Chapter 5: The Man Behind the Curtain
The shadow moved again.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Ethan stood frozen beside Clara's bed.
The surgical room was silent except for the frantic beeping of the monitor and the low mechanical hum coming from somewhere beneath the floor.
Daniel raised his gun.
“Don't move.”
The curtain remained still.
Then a hand appeared around its edge.
Ethan stepped backward.
“Who's there?”
No answer.
The hand disappeared.
Daniel moved closer.
“Come out.”
A man's voice answered from behind the curtain.
“You shouldn't have come here, Ethan.”
Ethan's blood ran cold.
He knew that voice.
Not from memory.
From somewhere deeper.
A place he couldn't reach.
The curtain slowly opened.
A man stepped into the red emergency light.
Ethan stared.
The man was older than him by perhaps fifteen years.
Dark hair.
Scar across his left cheek.
And a familiar silver ring on his right hand.
Ethan's eyes widened.
“I know you.”
The man smiled faintly.
“You used to.”
Daniel immediately raised his gun.
“Michael.”
The man's eyes moved toward him.
“Hello, Daniel.”
Daniel looked as though he'd seen a ghost.
“You're dead.”
Michael laughed quietly.
“So I've been told.”
Ethan looked between them.
“This is Margaret's brother?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Michael corrected him.
“Her son.”
Ethan's expression changed.
“What?”
Michael looked at him.
“You were never told the whole family tree.”
Ethan's thoughts spun.
“My mother has a son?”
“She had two.”
Michael pointed at himself.
“Me.”
Then toward Daniel.
“And him.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“We're not brothers.”
Michael smiled.
“Not by blood.”
Ethan stared at Daniel.
“What does that mean?”
Before Daniel could answer, Clara suddenly cried out.
Ethan turned.
“Clara!”
Her fingers clutched the sheets.
“The baby…”
Michael stepped closer.
“She's coming.”
Ethan immediately looked at him.
“How do you know?”
Michael ignored him.
He walked toward the medical equipment and began adjusting the monitors.
Daniel kept his gun trained on him.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving her.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“No.”
Michael looked at Ethan.
“I expect him to.”
Ethan didn't understand.
“Why?”
Michael pointed toward Clara.
“Because if you don't trust me, she'll die.”
Ethan looked at his wife.
Her face was pale.
Sweat covered her forehead.
The monitor was beeping rapidly.
He had seconds to decide.
“Tell me what to do.”
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“Ethan, wait.”
Michael snapped:
“There's no time.”
He pointed toward the equipment.
“She's bleeding internally.”
Ethan's heart stopped.
“How do you know?”
“Because I was the one who designed this room.”
Michael moved toward a control panel.
“This entire clinic was built to perform emergency deliveries without anyone outside knowing.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You helped them.”
Michael stopped.
“I built it to stop them.”
“Then why did you disappear?”
Michael looked down.
“Because your brother was supposed to die.”
Daniel's face changed.
“What?”
Michael turned toward him.
“I was the one they buried.”
Daniel stared.
Ethan suddenly understood.
“You were pretending to be dead.”
Michael nodded.
“Because Margaret was hunting me.”
“Why?”
“Because I took Noah.”
Clara's eyes opened.
“You?”
Michael looked at her.
“Yes.”
“You took my son?”
“I saved him.”
Clara began crying.
“Where is he?”
Michael hesitated.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“I can't tell you yet.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“You don't get to decide that.”
Michael looked directly at him.
“I do if your mother finds him.”
Ethan clenched his fists.
“Where is Noah?”
Michael's expression softened.
“With someone you trust.”
“I don't know who to trust anymore.”
“Good.”
Michael looked toward the ceiling camera.
“Because that's exactly what Margaret wanted.”
Suddenly the camera rotated.
Its red indicator turned off.
Michael froze.
“She's listening.”
Daniel looked at the ceiling.
“How?”
“She always listens.”
Michael rushed toward the control panel.
“We have to move.”
Ethan looked at Clara.
“She can't move.”
“Then we'll carry her.”
Michael opened a hidden compartment beneath the floor.
Inside was a small metal case.
He pulled out a syringe.
Clara immediately recoiled.
“No.”
Ethan stepped between them.
“What is that?”
“A stabilizer.”
“What does it do?”
“It slows the contractions.”
Clara stared at the syringe.
“Why would you stop the birth?”
“Because Margaret doesn't want the baby born yet.”
Michael's voice became grim.
“She needs the baby alive, but she needs it outside the mother's body before midnight.”
Ethan looked at the clock.
11:41 PM.
“Why midnight?”
Michael looked at him.
“Because the procedure begins at twelve.”
“What procedure?”
Michael hesitated.
Then:
“The extraction.”
Clara's face went white.
“Extraction of what?”
Michael looked at her stomach.
“The baby's blood.”
Ethan's anger erupted.
“They're going to take blood from a newborn?”
“Not blood.”
Michael shook his head.
“Something else.”
The room fell silent.
“What?”
Michael looked at Clara.
“The genetic tissue.”
Ethan stared.
“Why?”
“Because your daughter has something Noah doesn't.”
Clara whispered:
“What?”
Michael looked toward the door.
“We need to leave first.”
A violent crash came from the hallway.
Someone was trying to break through.
Daniel checked his weapon.
“How many?”
Michael looked at the security monitor.
“Six.”
“Six?”
“And Margaret.”
Ethan's stomach tightened.
Michael opened another hidden panel.
A narrow passage appeared behind the surgical bed.
“Take Clara through there.”
Ethan lifted her.
She cried out.
“I can't.”
“You have to.”
He carried her into the passage.
Daniel followed.
Michael stayed behind.
Ethan looked back.
“You're coming.”
Michael shook his head.
“Someone has to stop them.”
“You'll die.”
Michael smiled.
“I've been dead for eighteen months.”
The metal door began shaking.
Michael looked at Ethan.
“Go.”
Ethan hesitated.
Then he carried Clara into the passage.
Daniel followed.
The door closed.
A second later, gunfire erupted behind them.
Clara buried her face against Ethan's shoulder.
“Ethan…”
“I've got you.”
“I remember something.”
“What?”
“The night Noah was born.”
Ethan stopped.
“What do you remember?”
Clara's eyes were filled with tears.
“I remember two babies crying.”
Ethan's heart stopped.
“Two?”
“Yes.”
“One was Noah.”
“And the other?”
Clara shook her head.
“I don't know.”
They continued through the tunnel.
Behind them, the gunfire suddenly stopped.
Ethan looked back.
“Michael?”
No answer.
Daniel whispered:
“Keep moving.”
They reached a steel door.
Daniel opened it.
Beyond it was a small underground room.
And inside was a crib.
Ethan's breath caught.
A little boy was sleeping inside.
Dark hair.
Tiny hands.
A stuffed rabbit beside him.
Clara began sobbing.
“Noah.”
Ethan walked closer.
The child opened his eyes.
He looked directly at Ethan.
Then smiled.
Ethan's chest tightened.
He reached toward him.
But before he could touch the baby, a phone began ringing.
Not Ethan's.
Daniel's.
Daniel answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then Daniel's face turned pale.
“What?”
He listened.
His expression collapsed.
“Where?”
A pause.
“She's with you?”
Daniel slowly looked at Clara.
“What happened?”
The voice on the phone said something.
Daniel dropped the phone.
Ethan stared at him.
“Who was that?”
Daniel whispered:
“Margaret.”
“What did she say?”
Daniel looked toward the crib.
Then at Clara.
“She said Noah is only the first child.”
Ethan's blood ran cold.
“What about the second?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Your daughter was never supposed to be born.”
Clara stared at him.
“Why?”
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
“Because Margaret already knows where the second child is.”
A faint crying sound came through the ventilation system.
Clara froze.
Ethan slowly looked upward.
The crying was coming from somewhere above them.
A newborn.
Then another cry answered.
And another.
Daniel whispered:
“This isn't a clinic.”
Ethan looked at him.
“What?”
Daniel's face was filled with horror.
“It's a nursery.”
He pointed toward the ceiling.
“For all the children they've taken.”
Suddenly the lights went out.
And from the darkness came Margaret's voice.
“You finally found Noah.”
May you like
A pause.
“Now let's see if you can find his sister.”
