Chapter 6 - The Birth Certificate
Claire tore the birth certificate in half.
The sound startled Lily, who began to cry in the nurse’s arms.
Jonah did not move.
Nathan picked up one torn piece from the floor.
“Claire, you do not have to believe anything tonight.”
She turned on him.
“You knew.”
Nathan remained silent.
“You knew,” she repeated.
“I knew there were questions about your birth records.”
“Questions?”
“William asked me to seal several documents.”
“And you did it.”
“He was protecting you.”
“From Jonah?”
“From Northstar.”
Jonah stepped closer.
“William was protecting himself.”
Nathan raised the weapon again.
“Do not take another step.”
Claire looked between them.
Every person she had trusted now seemed connected to a story she had never been allowed to read.
She took Lily back from the nurse.
“Get me out of this hospital.”
Nathan nodded.
“I have a vehicle waiting.”
“No.”
He stared at her.
“I am not going anywhere controlled by Northstar.”
Jonah spoke.
“I have a safe location.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“You arrived after disabling the lights, locked my door, and handed me a birth certificate claiming you are my father.”
“I did not lock your door.”
“Then who did?”
The nurse looked uneasy.
“The electronic system showed an override from the maternity desk.”
Nathan immediately called hospital security.
No one answered.
Jonah moved toward the hallway.
“We need to leave.”
A fire alarm began blaring.
Red lights flashed.
An announcement ordered everyone to evacuate.
Claire’s phone buzzed.
Another message from the unknown number.
JONAH REED IS LYING.
ASK HIM WHERE MARGARET IS.
Claire showed him.
Jonah’s expression tightened.
“Who is Margaret?”
“My wife.”
“The certificate says she was my mother.”
“She is.”
“Where is she?”
Jonah looked toward Nathan.
Nathan’s eyes narrowed.
Claire understood.
They both knew.
“Where is she?” Claire demanded.
Jonah spoke quietly.
“She may still be alive.”
The fire alarm continued screaming.
Smoke appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Hospital staff began moving patients toward the stairwell.
Nathan’s security men arrived, each carrying an emergency evacuation carrier.
One took Lily’s bassinet.
Claire refused the wheelchair and walked, one hand against the wall.
Every step hurt.
Nathan remained close.
Jonah followed several feet behind.
When they reached the stairwell, a hospital administrator blocked their path.
“You need to use the east exit.”
Nathan showed identification.
“This stairwell is secure.”
“No, sir. There is smoke below.”
Jonah grabbed the administrator’s wrist.
The man’s sleeve pulled back.
On his hand was a small black tattoo.
A four-pointed star.
Jonah shoved him against the wall.
“Northstar.”
The administrator struck Jonah in the throat and reached inside his jacket.
Nathan fired once.
The shot hit the wall beside the man’s head.
Patients screamed.
The administrator dropped a small pistol and ran toward the smoke.
Nathan’s guards moved after him.
Jonah grabbed Claire’s arm.
“We go up.”
“The roof?”
“There is a service bridge to the parking structure.”
They climbed.
Claire’s body screamed with pain. She had given birth only hours earlier, yet fear forced her upward.
On the seventh floor, the lights failed again.
Someone below them shouted.
The sound of running footsteps echoed through the stairwell.
Nathan pushed open the roof door.
Cold rain struck Claire’s face.
A narrow maintenance bridge connected the hospital roof to the parking structure.
It had no walls, only waist-high railings.
Jonah crossed first.
Nathan’s guards carried Lily’s bassinet between them.
Claire stepped onto the wet metal platform.
Halfway across, a shot rang out.
One guard collapsed.
The bassinet tilted.
Claire screamed.
Nathan caught the handle before it overturned.
Jonah fired toward the hospital roof.
A shadow disappeared behind the doorway.
The surviving guard dragged his injured partner across the bridge.
Claire reached the parking structure and took Lily into her arms.
A black van waited.
Jonah opened the side door.
Nathan blocked him.
“We are not using your vehicle.”
“You think yours hasn’t been compromised?”
Nathan pointed toward a row of parked cars.
A dark SUV exploded.
The force threw everyone to the ground.
Glass rained across the concrete.
The vehicle had been Nathan’s.
Jonah looked at him.
“Still trust Northstar?”
Sirens approached from below.
Claire’s phone buzzed again.
A live video opened automatically.
Daniel stood outside the Bennett house, arguing with two police officers.
Behind him, Evelyn and Vanessa waited beside several suitcases.
The camera angle came from inside the house.
Someone was watching them.
Then the image shifted.
A woman appeared on-screen.
She was thin, pale, and seated in a dark room.
Silver streaks ran through her hair.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Claire,” she whispered.
Jonah froze.
The woman continued.
“My name is Margaret.”
A man stepped behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
On his finger was another silver Bennett ring.
May you like
“You have something that belongs to us,” he said.
The video ended.
