Chapter 12 - THE NAME RYAN NEVER HAD
Eleanor surrendered without surrendering.
She sat against the damaged console while Thomas held a weapon on her.
Nathan stood nearby.
Marianne clung to Ava.
Ryan remained frozen.
"What did you call me?"
Eleanor looked at him.
"Michael."
"My name is Ryan Rollins."
"No."
Marianne stepped forward.
"Don't listen to her."
Eleanor laughed.
"You still don't know, do you?"
Ava positioned herself between them.
"Know what?"
Eleanor looked at Marianne.
"The clinic didn't give you a random child."
Marianne's face tightened.
"You don't know anything about my son."
"I know exactly who he is."
Ryan whispered:
"Then say it."
Eleanor smiled.
"Michael Hayes."
Malcolm appeared in the doorway.
Blood marked his shoulder.
Ava's heart jumped despite everything.
He stared at Ryan.
Eleanor continued.
"My biological nephew."
Malcolm said:
"What?"
Eleanor looked delighted by the shock.
"Your father's sister gave birth to twins."
Nathan stared.
"You said Malcolm and I had no biological family."
"I lied."
Ava almost laughed at the understatement.
Eleanor continued.
"One twin was placed with Marianne Mercer. The other went elsewhere."
"Adrian," Ryan said.
"Yes."
Ryan stepped backward.
"So I'm a Hayes."
"By blood."
He looked at Malcolm.
Malcolm stared back.
"That makes us cousins," Malcolm said.
Ryan gave a broken laugh.
"Great. The family tree needed more damage."
Ava looked at Eleanor.
"Why give a Hayes child to the Mercers?"
"To bind the families."
"Samuel knew?"
"Of course."
Ava felt sick.
Her grandfather had participated in Ryan's placement.
"What is secondary family authentication?"
Eleanor looked toward the console.
"Samuel believed family should be defined by loyalty, not blood."
Ava nearly smiled at the irony.
"He raised Ryan as Mercer-adjacent family. So Ryan is the second key."
"Exactly."
"What's inside?"
Eleanor's amusement vanished.
"The inheritance."
"Money?"
"Power."
Thomas said, "The Ledger."
Eleanor shook her head.
"The Ledger is only one compartment."
Helen went pale.
"What else?"
Eleanor looked at Ava.
"The Continuance Protocol."
Ava didn't like the name.
"What is it?"
"Northstar didn't only track children."
Silence.
"It tracked their descendants."
"Why?"
"To continue the lines."
Ava stared.
"Without consent."
"Consent is a social luxury."
Marianne spat at her.
Eleanor wiped her cheek with disgust.
Ava almost admired her mother.
An alarm sounded.
COMPOUND SECURITY BREACH.
Malcolm looked toward the corridor.
"More people are coming."
Thomas frowned.
"My team already entered."
"Not yours."
Nathan checked a security monitor.
Black vehicles approached the surface facility.
Eleanor smiled.
"The board."
Ava stared.
"Northstar's board is coming here?"
"They know the archive activated."
"How many?"
"Enough."
Thomas grabbed Eleanor.
"We move."
Eleanor laughed.
"You won't make it."
Ava turned toward the console.
"Ryan."
He looked at her.
"No."
"If we leave, they keep this system."
"We don't know what opening it does."
"Exactly."
Malcolm stepped forward.
"Adrian said the Ledger could destroy Northstar."
Ryan stared at him.
"You know about Adrian?"
"I found the recording after you left."
Ava glared.
"Stop accessing my things."
Malcolm almost smiled.
"Fair."
Nathan checked the corridor.
"Five minutes."
Ava looked at Ryan.
"If we open it, we might expose them."
"Or trigger something worse."
Ava looked toward Eleanor.
That woman was afraid now.
Not theatrically.
Genuinely.
Ava noticed.
"What happens when both of us authenticate?"
Eleanor said nothing.
Ava smiled.
"That's the first time you've been quiet tonight."
Thomas saw it too.
"What are you afraid of?"
Eleanor looked toward the console.
Nathan laughed softly.
"She doesn't know."
Everyone turned.
Nathan continued.
"Eleanor never had full access. Samuel locked the original board out after 2001."
Helen whispered:
"Why?"
"Because he discovered Northstar was selling children outside the agreed families."
Ava stared at Nathan.
"How do you know?"
"Daniel Cross read your grandfather's files."
Ava stepped toward the console.
Ryan followed.
Eleanor shouted:
"Don't."
Ava looked back.
"Now I'm definitely doing it."
She pressed her bleeding finger to the glass again.
IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
Ryan placed his hand beside hers.
The system scanned.
SECONDARY FAMILY IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
RYAN MICHAEL MERCER-ROLLINS.
Ryan whispered:
"That's a terrible name."
The screen went black.
Then a video appeared.
Samuel Mercer.
Older than Ava remembered.
Tired.
Afraid.
"If you are seeing this, then Northstar survived me."
Ava stopped breathing.
Her grandfather continued.
"And if Ava is standing beside Ryan, then at least two things went right."
Ryan looked at Ava.
Samuel's recording continued.
"Do not trust the Ledger alone."
Eleanor closed her eyes.
"Because the Ledger has been altered."
Thomas whispered:
"What?"
Samuel looked directly into the camera.
"The real record is not stored here."
Ava leaned closer.
"Then where?"
The recorded Samuel answered.
"It is carried by a living custodian."
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
Evelyn.
Ava's sister.
Samuel continued.
"My first granddaughter carries the original archive."
Ava whispered:
"Evelyn."
"Find her before Northstar does."
The video flickered.
Then Samuel added:
"And Ava..."
Ava stared at the image of her dead grandfather.
"The man you married is not the Hayes chosen for you."
Everyone looked at Malcolm.
Malcolm went still.
Samuel continued.
May you like
"The chosen one was his brother."
Nathan.
