Chapter 10 - ELENA’S FAMILY WAS PART OF IT TOO
Nobody spoke.
Elena took the tablet.
Read the line again.
E.V.
Two letters.
Not proof.
But enough to shake the most controlled person I knew.
“Could be anyone.”
I said it because she needed someone else to.
“Yes.”
Her answer came too quickly.
“Thousands of people have those initials.”
Emily held Thomas tightly.
“Did your mother ever go to St. Catherine?”
Elena stared at her.
“No.”
Then paused.
“I don’t know.”
“How can you not know?”
“She died when I was fourteen.”
I had known that.
Car accident.
At least, that was what Elena had always believed.
“My father never talked about her medical history.”
“Do you have DNA on file?”
I asked.
Elena almost smiled.
“I worked federal investigations.”
“My DNA is in more databases than I’d like.”
“Compare it.”
She stared at me.
Then nodded.
“Marcus.”
He approached.
“I need a secure lab request.”
“Priority?”
“Highest you can get without waking the President.”
Marcus looked at the screen.
His face changed.
“I’ll make calls.”
Emily sat in the ambulance with Thomas.
A doctor checked both.
Thomas was healthy.
Mild dehydration.
Nothing more.
For the first time all night, I allowed myself to breathe.
My wife was alive.
My son was alive.
Caleb was alive.
Elena was alive.
It should have felt like victory.
It didn’t.
Vale had escaped.
Mercer was in custody.
Margaret was in custody.
Laura was missing.
Richard was alive after seven years of captivity.
And the evidence beneath St. Catherine suggested hundreds of families had been manipulated.
At sunrise, investigators began removing boxes.
Hard drives.
Cryogenic records.
Medical equipment.
One room contained more than four thousand biological samples.
Another contained psychological profiles.
Military files.
School reports.
Police records.
Marriage records.
Vale hadn’t been running a clinic.
He had been running generations of people.
At 7:13 a.m., Laura Mercer was found.
Not hiding.
Waiting.
She sat inside a diner thirty miles away drinking coffee.
When agents approached, she raised both hands.
No resistance.
No weapon.
She had one request.
She wanted to speak to Emily.
Alone.
Absolutely not.
Emily surprised me.
“Yes.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“Daniel.”
“No.”
“She delivered Thomas.”
“She kidnapped you.”
“Exactly.”
“You don’t sit alone with someone like that.”
“Then watch through the glass.”
I hated the idea.
Elena supported her.
“Laura is asking for Emily for a reason.”
“Probably manipulation.”
“Probably.”
“Then why give it to her?”
“Because manipulators reveal what they value when they think they’re controlling the conversation.”
Emily looked at me.
“I need answers.”
I knew that expression.
There was no stopping her.
Two hours later, Laura sat in an interview room.
No scrubs now.
Gray sweater.
Jeans.
Blond hair tied back.
She looked ordinary.
That bothered me.
Emily entered.
I watched from behind one-way glass.
Elena stood beside me.
Caleb sat farther back holding the unnamed baby.
Temporary protective services had agreed he could remain with us until DNA results returned because no parent had yet been identified.
Caleb refused to let strangers hold him longer than necessary.
Laura smiled when Emily sat down.
“You look better.”
Emily stared at her.
“You told me my husband abandoned me.”
“Yes.”
“You told me my baby was dying.”
“Yes.”
“You drugged me.”
“Yes.”
No excuses.
No denial.
That made her more frightening.
“Why?”
Laura folded her hands.
“Because you found Rachel.”
“Rachel found me.”
“Same difference.”
“You killed her?”
“No.”
“Margaret did.”
“Yes.”
“Did Mercer help cover it up?”
“Yes.”
“Did you alter Rachel’s face?”
Laura paused.
“Yes.”
My fists clenched.
Emily remained still.
“Why make her look like me?”
“Because Daniel needed a body.”
“You planned to kill me afterward.”
“Yes.”
I stepped toward the door.
Elena blocked me.
“Stay.”
Laura continued.
“But I changed my mind.”
Emily stared.
“Why?”
“You had Thomas.”
“What does that mean?”
Laura smiled faintly.
“When I saw his birthmark, I knew Vale had succeeded.”
Emily’s face hardened.
“My son is not an experiment.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Better than you think.”
Laura leaned forward.
“Vale doesn’t love children.”
“He loves proof.”
“Thomas was proof.”
“Of what?”
“That material stored for more than thirty years could produce a healthy child.”
Emily looked disgusted.
“You used Rachel’s egg.”
“Yes.”
“Without her permission.”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel’s sperm.”
Laura nodded.
“Why Daniel?”
“Vale selected him.”
“For what?”
“Compatibility.”
“With Rachel?”
“Genetically.”
“Why?”
Laura looked toward the one-way glass.
Directly at me.
She knew I was there.
“Because Daniel was never supposed to marry you.”
My stomach tightened.
Emily’s expression didn’t change.
“What?”
“Vale had selected someone else.”
“For Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Laura smiled.
“Elena Vasquez.”
Beside me, Elena stopped breathing.
I looked at her.
“What the hell?”
Inside, Emily stared at Laura.
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
“Daniel met Elena in the Army.”
“I know.”
“They served together.”
“I know.”
“They were friends.”
“I know.”
Laura leaned back.
“Do you really think that was accidental?”
Elena whispered.
“No.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She stared at the glass.
“My first assignment.”
“What about it?”
“I wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“Explain.”
“My orders changed forty-eight hours before reporting.”
“Who changed them?”
“I never knew.”
Laura’s voice came through the speaker.
“Vale arranged it.”
Emily’s face became cold.
“Why?”
“To observe whether Daniel and Elena formed an attachment.”
I felt sick.
“He arranged our military assignments?”
Laura smiled.
“Not personally.”
“Vale rarely does anything personally.”
“He creates incentives.”
“People move.”
“They never know why.”
Emily stared at her.
“And what was supposed to happen?”
“You and Daniel weren’t supposed to meet.”
“But we did.”
“Yes.”
“And he married me.”
“Yes.”
Laura sounded almost irritated.
“You disrupted twenty years of planning.”
Emily laughed.
It was cold.
“Good.”
Laura smiled.
“I always liked you.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
“Why?”
“Because liking you is why you’re alive.”
Silence.
Laura leaned forward.
“I could have killed you in that basement.”
“I didn’t.”
“You want gratitude?”
“No.”
“I want you to understand that Vale ordered your death.”
My body went rigid.
“When?”
Emily asked.
“The night Daniel’s flight changed.”
“He knew Daniel was coming early.”
“How?”
“Someone at his command notified him.”
I thought of Mercer’s words.
Your military career isn’t as separate from your family as you think.
Emily asked.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Liar.”
“Vale never gave me military names.”
“Only codes.”
“What code?”
Laura looked toward the glass again.
“Warden.”
Elena swore softly.
I turned.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“Later.”
No.
Not later.
“What is Warden?”
Elena looked at me.
“It was an operation name.”
“Whose?”
“Ours.”
My stomach dropped.
“What operation?”
“The one where you saved my life.”
Memory hit.
Afghanistan.
Night raid.
Bad intelligence.
Two dead insurgents.
One civilian family trapped.
Elena wounded.
Me dragging her through a collapsed doorway.
The first time I had used that flat voice I used with Caleb tonight.
“Why would Vale know that name?”
“I don’t know.”
Inside, Laura continued.
“Vale knows everything about Daniel’s military service.”
“He has after-action reports that were never publicly released.”
“He has medical records.”
“Psychological evaluations.”
“Mission histories.”
“How?”
Emily asked.
Laura smiled sadly.
“Because St. Catherine was never only a medical program.”
I stared through the glass.
“What was it?”
Laura couldn’t hear me.
But somehow the question seemed to reach her.
She looked toward the glass.
“The military became interested in Vale’s research in the 1990s.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“Somebody funded him.”
Laura continued.
“Not officially.”
“Never officially.”
“Private contractors.”
“Defense research foundations.”
“People interested in resilience.”
“Stress.”
“Decision-making.”
“Aggression.”
“Loyalty.”
I felt physically ill.
I thought about my childhood.
Military school summer program.
Scholarship.
Recruiter who seemed unusually interested.
Assignments.
Elena.
Had I chosen anything?
Emily must have had the same thought.
“You’re telling me Daniel was pushed into the Army?”
“I’m telling you Vale wanted to see what he became under pressure.”
Emily leaned forward.
“Then Vale doesn’t know Daniel at all.”
Laura smiled.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel didn’t become what happened to him.”
“He became what he chose afterward.”
Laura’s smile disappeared.
I looked at Emily.
Even now.
Even after everything.
She still knew exactly what to say.
Then Laura whispered.
“That’s why Vale is afraid of him.”
I stared.
Vale was afraid of me?
Emily asked.
“Then why keep watching him?”
“Because Vale doesn’t understand failure.”
“He understands data.”
“If something behaves unexpectedly, he studies it until he understands why.”
Emily’s face changed.
“Thomas.”
Laura nodded.
“Thomas is the next dataset.”
“No.”
“Vale will come for him.”
“Not from us.”
“He will try.”
“Then tell us where he is.”
Laura looked down.
“I don’t know.”
“You helped him escape.”
“No.”
“You were gone when he left.”
“Because I was running from him.”
“Why?”
“Because I stole something.”
“What?”
Laura looked toward the glass.
“His original ledger.”
Elena stepped closer.
Laura continued.
“Every child.”
“Every donor.”
“Every altered birth.”
“Every payment.”
“Every person who helped.”
“Where is it?”
Emily asked.
Laura smiled.
“I mailed it.”
“To who?”
“Someone Vale can’t easily reach.”
“Who?”
Laura looked directly toward me through the glass.
“Daniel.”
I frowned.
“I don’t have it.”
Laura continued.
“Not Daniel Hale.”
A pause.
“Daniel’s commanding officer.”
My stomach dropped.
Colonel Stephen Ward.
Elena whispered his name before I could.
“Ward.”
I looked at her.
“You know?”
“He called me yesterday.”
“What?”
“He asked whether you had arrived home.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought it was routine.”
“Nothing is routine anymore.”
She pulled out her phone.
Called.
No answer.
Again.
Voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
Marcus entered quickly.
“Elena.”
She turned.
“What?”
“We have your DNA result.”
The room went silent.
Elena looked at me.
Marcus held out the paper.
She didn’t take it.
“Say it.”
He hesitated.
“Eva Vasquez was not Daniel’s biological mother.”
Elena exhaled.
Relief.
Small.
Temporary.
“But…”
She stared.
“But what?”
Marcus looked at me.
“The lab found a first-degree familial relationship between Daniel and you.”
My stomach dropped.
Elena went pale.
“What kind?”
“Possible half-sibling.”
Nobody moved.
I stared at Elena.
The woman I had served beside.
The woman who had saved my life.
The woman Vale had apparently arranged for me to meet.
“My sister?”
Marcus shook his head.
“We need deeper testing.”
Elena grabbed the report.
Her eyes moved across it.
Then stopped.
“No.”
“What?”
“This marker.”
She pointed.
“My father had it.”
“What are you saying?”
Elena looked at me.
Her voice barely worked.
“I think my father may be your biological father.”
Everything inside me went silent.
Then her phone rang.
Colonel Ward.
She answered immediately.
“Sir?”
No greeting came.
Only breathing.
Then Ward’s voice.
Weak.
Urgent.
“Elena.”
“Where are you?”
“Listen carefully.”
“What happened?”
“They found me.”
My body went cold.
“Who?”
Ward ignored the question.
“The ledger is safe.”
“Where?”
“I sent it to Daniel’s house.”
I stared.
Our house.
Empty.
Or supposed to be.
Ward continued.
“But there’s something else.”
“What?”
A sound came through the phone.
Door breaking.
Ward breathed faster.
“Daniel’s father isn’t who Vale told him.”
I grabbed the phone.
“Colonel.”
“Daniel?”
“Who is my father?”
Gunfire erupted through the line.
Elena shouted.
“WARD!”
Static.
Then Ward returned for one second.
Long enough to say five words.
May you like
“Ask Richard about Project Warden.”
The line went dead.
