Chapter 9 - THE FATHER WHO WOULD NOT DIE
Miriam’s hospital room was guarded by two state officers and three private security agents. Still, Ava checked every corner before approaching the bed.
Miriam looked smaller than before. A tube ran beneath her nose, and her voice barely rose above the monitors.
“Is Jonathan alive?” Ava asked.
Miriam’s eyelids fluttered. “Alive is a generous word.”
“Where is he?”
“Blackwood Clinic North. He has been there for years under another patient number.”
Ethan stood rigid at the foot of the bed. “Why?”
“Because Margaret could not kill him.”
“Could not or would not?”
“Both.”
Miriam explained that Jonathan’s illness had been real, but his death had been staged. Margaret discovered enough evidence to expose the underground program. Jonathan threatened to declare her mentally incompetent and transfer all power to Charles Wren. Before he could act, Margaret and Miriam sedated him and moved him to a private neurological ward.
“You helped her?” Ava asked.
“I believed it would free the boys.”
“But it did not.”
Miriam closed her eyes. “Margaret had spent too long surviving Jonathan. Once she held his secrets, she began using them the way he had.”
Ethan’s voice was quiet. “She became him.”
“No. She became herself without anyone left to stop her.”
“Who is Subject Three?” Ava asked.
Miriam looked toward the door. “The answer is in the final report.”
“Margaret has it.”
“Then she wants you to find it.”
“Why?”
“Because the report does more than identify the children. It transfers control of the Blackwood assets under Jonathan’s original succession contract.”
Ethan frowned. “A medical report cannot transfer ownership.”
“It can if the family trust defines the legal heir by biological designation rather than public identity.”
Ava understood. “Whichever twin is proven to be Elias Blackwood inherits. The other loses everything.”
Miriam nodded.
“Which one is Ethan?”
“I do not know.”
“You were at the hospital.”
“I saw the babies. I did not see which one Jonathan took.”
“But Subject Three did.”
“Yes.”
Ethan asked, “Is Subject Three Adrian?”
Miriam’s eyes opened. “Adrian believes he is.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Because the third child was not Silas Kessler’s son.”
Ava felt the pieces move.
“Who was he?”
Before Miriam could answer, every monitor in the room flashed white.
The door locks clicked open.
A hospital announcement sounded over the speaker, but the voice was Margaret’s.
“Ethan, your father has requested transportation home.”
The lights failed.
Security agents shouted in the corridor. A smoke device rolled beneath the door. Ava pulled the emergency mask over Miriam’s face while Ethan blocked the entrance.
Through the smoke came a wheelchair pushed by a tall nurse.
In it sat Jonathan Blackwood.
He was skeletal, his skin almost translucent, but his eyes were awake and furious. Tubes ran from beneath his coat to portable machines.
Behind him walked Charles Wren with a pistol.
“Step away from the bed,” Charles said.
Ethan stared at his father. “You are alive.”
Jonathan’s mouth moved. A mechanical voice emerged from a device at his throat.
“Disappointingly, so are you.”
Charles aimed at Ava. “We are leaving with Miriam.”
Jonathan’s gaze settled on Ava. “The wife. The variable Margaret failed to remove.”
Ava held his stare. “You built a laboratory beneath your children’s home.”
“I built a future.”
“You built a prison.”
“History does not distinguish between them when the experiment succeeds.”
Ethan stepped toward him. “Which son am I?”
Jonathan smiled. “Still asking the smallest question.”
Police sirens approached outside. Charles moved quickly, injecting Miriam’s IV line. Her monitors slowed.
Ava lunged and tore the tube free. Charles struck her chair, sending it sideways. Ethan attacked him. The pistol fired into the ceiling.
In the confusion, the nurse pushed Jonathan toward the service elevator.
Ava saw the nurse’s face.
It was Adrian.
He paused long enough to whisper, “I am sorry.”
Then the elevator doors closed.
Charles escaped through the stairwell. Security restored power moments later.
Miriam survived the injection, but Jonathan was gone.
On her blanket, Ava found a folded note Adrian had left behind.
THE THIRD BED WAS NEVER EMPTY.
May you like
BENEATH it, he had written an address.
It belonged to the orphanage where Ava had spent the first four years of her life.
