to courier.
“Who?”
Vanessa pulled old receipt.
Signature:
M. ELLIS.
Rachel’s stomach dropped.
May you like
Mara Ellis.
The woman with the other scar.
