Chapter 13 - The Brother Behind Northstar)
Northstar Meridian’s ownership structure was intentionally complex.
Shell companies.
Trusts.
Private equity funds.
Foreign holding companies.
But Hall’s analysts followed the money.
At the top sat a foundation incorporated in Liechtenstein.
Director listed under an alias.
Peter Knox.
Photograph unavailable.
David stared at the corporate diagram.
“My brother runs the organization that experimented on us.”
Evelyn corrected him.
“He runs what remains of it.”
“Difference?”
“Northstar is not the original program.”
“What is?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Continuation.”
David remembered Thomas Reed’s file.
Transferred to Program Continuation.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Again.”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
“Do you imagine evil organizations publish internal newsletters?”
David almost laughed.
“No.”
“Then accept that some of us survived with incomplete information.”
Richard joined the call from the safe cabin.
Maya and Liam had been moved again.
“You said Daniel directed Northstar.”
Evelyn nodded.
“How long?”
“Approximately twelve years.”
Richard looked troubled.
“Then why hasn’t he killed us?”
“Maybe because he doesn’t want you dead.”
“What does he want?”
Evelyn looked toward David.
“His brother.”
David felt exhausted.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Maya, holding Liam, spoke quietly.
“Maybe he wants him to remember.”
Everyone looked at her.
Maya continued.
“The messages.”
Ask about the basement children.
Ask who Chloe was before Chloe.
Each message forced David toward the truth.
Hall nodded slowly.
“He could have killed Chloe.”
“But didn’t,” Maya said.
“He could have taken the real case.”
Richard added, “But exposed it instead.”
David frowned.
“What if Mark wasn’t the one sending those messages?”
Chloe looked up.
“Daniel?”
David nodded.
“What if he’s been moving us where he wants?”
Hall leaned back.
“Manipulating both sides.”
Evelyn’s expression confirmed she had considered the same.
David asked, “Where is Mark?”
No one knew.
Then Chloe’s phone rang.
Blocked number.
Everyone went silent.
She answered on speaker.
“Hello?”
Mark’s voice.
“Claire.”
Chloe’s eyes filled with tears.
“Where are you?”
“Safe.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“About everything?”
“No.”
David stepped closer.
“Mark.”
Silence.
Then:
“David.”
“Where are you?”
“Not important.”
“You’re Michael Vale.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Chloe from the basement.”
“Yes.”
Chloe whispered, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Mark’s voice softened.
“Because you slept through the night after we got married.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“For six years, you never woke screaming.”
Chloe began crying.
Mark continued.
“When we were children, you woke screaming every night.”
David looked away.
Mark had remembered what Chloe had forgotten.
“I thought if you remembered me, you might remember everything.”
Chloe whispered, “You decided for me.”
“Yes.”
“That was wrong.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
No justification.
Just admission.
David respected that more than he wanted to.
“Where is Daniel?”
Mark became silent.
“You know.”
“I know where he was.”
“Tell me.”
“New York.”
David’s chest tightened.
“When?”
“Eleven days ago.”
The day Liam was born.
“What was he doing?”
“Watching the hospital.”
Maya clutched Liam tighter.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he order the extraction?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Mark’s answer came immediately.
“Evelyn.”
Everyone turned toward the video screen.
Evelyn’s face went pale.
“That is a lie.”
Mark laughed bitterly.
“Still lying, Evelyn?”
“Michael.”
“You remember me.”
“I remember every child.”
“No.”
His voice became cold.
“You remember every subject.”
David interrupted.
“Mark, prove it.”
“Check the number used to authorize the hospital team.”
Hall was already moving.
Mark continued.
“It routes through Frankfurt.”
Evelyn stood abruptly.
“I’m done with this conversation.”
German officers appeared behind her.
Hall’s analyst handed him a result.
He looked at David.
“The authorization came from a device registered to Evelyn Mercer.”
Silence.
David stared at his biological mother.
“You tried to take Liam.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I tried to protect him.”
“By removing him from Maya?”
“Only temporarily.”
Maya’s face hardened.
“You will never touch my child.”
Evelyn looked at her almost pityingly.
“You do not understand what he is.”
Maya stood despite still recovering.
“He is my son.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn leaned toward the camera.
“And that is exactly why they will never stop.”
David’s voice became cold.
“Who is they?”
Evelyn smiled sadly.
“People far more powerful than Daniel.”
Before she could say more, the feed died.
Hall shouted for Frankfurt officers.
Connection lost.
Thirty seconds later, a message arrived from the consulate.
Evelyn Mercer had collapsed.
Not dead.
Sedated.
Someone had contaminated her water.
David stared at the screen.
Whoever wanted Evelyn silent had reached her inside an American consulate.
Then Mark spoke again through Chloe’s phone.
“You understand now.”
David looked down.
“What?”
“Daniel isn’t the top of this.”
“Then who is?”
Mark was silent for several seconds.
“When we were children, we called him the Doctor.”
Richard froze.
Eleanor went pale.
David noticed both reactions.
“You know that name.”
Eleanor whispered:
“He was supposed to be dead.”
May you like
David laughed bitterly.
“I’m getting tired of hearing that.”
