Chapter 8 - Gunfire erupted.Frank shoved me behind the concrete pillar.
The tactical team flooded the basement.
Richard dropped to the floor.
Emily grabbed the files.
Victor Hale stood behind his men.
Calm.
Almost bored.
“Bring Parker.”
Two men moved toward Emily.
She fought.
Harder than I expected.
One guard grabbed her arm.
She slammed an elbow into his throat.
He dropped.
Another reached for her.
Frank fired.
The man fell.
Victor backed away.
“Kill the billionaire.”
I froze.
The command was so casual it was almost worse than a threat.
Frank fired again.
The basement became chaos.
I grabbed Emily.
“RUN!”
We moved through the corridor.
The old service tunnels opened into a drainage passage.
Emily knew where she was going.
“How do you know this?”
“I've been here before.”
“When?”
“Sixteen years ago.”
She pushed open a rusted door.
We emerged into the storm.
Frank followed.
Richard didn't.
I looked back.
“What about him?”
Frank shook his head.
“He didn't make it.”
I stared at the mansion.
Everything I owned suddenly felt irrelevant.
The company.
The money.
The house.
None of it mattered.
My son was still in the hospital.
And a doctor I had trusted had just declared Phase Three.
My phone rang.
Hospital.
I answered.
“Mr. Carter, your son is missing.”
The world stopped.
“What?”
“He was removed from the ICU.”
“By who?”
“A physician.”
“Victor?”
“No.”
“Who?”
The nurse hesitated.
“Emily Parker.”
I turned.
Emily's eyes widened.
“I never went back.”
I stared at her.
“She was with me.”
The nurse's voice shook.
“Security footage shows a woman wearing your maid's uniform.”
I looked at Emily.
Someone had impersonated her.
The nurse continued.
“The woman entered at 2:11 a.m.”
“What happened afterward?”
“The cameras went dark.”
I felt sick.
“Where is Noah now?”
“We don't know.”
Emily suddenly grabbed my phone.
“Look at his wrist.”
“What?”
“The bracelet.”
“The hospital bracelet?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I put a tracker inside it.”
My eyes widened.
“You did what?”
She pulled out her phone.
A map appeared.
A blinking dot.
Outside Boston.
Moving north.
Emily whispered:
“Someone is taking him to Maine.”
Frank checked the map.
“Briarwood property.”
My blood ran cold.
“No.”
Emily looked at me.
“That's where they kept the old clinical trial records.”
I grabbed my coat.
“We're going.”
Frank shook his head.
“We need backup.”
“No.”
“There could be armed men.”
“Then we go armed.”
Emily stared at me.
“You don't understand what that place is.”
“Then tell me.”
She hesitated.
“The Blue Room.”
“What is it?”
She looked toward the dark road.
“A surgical theater.”
“For what?”
She swallowed.
“For babies.”
I felt my hands go cold.
“How many?”
“I don't know.”
“Emily.”
She whispered:
“My brother wasn't the only child.”
We drove through the storm.
The road to Maine was almost empty.
Halfway there, the tracker stopped.
I stared at the screen.
“Why did it stop?”
Emily's face went pale.
“It wasn't supposed to.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means they found the tracker.”
The screen went black.
Then one final message appeared.
COME ALONE, ETHAN.
Below it was a photograph.
Noah.
Alive.
Sleeping.
Wearing a white hospital gown.
Beside him stood Victor Hale.
And behind Victor was my dead wife.
I dropped the phone.
“No.”
Emily stared at the image.
Then whispered:
“That's not your wife.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed at the photograph.
“Look at the eyes.”
The woman turned slightly toward the camera.
Her face was almost identical.
But not quite.
Emily's voice trembled.
“That's her sister.”
I stared.
“My wife didn't have a sister.”
Emily looked at me.
“She did.”
May you like
And then she said the name I'd never heard before.
“Isabelle Carter.”
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