Chapter 6 - Subject OneThe emergency lights came on one by one.
Red.
Flickering.
Like the entire hospital was breathing.
I pulled my weapon.
"Show yourself!"
The voice came through the speaker again.
"You keep looking for your brother as though he is the victim."
I froze.
"He isn't."
The hallway was silent.
"Who are you?"
A laugh.
"You'll learn soon enough."
The speaker clicked off.
Bennett searched the building while I examined the wall.
Subject 01.
Daniel.
Subject 47.
Evan.
What happened to Subjects 02 through 46?
The question made my stomach turn.
We photographed everything.
Then I noticed something hidden beneath the baseboard.
A microfilm strip.
I held it toward the light.
Names.
Birth certificates.
Adoption records.
All manipulated.
Every child had been given a different identity.
Every file contained the same phrase:
PLACEMENT SUCCESSFUL.
I felt sick.
A door creaked behind us.
We spun around.
A hospital orderly stood at the end of the hall.
His uniform was decades old.
He raised his hands.
"I'm not armed."
"Who are you?"
"Dr. Thomas Reed."
The name meant nothing.
But Bennett recognized it.
"Reed?"
He stared.
"You were convicted of medical fraud ten years ago."
"Yes."
"Then why are you here?"
The old doctor smiled bitterly.
"Because they never stopped."
He led us into a hidden office.
Inside were shelves of patient files.
"I worked here when Daniel was brought in."
I stepped closer.
"Where is he?"
Dr. Reed stared at me.
"Alive."
"Where?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because he isn't hiding from them."
I waited.
"He's hiding from you."
The words struck harder than I expected.
"Why would my brother hide from me?"
"Because he believes you're part of the system."
"I'm a police officer."
"Exactly."
I slammed my hand against the desk.
"I spent nine years looking for him."
"And someone knew you were looking."
"What happened to Daniel?"
Reed hesitated.
"He discovered that powerful families were paying to obtain children."
"For what?"
"Not adoption."
I felt my pulse pounding.
"Then what?"
"Identity replacement."
He opened a file.
A photograph showed a newborn.
"These children were given to wealthy families under fake records. Their original parents were disappeared, threatened, or paid."
"Why?"
"So the children could become heirs."
I stared at him.
Evan.
A rich family.
A missing mother.
A fake father.
But why would someone hurt Evan if he was an heir?
Reed whispered:
"Some children weren't placed."
"Why?"
"Because they were witnesses."
He opened another file.
Subject 47.
Evan.
"Your nephew was never supposed to know who Daniel was."
My breath caught.
"My nephew?"
Reed nodded.
"Daniel is Evan's biological father."
That part I knew.
"What don't I know?"
Reed looked at me.
"Daniel didn't disappear."
"Then what?"
"He was taken."
"By who?"
"By your mother's employer."
I stared at him.
"My mother?"
"Your mother worked for them."
The room spun.
"My mother was a nurse."
"She was."
"She never told me."
"She wasn't allowed."
Reed handed me another photograph.
It showed my mother standing beside Daniel.
Behind them was a laboratory.
My mother had one hand on Daniel's shoulder.
The other held a newborn baby.
Evan.
I felt something inside me crack.
"She knew."
"Yes."
"She helped them?"
"At first."
"And later?"
Reed looked away.
"She tried to stop them."
"What happened?"
"She succeeded once."
"Once?"
"She helped Daniel escape."
I stared at the old doctor.
"Then who betrayed them?"
Reed didn't answer.
I already knew what he was going to say.
He placed a file in front of me.
Inside was a photograph of a younger police officer.
My father's former partner.
Captain Harold Vance.
The same man who had trained me.
The same man who signed the report declaring Daniel dead.
The same man who had recommended I join the police.
At the bottom of the file was a handwritten note.
HE MADE SURE JACK BECAME A COP.
I looked up.
Reed whispered:
May you like
"They didn't lose your family, Jack."
"They built you."
