Chapter 9 - The Woman Who Chose Survival
Evelyn had been placed in protective custody at St. Catherine Medical Center after the attack at the train station.
By the time Mara contacted hospital security, Evelyn’s room was empty.
One officer had been drugged.
Another had received false orders to transfer her.
Security footage showed a doctor escorting Evelyn into a restricted elevator.
The doctor wore a mask, glasses, and surgical cap.
But Claire recognized his posture.
Ethan.
They reached the hospital seventeen minutes later.
The building was under lockdown.
The elevator had stopped between two floors.
Inside, investigators found blood and Evelyn’s torn sleeve.
A maintenance hatch above the car was open.
Thomas guided Mara toward an old service corridor built during the hospital’s original construction.
He knew it because St. Catherine had once shared records with Orpheus.
They followed a trail of blood into the abandoned maternity wing.
The corridor ended at a nursery that had not been used in twenty years.
Ethan stood behind the glass.
Evelyn sat in a chair beside him.
A wire looped around her neck.
Ethan held the trigger.
Claire approached the glass.
“Let her go.”
Ethan smiled.
“You always did believe saving people would make them love you.”
“What do you want?”
“The original files.”
“You already have copies.”
“I want the index.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“There is no index.”
Ethan looked at him.
“The dead man finally returns.”
Evelyn began to cry.
“Thomas.”
He did not look at her.
Ethan tightened the wire.
“The index identifies every Orpheus child and every family used to place them. Meridian lost it when Thomas disappeared.”
Thomas’s voice remained calm.
“I destroyed it.”
“No. You divided it.”
For the first time, Thomas’s expression changed.
Ethan saw it.
“So that part was true.”
Claire looked between them.
“What did he divide?”
Thomas did not answer.
Ethan leaned closer to Evelyn.
“Your mother carried one half for eleven years without knowing it.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“The piano key.”
“The safe-deposit box contained only instructions. The real half was hidden inside something you never removed.”
Thomas looked at Evelyn’s wedding ring.
Ethan followed his gaze.
He smiled.
Evelyn covered her hand.
Ethan reached for the ring.
Claire struck the glass with a metal chair.
It cracked but did not break.
Mara searched for another entrance.
Liam, weakened from his shoulder wound, noticed a narrow medication hatch beneath the glass.
It had been sealed but not reinforced.
He grabbed a fire extinguisher and struck it repeatedly.
The metal bent.
Ethan pulled Evelyn to her feet.
“Stop.”
Liam struck again.
The hatch broke open.
Mara fired through it.
The bullet hit Ethan’s trigger hand.
The wire released.
Evelyn dropped.
Claire pushed through the damaged opening.
Ethan ran toward the rear exit.
Thomas followed.
By the time police reached the stairwell, Ethan was gone.
A blood trail ended beside an open service door leading into the city.
Evelyn survived.
The bullet had shattered bones in Ethan’s hand, but no usable blood sample remained at the scene.
He had poured chemical disinfectant across the corridor as he fled.
In Evelyn’s hospital room, Thomas removed her wedding ring.
The inner band separated beneath pressure.
Inside was a strip of microfilm.
Evelyn stared at it.
“You put this there?”
“Before I disappeared.”
“You used me.”
“I kept you alive.”
“You left me alone.”
Thomas finally looked at her.
“I watched you give Claire to Ethan.”
The room went still.
Evelyn lowered her head.
“I thought he could lead me to you.”
“And when he hurt her?”
“I did not know at first.”
“When you did know?”
Evelyn cried silently.
“I was afraid.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Claire stood beside the window.
She had imagined this reunion for years.
Her mother and father together.
The family restored.
But nothing had been restored.
The truth had simply removed the walls hiding what they had become.
Liam placed the microfilm beneath a scanner.
Rows of names appeared.
The index contained hundreds of Orpheus identities.
Claire searched for her own.
Orpheus Child 17.
Original name unknown.
Current identity Claire Carter Vale.
Status: Activated.
Liam found his entry.
Orpheus Child 18.
Original name Daniel Cross.
Current identity Liam Carter.
Status: Dormant.
May you like
Beside his record was a scheduled date.
The next morning.
