Berlin. 48 hours later.
They couldn’t find Mara.
No flight records. No hotel. No phone.
Just the plate. Left under the door of Storage 9.
Claire had it in an evidence bag now. The blue rim was chipped.
Under UV light, words appeared on the bottom: WEISS - SEAT 10
"The contract updated itself," Daniel said, pacing. "Hale’s deal was 9 strangers.
Now it wants family. It’s smarter."
Claire slammed the file on the table. "Then we find the family tree.
If Mara is Anna Weiss’s great-granddaughter, there are more."
They worked 36 hours straight.
Anna Weiss had 3 kids. 9 grandkids. 22 great-grandkids.
Scattered across Germany, Poland, the US.
And in the last 2 days, 4 of them had been reported missing.
Last seen: in their kitchens. With a plate.
Claire looked at the map. 4 red pins.
All moving. All toward Berlin.
"They’re being called," Claire said. "The 9 are gathering their bloodline."
Daniel rubbed his eyes. "We can’t fight 9 shadows.
But maybe we can talk to 1 human."
He picked up the phone. Dialed a number from the Weiss family tree.
An old man in Munich. Anna’s grandson. 81 years old.
It rang 3 times.
A tired voice: "Hello?"
"Mr. Weiss, this is the FBI. Has anyone in your family mentioned a table? Or hunger?"
Silence. Then a laugh. Dry.
"You’re too late. She came to me last night.
My great-grandmother. Anna.
She sat at my kitchen table. She said ‘It’s time to come home.’
I told her no. I’m too old to wait 30 years."
Daniel and Claire looked at each other.
"But," the old man said, "she left something.
For the girl. For Mara.
Said only the 10th could read it."
He read it over the phone:
_To break the table, the 10th must choose.
Stay, and we are fed.
Leave, and we are free.
But freedom has a price._
Click. The old man hung up.
Claire stared at the plate in the evidence bag.
"Stay, and we are fed. That’s what we did last year.
Leave, and we are free. That’s what Hale tried."
"So what’s the price?" Daniel asked.
From Storage 9, they heard it.
A knock. 3 times.
Then a voice. Mara’s. From inside.
"Claire? Can I come in? I’m cold."
Claire grabbed her gun and ran.
Daniel right behind her.
She opened the door.
Storage 9 was empty. No shadows. No chairs.
Just one table. One chair.
And Mara. Sitting at the head.
With 9 shadows standing behind her.
Mara looked up. She didn’t look hungry.
She looked sad.
"They said I have to choose," Mara whispered.
"If I stay, they get to eat for 30 more years. And I live.
If I leave... they go free. But someone has to take their place."
She looked right at Claire.
"And it has to be blood."
The lights went out.