Chapter 10 – The Harvest Begins
For one terrifying second, nobody moved.
Daniel Ross stared at the empty bed.
The blanket was still warm.
The security cameras showed no one entering.
No one leaving.
Yet Noah had vanished.
The only thing left behind was Claire's wooden box.
Ross lunged toward the hallway.
"Lock the building!"
The command echoed through every floor of the command center.
Steel doors slammed shut.
Electronic locks engaged.
Agents rushed in every direction.
No one was allowed in.
No one was allowed out.
Yet somehow...
The child they had sworn to protect had disappeared.
Judge Eleanor Whitmore ran into the room, her face drained of color.
"Noah!"
Her voice echoed through the hallway.
No answer.
She reached the bed and picked up the wooden box with trembling hands.
Inside lay Claire's necklace.
Beneath it rested the white card.
THE HARVEST HAS BEGUN.
Her fingers tightened around the paper.
"They're using him."
Ross looked at her.
"They're sending a message."
"No."
She slowly shook her head.
"They're inviting us."
Sarah Kim rushed into the command center carrying surveillance reports.
"Daniel."
"What have you got?"
"The cameras never went offline."
Ross frowned.
"Then where did he go?"
Sarah enlarged one hallway recording.
Everyone watched carefully.
The security guards stood outside Noah's room exactly as ordered.
Neither moved.
Neither looked away.
Nothing unusual happened.
Then Sarah slowed the footage to one frame per second.
At 2:17:43 A.M.
One guard blinked.
At 2:17:44
The second guard blinked.
One second later—
Noah was gone.
The room fell silent.
Ross stared at the monitor.
"That's impossible."
Sarah replayed it again.
Frame by frame.
No door opened.
No shadow crossed the hallway.
No hidden passage.
The boy simply...
Wasn't there anymore.
One technician whispered,
"It's like someone erased a second of time."
Ross shook his head.
"No."
"Someone erased the evidence."
Cyber specialists immediately began analyzing every camera in the building.
Twenty minutes later, Sarah made another discovery.
"The recording isn't original."
Ross looked up.
"What do you mean?"
"It was replaced."
"When?"
"Less than five minutes after Noah disappeared."
"So someone hacked our internal security system."
Sarah nodded.
"From inside the building."
Ross immediately ordered every employee assembled in the main conference hall.
One hundred and twelve people.
Agents.
Technicians.
Doctors.
Security personnel.
Cleaning staff.
No one was exempt.
Phones were confiscated.
Fingerprint scans began.
Facial recognition verified identities.
Then Sarah noticed something strange.
"Daniel..."
"One employee is missing."
"Who?"
She enlarged the personnel list.
Maintenance Contractor
Name: Samuel Reed
Status:
No biometric record found.
Ross frowned.
"How long has he worked here?"
Sarah typed rapidly.
Her eyes widened.
"He hasn't."
"What?"
"This identity was created..."
"...forty-eight hours ago."
Meanwhile, Eleanor remained inside Noah's room.
She sat quietly on the edge of the bed.
Her hand rested on the pillow where her grandson had slept.
For the second time in her life...
Someone she loved had vanished without warning.
The first had been Claire.
She had spent eleven years searching.
She would not spend another eleven searching for Noah.
"No."
She whispered the word aloud.
"Not again."
At that exact moment—
Arthur Bennett suddenly stood from his chair.
His face had turned pale.
Ross noticed immediately.
"What is it?"
Arthur looked toward the ceiling.
"They're repeating history."
"What do you mean?"
Arthur slowly closed his eyes.
"The Harvest."
Ross frowned.
"You've heard that before?"
Arthur nodded.
"Twenty years ago."
The room became silent.
Arthur continued.
"The Harvest wasn't an operation."
"It was a ceremony."
Everyone stared at him.
Arthur spoke carefully.
"When someone became dangerous..."
"They weren't killed immediately."
"They were broken first."
"How?"
"They took the one person they loved most."
Eleanor felt her heart stop.
Arthur continued.
"They wanted victims to choose."
"Choose what?"
"Loyalty..."
"...or family."
Ross immediately understood.
"They're going to contact Eleanor."
Arthur nodded.
"They always do."
"They'll offer her a deal."
"And if she refuses?"
Arthur looked directly into Eleanor's eyes.
"They'll kill Noah."
Silence filled the room.
Then Eleanor quietly stood.
Her expression changed.
The grief remained.
But something else replaced the fear.
Resolve.
"They've underestimated me."
Ross looked at her.
"Eleanor..."
"They think they're dealing with a frightened grandmother."
She picked up Claire's necklace.
"They've forgotten."
"For twenty-seven years..."
"...I sent monsters to prison."
Just then—
Every phone inside the building rang at exactly the same moment.
Over one hundred phones.
One identical ringtone.
No caller ID.
Ross answered first.
No voice.
Only slow breathing.
Then...
A calm man's voice spoke.
"Good evening, Judge Whitmore."
Eleanor took the receiver.
"Who is this?"
A brief silence.
Then the man laughed softly.
"You've spent twenty years looking for my name."
"You may call me..."
"The Orchard."
The room froze.
At last...
May you like
The invisible leader had spoken.
And he had called Eleanor directly.
