Chapter 15 - the child behind the glass
Claire refused to explain over a recorded line.
Arthur moved her under federal escort to a secure room without network access. Mara brought Lily to a separate protected location and remained beside her.
Daniel verified the custody orders again. No legal change had occurred. Richard remained in detention. Every known Lazarus operative was being watched.
The immediate threats had been contained.
But somewhere, a second person had accessed an account using Lily’s family authorization.
Claire sat across from Arthur.
“During the months before the accident, I found a sealed medical file inside my father’s records.”
“What kind of file?”
“Fertility records.”
Arthur waited.
“When we were trying to have Lily, the clinic created two viable embryos.”
“We used one.”
“That is what we were told.”
Arthur felt cold.
“The second embryo was supposed to remain stored.”
“Supposed to?”
“The storage company was owned through a Lazarus account. The embryo was removed without our permission.”
“When?”
“Six months before Lily was born.”
Arthur stood so quickly that the chair struck the wall.
“You knew this for three years?”
“I discovered it the night of the accident.”
“Who took it?”
“Victoria.”
“Why?”
“She wanted a second genetic key in case Lily could not be controlled.”
Arthur turned away.
A child created from the same parents would be Lily’s full sibling.
“How old?”
“Possibly eight.”
“Boy or girl?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire slid a photograph across the table.
It had been taken through a window. A child stood behind the glass with her face partly turned away. She appeared close to Lily’s age and had Arthur’s gray eyes.
A woman’s reflection appeared in the window beside her.
Victoria Hale.
Arthur’s mother.
On the back of the photograph were coordinates and a date.
Tomorrow.
“What happens tomorrow?” Arthur asked.
Claire shook her head.
“I think Victoria wants an exchange.”
“Lily for the other child?”
“Or me for both of them.”
Arthur placed the photograph inside his coat.
“You are not deciding alone again.”
“I know.”
His satellite phone vibrated.
No one outside Meridian’s highest command level could contact that device.
Arthur answered.
Mara spoke first.
“We have a situation.”
“Is Lily safe?”
“She’s here, but someone delivered a package to the front gate.”
“Do not open it.”
“It opened itself.”
Arthur heard Lily in the background.
“Dad?”
“I’m here.”
“There’s a video.”
A screen inside the secure room activated without power or network access.
Arthur and Claire turned toward it.
The image showed the child from the photograph sitting in a bright room behind a glass wall. She looked almost exactly like Lily, except her hair was shorter and a small silver pendant hung around her neck.
Victoria’s voice came through the speakers.
“Arthur, you rescued the daughter you knew. Now decide whether you are willing to save the daughter you never met.”
The child looked toward someone beyond the camera.
“Grandmother says my father is coming,” she said.
Claire covered her mouth.
Arthur moved closer to the screen.
“What is her name?”
Victoria laughed softly.
“You already know it. Lily has been singing it for years.”
The child lifted her face.
Behind her, another figure entered the room holding the missing first page of the Lazarus Ledger.
Arthur recognized the figure immediately.
It was someone who had stood beside him when he activated Code Black outside the mansion.
Someone who had helped rescue Lily.
Someone every investigation had cleared.
The screen went dark before the person’s face became fully visible.
Arthur’s satellite phone displayed a new message.
CODE BLACK ACCEPTED.
SECOND FAMILY ASSET LOCATED.
AUTHORIZATION SOURCE: LILY VALE.
Arthur looked toward Claire.
Lily’s voice came through Mara’s open line.
“Dad, I remembered the final verse.”
Before Arthur could stop her, Lily began to sing.
The first two lines matched the song Claire had written.
The third line contained a set of coordinates.
The fourth contained a name.
Claire’s face turned white.
“That name isn’t the child,” she whispered.
“Then whose name is it?”
Claire stared at the black screen.
“The person who has been giving orders since before Richard took Lily.”
A knock sounded on the secure-room door.
Three slow taps.
A pause.
Then three more.
It was Arthur’s private family signal.
Only Claire, Lily and one other person had ever known it.
Arthur moved toward the door as the handle began to turn from the outside.
The satellite phone spoke in Victoria’s recorded voice.
“Extraction complete.”
May you like
Arthur opened the door.
And the person waiting on the other side said, “You activated Code Black exactly as we planned.”
