Chapter 10: The Mark of H-17
The room fell into complete silence.
Harper looked down at the tiny mark on her shoulder, then back at Dominic.
"Did I do something wrong, Daddy?"
The innocent question hit harder than any revelation.
Dominic slowly lowered her sleeve.
"No."
His voice was calm.
"You didn't do anything wrong."
He gently picked her up and carried her out of the archive.
Marcus understood immediately.
Harper didn't need to hear the conversation that was about to happen.
Ten minutes later...
Harper was asleep in Dominic's private bedroom under the watch of four armed guards and two nurses.
Mia remained beside her.
Dominic returned to the underground archive.
The tattoo photographs lay spread across the table.
Marcus zoomed in on every detail.
"It isn't ink."
The estate physician nodded.
"It's laser pigmentation."
Daniel frowned.
"What does that mean?"
The doctor sighed.
"It was placed there when she was an infant."
"Only a few weeks old."
Mia slowly covered her mouth.
"So someone marked her..."
"...before she ever came to me."
Dominic clenched his jaw.
No child should have carried a number instead of a name.
Daniel opened the recovered journal again.
"This isn't the only code."
He turned several pages.
Every surviving child listed by Project Falcon had a designation.
A-03.
C-11.
F-08.
H-17.
Most names ended with one word.
Terminated.
Missing.
Recovered.
Only Harper's file remained different.
Status: Unknown.
Marcus frowned.
"Unknown?"
Dominic looked at the page.
"No."
"They lost her."
"For the first time in their history..."
"They failed."
Suddenly, Mia remembered something.
"When Harper was two..."
Everyone looked at her.
"A man came to the house."
"What man?" Marcus asked.
"I thought he was a social worker."
"What did he want?"
"He asked to examine Harper."
Dominic's expression hardened.
"Did you let him?"
"No."
"He left immediately."
"Did you ever see him again?"
Mia nodded slowly.
"At the grocery store."
"And?"
"He smiled."
Marcus waited.
"He said..."
She swallowed.
"'The Falcon always finds its own.'"
The room became quiet again.
Daniel broke the silence.
"We've been assuming Falcon wanted Harper alive."
Dominic nodded.
"Yes."
"What if that's changed?"
Marcus looked at him.
"You think they're trying to erase her now?"
Dominic answered quietly.
"They've already killed Nathan."
"They murdered Claire."
"They imprisoned Mia."
"They attacked my estate twice."
"They're cleaning up."
Just then...
The communications officer burst into the archive.
"Sir!"
Dominic turned.
"We intercepted a satellite phone call."
Marcus looked surprised.
"From who?"
"We don't know."
"But they mentioned H-17."
Dominic stood.
"Play it."
Static filled the speakers.
Then a distorted male voice.
"...the child has been identified."
Another voice replied.
"...then initiate Eclipse."
Marcus frowned.
"Eclipse?"
The first man answered.
"No mistakes this time."
"Both of them die."
The recording ended.
Daniel looked up.
"Both?"
Dominic didn't need to guess.
"Harper..."
"...and me."
That night...
Dominic walked alone through the mansion.
Every hallway felt different now.
His own home had become a maze of hidden rooms, secret tunnels, and buried lies.
He stopped outside the old family portrait hanging above the grand staircase.
Victor Vale.
Isabella.
Young Dominic.
The perfect family.
Or so it appeared.
He stared at his father's painted eyes.
"You lied to me."
A quiet voice answered behind him.
"Yes."
Dominic spun around.
An elderly woman stood at the end of the hallway.
Black dress.
Silver hair.
Gentle eyes.
Isabella.
This time she wasn't disappearing.
She simply stood there.
Real.
Alive.
Dominic slowly lowered his pistol.
"...Mother?"
She smiled through tears.
"My little boy."
Twenty-three years of grief shattered in a single heartbeat.
Dominic crossed the hallway in seconds.
He stopped just inches away.
Afraid that if he touched her...
She would vanish.
Isabella reached forward first.
Her hand rested against his face.
Warm.
Real.
"I'm sorry."
Dominic couldn't speak.
For the first time since he was fifteen years old...
He embraced his mother.
Neither of them moved.
Neither of them cared who saw.
Marcus quietly dismissed every guard from the hallway.
Some reunions deserved privacy.
Several minutes later...
They sat alone inside Dominic's office.
Neither coffee nor whiskey had been touched.
Only silence.
Finally Dominic asked the question that had haunted him for decades.
"Why?"
Isabella looked into his eyes.
"Because your father chose Falcon."
"And you chose me."
She nodded.
"I tried."
"What happened?"
"They found us."
She looked toward the window.
"Victor loved you."
"But he believed Project Falcon would save the world."
Dominic frowned.
"Save it from what?"
Isabella's face grew serious.
"You still don't understand what Falcon really is."
"Then tell me."
She hesitated.
"The children..."
"They were never the goal."
"They were only..."
Before she could finish...
A red laser dot appeared on the office window.
Marcus shouted from outside.
"SNIPER!"
Dominic tackled Isabella to the floor.
The window exploded.
CRACK!
The high-powered rifle round tore through the room.
Bookshelves shattered.
Glass rained everywhere.
Guards flooded the hallway.
Marcus fired toward the distant tree line.
Another shot echoed.
Then another.
The sniper retreated into the darkness.
Dominic helped Isabella to her feet.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
"No."
Then her eyes widened.
She looked behind Dominic.
His white shirt was turning red.
A jagged piece of shattered glass had driven deep into his back during the dive.
Blood poured onto the office floor.
Harper, awakened by the gunfire, ran into the hallway.
"Daddy!"
She saw the blood.
Then screamed.
As Marcus reached Dominic, Isabella whispered words that froze everyone in the room.
"They've activated Eclipse..."
"...which means the Director is coming himself."
Marcus stared at her.
"There are still leaders above Falcon?"
Isabella slowly nodded.
"There has only ever been..."
May you like
"...one."
End of Chapter 10
