CHAPTER 10 THE DAUGHTER WHO WAS NEVER BURIED
The screen went black.
Nobody spoke.
For several seconds, I could hear only the hum of the warehouse generators.
Then I turned toward Lena.
“You had another child.”
She was crying.
“I didn't know she survived.”
“You told me she was dead.”
“I believed she was.”
“You buried her.”
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“They told me she was stillborn.”
I stared at her.
“Who told you?”
“The doctor.”
“Which doctor?”
She shook her head.
“I don't remember.”
I stepped closer.
“You don't remember?”
“It was ten years ago.”
“You don't forget something like that.”
She covered her face.
“I was drugged.”
My father suddenly looked up.
“That's how they did it.”
I turned.
“What?”
“Victor never needed people to cooperate willingly.”
He pointed toward the screen.
“They manipulated memory.”
My stomach tightened.
“You mean they erased memories?”
“Sometimes.”
I looked at Lena.
She whispered:
“There are things I remember only in dreams.”
“What things?”
“A hospital.”
“Anything else?”
“A woman.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Then what do you remember?”
Lena closed her eyes.
“A baby crying.”
The room went silent.
Then she whispered:
“And someone saying…”
Her voice trembled.
“Don't let Adrian see her.”
My heart stopped.
“Who said that?”
“I don't know.”
My father answered.
“Victor.”
I turned toward him.
“How do you know?”
“Because I heard it too.”
I stared at my father.
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“You saw my daughter?”
“I saw her being taken.”
My hands curled into fists.
“Why didn't you stop them?”
“I tried.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
I turned away.
The rage inside me was becoming impossible to contain.
Then Marcus called from the security station.
“Mr. Cole.”
I looked at him.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
He pointed at the monitor.
“There are people outside.”
I walked over.
Three vehicles surrounded the warehouse.
Then five.
Then eight.
My father stared at the screens.
“That's not Victor.”
“Who is it?”
He looked at the symbol on the vehicles.
“The trustees.”
“The original network?”
“Yes.”
“How did they find us?”
He didn't answer.
I looked at Lena.
Then at the children.
Then at the tracker we had found.
My blood went cold.
“The bracelet.”
Everyone looked at Lily.
“What about it?”
“It isn't just a key.”
My father nodded.
“It's a transmitter.”
Lily stared at her bracelet.
“Mommy gave me this.”
Lena shook her head.
“No.”
My mother corrected her.
“I did.”
Lily looked confused.
“Grandma?”
My mother nodded.
“I put it on you when you were three.”
“Why?”
“To keep you safe.”
Lily looked at me.
“Daddy, am I dangerous?”
I knelt beside her.
“No.”
“But everyone keeps talking about me.”
I hugged her.
“Because they're afraid of what you can unlock.”
She whispered:
“What?”
I looked at the bracelet.
“Something that should never belong to them.”
Marcus interrupted.
“Sir.”
I stood.
“What?”
“We're being surrounded.”
My father walked toward the entrance.
“We need to move.”
“Where?”
“The old church.”
I frowned.
“What church?”
“St. Matthew's.”
“Why?”
“Your grandfather hid something there.”
“Another vault?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Your daughter's birth records.”
I stared at him.
“My daughter?”
“Your first daughter.”
Lena suddenly stood.
“I know that church.”
My father looked at her.
“You shouldn't.”
“I went there after the funeral.”
“What funeral?”
Lena looked at me.
“Our daughter's.”
My chest tightened.
“You went there?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I couldn't accept it.”
She began crying.
“I found something.”
“What?”
“A note.”
“Where?”
“In the church.”
“What did it say?”
She whispered:
SHE WASN'T DEAD.
I stared at her.
“You never told me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That you'd think I was insane.”
I looked at my father.
“Let's go.”
We moved through a rear exit.
Marcus led us through an underground passage.
The children stayed between me and Alexander.
Lily held my hand.
Noah wasn't with us.
That thought nearly broke me.
He was still in Victor's hands.
But according to Elias, Noah was alive.
That meant we still had time.
Maybe.
We reached the church twenty minutes later.
The building had been abandoned for years.
Broken windows.
Dusty pews.
A collapsed bell tower.
My father walked toward the altar.
He knelt.
Then reached beneath the floor.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a metal box.
He removed it.
Lena stood beside me.
Her hands were shaking.
My father opened the box.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
A hospital bracelet.
And a tiny pink blanket.
Lena immediately recognized it.
She collapsed.
“That was hers.”
I picked up the hospital bracelet.
The name printed on it:
BABY GIRL COLE
No first name.
Birth date.
Ten years ago.
Lena touched it.
“She was alive.”
My father nodded.
“There was another document.”
He handed me a medical report.
The first line read:
PATIENT: FEMALE INFANT
The second:
STATUS: STABLE
The third:
TRANSFERRED TO PRIVATE FACILITY
I looked at Lena.
“You knew she was alive.”
“No.”
I turned the page.
There was a signature.
Dr. Nathan Hale.
My stomach dropped.
“Hale.”
Lena stared at the name.
“My brother?”
“No.”
My father shook his head.
“Not her brother.”
“Then who?”
“The doctor who delivered your daughter.”
Lena looked horrified.
“I thought his name was Samuel.”
My father pointed toward the document.
“Samuel Hale was an alias.”
I looked at the date.
The same day my daughter was born.
Then another document caught my attention.
TRANSFER ORDER.
Destination:
BLACKWATER FACILITY
I had heard that name.
Victor's private medical research center.
A facility that officially didn't exist.
My father saw my expression.
“You know it.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know what happens there.”
I nodded.
“People disappear.”
Lena began crying.
“My daughter has been there for ten years.”
“Maybe.”
I looked at the document.
“Or she escaped.”
My father shook his head.
“If she escaped, Victor would have found her.”
“Unless someone helped her.”
Alexander suddenly spoke.
“My mother.”
I turned.
“What?”
“Your mother.”
He pointed at the photograph of my first daughter.
“She was hiding people from the network.”
My mother looked away.
“Evelyn?”
She finally spoke.
“I helped her.”
My father stared at her.
“You never told me.”
“I didn't know who I could trust.”
I stepped closer.
“You helped my daughter escape?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
My mother began crying.
“I don't know.”
“Then why did you say you helped her?”
“Because I got her out.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
My heart pounded.
“Six years ago?”
“Yes.”
“She was four.”
“Yes.”
“Where did you take her?”
“A family.”
“What family?”
She hesitated.
Then said:
“The Mercers.”
My stomach dropped.
“Daniel?”
She nodded.
“Daniel took her.”
“No.”
“He promised to protect her.”
“Daniel has been working for Victor.”
“I know.”
“Then why would you trust him?”
“I didn't know.”
My father looked at her.
“You knew.”
She shook her head.
“I didn't know he had betrayed us.”
I felt sick.
“Where is my daughter now?”
My mother looked toward the church doors.
“I think she's been living with him.”
A noise came from outside.
Everyone froze.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Someone's here.”
Footsteps echoed through the church.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Then the front doors opened.
Daniel Mercer walked inside.
He wasn't carrying a weapon.
He raised his hands.
“Don't shoot.”
I stepped forward.
“Where is my daughter?”
Daniel stopped.
“You know?”
“Where is she?”
He looked at Lena.
Then at me.
“I can take you to her.”
I didn't move.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
“Then why are you here?”
Daniel's face was exhausted.
“Because Victor killed my wife.”
Silence.
“What?”
“My wife found out what he was doing.”
Daniel's voice broke.
“She tried to expose him.”
“What happened?”
“She disappeared.”
“And you kept working for him?”
“I had no choice.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone says that.”
Daniel looked at me.
“This isn't like before.”
He pulled a flash drive from his pocket.
“Everything is on this.”
I didn't take it.
“What?”
“Victor's files.”
“Why give them to me?”
“Because he knows I have them.”
“And?”
“He's coming for me.”
A gunshot exploded outside.
Daniel dropped.
Blood appeared on his shoulder.
Marcus pulled him behind a pew.
Everyone ducked.
More shots followed.
The church windows shattered.
My father shouted:
“Down!”
I grabbed Lily.
Alexander grabbed my mother.
Lena crawled toward Daniel.
“Who shot you?”
Daniel was breathing heavily.
“Not Victor.”
“Who?”
He looked toward the broken window.
“The girl.”
I froze.
“What girl?”
Daniel looked at Lena.
“Your daughter.”
Lena stopped breathing.
“She found me.”
“Where is she?”
Daniel pointed toward the bell tower.
“She came to kill me.”
I stared upward.
A shadow moved behind the shattered glass.
A young girl stood on the tower balcony.
Long dark hair.
Pale face.
A rifle in her hands.
She looked down at us.
Then her eyes met mine.
My heart stopped.
Because even from that distance…
I recognized her.
My eyes.
My face.
My daughter's face.
She slowly lowered the rifle.
Then she whispered something.
I couldn't hear it.
But Daniel could.
His face went white.
“What did she say?” I demanded.
He stared at me.
“She said…”
He swallowed.
“She wants to know why you abandoned her.”
My heart shattered.
“I never abandoned her.”
The girl suddenly raised the rifle again.
Not toward Daniel.
Toward me.
Lena screamed:
“DON'T!”
The girl hesitated.
Then lowered the weapon.
She turned away.
And disappeared into the darkness.
I ran toward the tower.
My father grabbed me.
“Wait.”
“That's my daughter!”
“She doesn't know you.”
“I don't care.”
“You'll scare her.”
I looked at him.
“Then I'll let her decide.”
We climbed the stairs.
At the top, the balcony was empty.
Only one thing remained.
A photograph.
I picked it up.
It showed the girl as a child.
Beside her was another child.
Noah.
They were standing together.
Both around four years old.
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten message:
THEY WERE RAISED TOGETHER.
I stared at it.
“No.”
Lena came behind me.
“What?”
I turned the photograph over.
There was another sentence.
NOAH WAS NEVER VICTOR'S TARGET.
Then:
HE WAS HER PROTECTOR.
My heart stopped.
I looked down at the church floor.
Noah had been taken.
But maybe Victor had taken the wrong child for an entirely different reason.
A phone began ringing.
My father's.
He answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then his face changed.
He handed me the phone.
“It's Noah.”
I put it to my ear.
“Son?”
Silence.
Then Noah whispered:
“Dad…”
“Where are you?”
“I don't know.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Who's with you?”
Noah began crying.
“Dad…”
“What?”
“There are two people here.”
“Who?”
He whispered:
“One is Victor.”
“And the other?”
A long pause.
Then Noah said:
“It's the girl from the photograph.”
My blood froze.
“She found me.”
I looked at Lena.
Noah continued:
“Dad…”
His voice trembled.
“She says she isn't my sister.”
May you like
A pause.
“She says she's my mother.”
