Chapter 10 - SEVEN BELLS
Richard’s smile was perfect.
That was how Amanda knew it was not his.
The man at the end of the corridor stood with the posture Richard used at shareholder meetings: controlled, elegant, untouchable. But his eyes did not move to Ethan’s face. They remained fixed on the keycard beneath Amanda’s fingers.
“Bring me the boy,” he repeated.
Ethan pressed against her leg.
Lena stepped forward. “Richard, state your full name.”
“Richard Augustus Vale.”
“State your date of birth.”
He did.
“State your mother’s maiden name.”
“Authority does not require explanation.”
Lena whispered, “He is fully transferred.”
Vivian held the bell at shoulder height. “My son has finally remembered his duty.”
Amanda looked down the corridor. Glass observation rooms lined both sides. Some contained children’s furniture beneath white sheets. Others held medical equipment still humming despite the abandoned building above.
Fresh cameras followed them from the ceiling.
“Where is my other son?” Amanda asked.
Vivian’s gaze sharpened.
Richard did not react.
“You were pregnant with one child,” Vivian said.
“Then why did you order a second DNA comparison?”
For the first time, uncertainty crossed Vivian’s face.
Corwin had known about the second report, but perhaps Vivian did not know how much he revealed.
Amanda took one slow step forward. “Richard’s DNA shows an avuncular relationship to Ethan. That means Ethan’s biological father is Richard’s close male relative.”
Lena looked at Amanda, startled.
Amanda continued before Vivian could recover. “Gabriel is Samuel Hart’s son. Richard was exchanged with Gabriel as an infant. So either the test was falsified again, or there is another man in this program whose DNA connects all of them.”
Richard’s eyes flickered.
A crack.
Amanda pushed harder.
“You are not Ethan’s uncle, Richard. That report was designed to make you believe you are.”
Vivian rang the bell once.
Richard’s face emptied again.
“Take the card,” she ordered.
He advanced.
Lena pulled Amanda and Ethan into the nearest observation room and slammed the glass door. Richard struck the access panel with his palm. It flashed green.
The door unlocked.
“He has master clearance,” Lena said.
Amanda searched the room. A metal crib stood in one corner. A speaker was embedded in the wall. Above it, a cabinet contained old cassette tapes labeled by subject number.
V-17.
H-17.
E-01.
Amanda seized E-01.
Ethan.
She inserted it into the wall player.
A woman’s voice began reciting colors in a soft rhythm.
Ethan covered his ears.
“No song!”
Richard entered.
Amanda changed tapes.
H-17 clicked into place.
A baby cried through the speaker. Then Samuel’s younger voice said, “Gabriel, follow the bird. The bird always returns home.”
Richard stopped.
His pupils widened.
Vivian rang the bell again. “Ignore it.”
Amanda turned the volume higher.
Samuel continued. “Your name is Gabriel Hart. You were taken, but you are not owned.”
Richard gripped the doorframe.
“No,” Vivian said. “Wrong subject.”
Amanda stared at Richard.
Wrong subject.
Not wrong message.
Richard whispered, “Gabriel.”
Vivian’s control cracked. “Your name is Richard.”
He looked at her. “You told me H-17 died.”
“You are V-17.”
“Then why do I remember this recording?”
The question echoed down the corridor.
Amanda understood before Lena did.
The infant exchange records had themselves been altered. Samuel’s archive said Richard was V-17 and Gabriel was H-17, but Richard responded to H-17’s conditioning phrase.
“What if the labels were switched more than once?” Amanda said.
Lena’s face changed. “Then no DNA conclusion based on subject records can be trusted.”
Richard pressed both hands to his head.
Images seemed to pass behind his eyes.
A red door.
A wooden bird.
A voice telling him he was taken but not owned.
Vivian lifted the bell for another command.
Ethan ran from Amanda before she could catch him.
He crossed the room and wrapped both arms around Richard’s leg.
“You’re my daddy,” he said. “Not because of blood.”
Richard looked down.
The rigid line of his shoulders broke.
Vivian rang the bell.
Richard did not move.
She rang it again.
Nothing.
Ethan covered Richard’s hand with his small one.
Richard reached down and lifted him.
When he looked at Vivian, the obedience was gone.
“You made me hurt him.”
“You were protecting the family.”
“No. I was protecting my fear.”
Vivian stepped backward.
Steel shutters dropped over the corridor exits.
An alarm announced, “Containment protocol initiated.”
Lena ran to the control panel. “She locked the level.”
Amanda pulled out the keycard. “Can this override it?”
“Maybe. But the central server is in the nursery vault.”
“Where?”
Lena looked through the glass toward a black door at the corridor’s far end.
“The room where they kept the children who had no official names.”
A sound came through the facility speakers.
Not an alarm.
A boy crying.
The voice was older than Ethan’s but unmistakably similar.
“Mom?” it called.
May you like
Amanda’s entire body went still.
“Mom, can you hear me?”
