Chapter 15 - The Name Beneath the Name
Federal agents searched every regional airport.
The aircraft in the photograph had no visible registration number.
Facial-recognition software confirmed Helen, Evelyn and Ross with high probability, but the background could not be identified.
Beck ordered an international alert.
Emily remained inside Daniel’s hidden room.
She no longer knew which warnings to believe.
Ross had helped recover the memory card.
He had guided them through the facility.
He had also appeared inside a supposedly abandoned laboratory without explanation.
Evelyn had kidnapped Maisie.
Helen had survived a sealed sterilization chamber.
And Daniel’s letter suggested Beck might be compromised.
Emily held the page toward him.
“Read it.”
Beck did.
His expression did not change.
“You think I worked with Helen.”
“My father thought it was possible.”
“Daniel suspected everyone near the end.”
“Did he have a reason to suspect you?”
“Yes.”
Emily waited.
Beck moved toward an old tape recorder on the shelf.
“I withheld evidence from him.”
“What evidence?”
“Proof that Elaine survived the river crash.”
Emily’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“You knew my mother was alive.”
“I knew someone removed her from the river before authorities arrived.”
“For twelve years?”
“I did not know where she was.”
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“I was trying to identify the network.”
Emily struck him.
Beck accepted the blow without moving.
“You do not get to call that protection.”
“I know.”
“Did you arrange my deployment?”
“No.”
“Did you arrange my early return?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Helen would make her move?”
“I believed the transfer was imminent.”
“So you placed me and Maisie in the middle of an operation.”
“I believed Peter would warn you.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“You trusted Peter?”
“I knew he had begun sending evidence.”
“You knew about his recording?”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the false DNA plan?”
“Not until the report was created.”
Every answer revealed another omission.
Emily moved toward the exit.
Beck stopped her with one sentence.
“Daniel’s killer is still alive.”
She turned.
“You told me Helen ordered his death.”
“I said Helen was involved.”
“Who cut the brake line?”
“We never identified the mechanic.”
“Then why are you so certain the killer is alive?”
Beck looked toward the old tapes.
“Because Daniel recorded the person who ordered it.”
Emily searched the labeled boxes.
She found a cassette dated the day before her father died.
Beck placed it in the recorder.
Static filled the room.
Then Daniel’s voice.
“If you are hearing this, the meeting did not go as planned.”
A door opened in the recording.
Another person entered.
Daniel spoke again.
“You should not be here.”
A distorted voice answered.
“You were warned to stop.”
Emily leaned closer.
The sound quality was poor.
But something about the rhythm felt familiar.
Daniel said, “Elaine trusted you.”
The person replied, “Elaine trusted the future. You chose fear.”
A struggle followed.
The tape ended.
Emily rewound it.
“Can the distortion be removed?”
“Our laboratory can try.”
A small click came from behind the final shelf.
Emily turned.
One wooden panel had opened slightly.
Inside was a metal case.
It contained a portable hard drive and a handwritten note from Daniel.
The drive holds the unaltered recording. Do not connect it to any network. The person who betrayed us controls more than Orison.
Emily lifted the drive.
A red indicator light blinked.
It was already active.
Beck’s face changed.
“Do not touch anything.”
A screen on the opposite wall illuminated.
A live video appeared.
Maisie slept in Elaine’s secure hospital room.
Elaine sat beside her.
A nurse entered carrying a tray.
Emily recognized the nurse.
Captain Nora Ruiz.
Nora looked directly into the hidden camera.
Then she smiled.
The feed changed.
A document appeared on the screen.
CARTER CONTINUUM SUCCESSION PROTOCOL
Beneath the title were four names.
Elaine Carter - Generation 1
Subject E-19 - Generation 2
Maisie Carter - Generation 3
Emily Carter - Status Unknown
Emily stared at the final line.
“My status is not unknown.”
Beck said nothing.
The document scrolled automatically.
A fifth name appeared.
Unidentified Female Child - Generation 4
Estimated birth date: Eight months from present.
Emily’s hand moved instinctively to her stomach.
“No.”
She had dismissed the nausea as stress.
She had ignored the exhaustion because she had barely slept.
Peter had been hospitalized for three weeks.
Before her deployment ended, they had not seen each other for eighteen months.
It was impossible.
Unless the date was not referring to her.
Beck’s phone rang.
The caller identification displayed Peter Carter.
Emily answered.
Peter’s voice was panicked.
“Emily, where is Maisie?”
“With my mother.”
“No, she isn’t.”
Emily looked at the live feed.
“What are you talking about?”
“I just received a call from the hospital. The room is empty.”
On the screen, Nora lifted sleeping Maisie from the bed.
Elaine did not resist.
Instead, she handed Nora the silver pendant.
Peter continued.
“They found a nurse unconscious in the supply closet. Someone took her uniform.”
Emily stepped toward the screen.
The woman wearing Nora’s face looked directly at the camera again.
She removed a thin mask.
Beneath it was a face Emily had never seen before.
Elaine stood from the chair.
She looked healthy.
Steady.
Nothing like the fragile prisoner rescued from the cottage.
Emily whispered, “Mom?”
Elaine turned toward the camera.
“I am sorry, my darling.”
She touched a control beside the bed.
The hidden-room doors locked.
Beck reached for his weapon.
Gas hissed from the ceiling.
On the screen, Elaine carried Maisie toward the exit.
Before the feed disappeared, she spoke one final sentence.
“Helen was never the one you needed to fear.”
The screen turned black.
A countdown appeared.
00:59
00:58
00:57
Then the hard drive opened a final file by itself.
May you like
The title read:
EMILY CARTER WAS NEVER DANIEL CARTER’S BIOLOGICAL DAUGHTER.
