Chapter 9 - THE PRICE OF A MOTHER
Ava wanted to run directly toward Eleanor.
Malcolm stopped her.
"If you go where they tell you, Marianne dies anyway."
Ava looked at him with enough hatred to make Ryan step between them.
"You don't get to tell me what happens to my mother."
"I know Eleanor."
"You also called her Mom for thirty-eight years."
Malcolm's jaw tightened.
"Because that's what she trained me to call her."
Ava studied him.
"What does that mean?"
Malcolm looked toward Ryan.
"Not here."
They moved to an unused maintenance room in the station.
Malcolm locked the door.
Then he removed a folded photograph from his coat.
A younger Eleanor stood beside two boys.
One was Malcolm.
The other looked nearly identical.
Ava stared.
"You have a twin too?"
Malcolm nodded.
"Had."
"What happened?"
"Eleanor chose me."
Ava said nothing.
Malcolm continued.
"Northstar bred compatibility lines. The Hayes branch produced male twins frequently. They tested us at birth."
"Tested for what?"
"Compatibility with the Mercer female line."
Ava felt sick.
"Which one matched?"
"Me."
"And your brother?"
Malcolm's eyes hardened.
"Discarded."
Ryan whispered:
"What does discarded mean?"
"He was adopted out."
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
Ava thought of Ryan and Adrian.
Children separated like inventory.
"Who were your biological parents?"
"I don't know."
"Eleanor isn't your mother."
"No."
"Charles Hayes?"
"Not my father."
Ava almost laughed.
"Does anyone in this story have the parents they thought they had?"
Malcolm looked toward Ryan.
"Probably fewer than we think."
Ava stepped close.
"Tell me where Marianne is."
"I don't know exactly. Northstar maintains three active medical sites near Denver."
"Which one would Eleanor use?"
"The oldest."
"Where?"
Malcolm hesitated.
Ava grabbed his coat.
"Where?"
"Beneath the former St. Vincent Women's Clinic."
Helen had mentioned three original clinics.
Thomas had shown her old maps.
Ava remembered the address.
The building had been closed for twelve years.
"We go."
Malcolm shook his head.
"We need the archive."
"My mother first."
"If we bring the archive key, Eleanor keeps her alive."
"The key is me."
"Exactly."
Ryan crossed his arms.
"That's not reassuring."
Malcolm removed a small device from his pocket.
"Samuel's archive isn't one location. It's distributed across encrypted servers. Ava's biology activates the first layer."
"And the second?"
Malcolm looked at Ryan.
"Sibling authentication."
Ryan stared.
"Me?"
"Possibly."
"I'm not biologically Mercer."
"No. But you were raised as one."
Ava frowned.
"Biometrics don't care who raised him."
"Samuel's system used family trust architecture, not only genetics. Voice patterns, personal history, behavioral response."
"Meaning?"
"It may require the family Samuel recognized socially, not genetically."
Ava laughed bitterly.
"Grandfather was sentimental in his surveillance."
Malcolm checked his watch.
"We have eleven hours."
Ava looked at him.
"Why are you helping us?"
"Because Eleanor wants the Ledger closed permanently."
"And you want it."
"I want it exposed."
Adrian's recording said otherwise.
Ava did not reveal that.
"Where's your duplicate?"
Malcolm's face hardened.
"Dead."
"What?"
"Peter Sloan was killed after you left the hospital."
Ryan swore.
"By Eleanor?"
"Probably."
"You sacrificed him."
"I paid him to impersonate me. I didn't pay him to die."
"That distinction won't comfort his family."
Malcolm looked down.
For the first time, shame appeared genuine.
Ava noticed.
She hated herself for noticing.
Her phone rang.
Thomas.
She answered.
"Dad?"
His breathing was labored.
"Ava."
"Where's Mom?"
"They took her."
"I know."
"I tried to stop them."
"Are you hurt?"
"Shoulder."
"Where are you?"
"Don't worry about me."
"Stop saying things like that."
Thomas coughed.
"Listen carefully. Eleanor left something."
"What?"
"A message for Malcolm."
Ava put the phone on speaker.
Thomas continued.
"She said, 'Tell my son the spare survived.'"
Malcolm's face drained of color.
Ava stared.
"Spare?"
Malcolm whispered:
"My twin."
Ryan looked at him.
"You thought he was adopted."
"I was told he died later."
Thomas continued.
"There's more. She said the spare has been with Ava for years."
Silence.
Ava looked at Malcolm.
Then Ryan.
Then Helen, who had joined them through a side entrance.
"With me how?"
Nobody answered.
Ava began reviewing faces from her life.
Colleagues.
Doctors.
Friends.
Executives.
Security staff.
Then one person surfaced.
Someone who appeared after her marriage.
Someone Malcolm trusted.
Someone who always seemed nearby.
Her former executive assistant.
Daniel Cross.
Ava hadn't seen him in six months.
He had resigned abruptly.
Thomas spoke again.
"Ava, Daniel Cross's real name is Nathan Hayes."
Malcolm closed his eyes.
"My brother."
Ava whispered:
"And he worked for me for seven years."
Malcolm looked at her.
"He wasn't working for you."
"For whom?"
"That's what we need to find out."
A new message appeared on Ava's phone.
Unknown sender.
A photograph.
Marianne tied to a chair inside a tiled medical room.
Alive.
Behind her stood Daniel Cross.
Nathan Hayes.
The man Ava had trusted with every calendar entry, private meeting, medical appointment, and corporate secret for seven years.
He held a gun.
The message read:
MIDNIGHT.
May you like
BRING THE MERCER HEIR.
COME ALONE.
