Chapter 6 - The File Named Noah
Detective Bennett caught Claire outside the hospital.
Claire did not resist.
She simply stood beside the iron fence, her shoulders slumped, as if she had been carrying the same weight for too long.
“Who is V.L.?” Bennett asked.
Claire looked at Ethan.
“Victor Lang.”
The name meant nothing to Emily.
It meant something to Ethan.
His face tightened.
“Victor Lang owns Hale Biotechnologies.”
Emily stared at him.
“The company where you work?”
“My father helped establish it.”
Robert Hale had been a minor investor in a medical research company before his death. Over the next twenty years, that company had grown into one of the largest private genetic laboratories in the country.
Ethan was now a senior financial analyst there.
Claire nodded.
“Victor financed the hospital operation.”
“Why?” Ethan asked.
“At first, the children were sold to wealthy families. Later, Victor became interested in something else.”
“What?”
“Bloodlines.”
Detective Bennett’s expression sharpened.
Claire continued.
“Victor believed some children carried genetic traits that could be valuable. Resistance to disease. Unusual immune responses. Rare blood types.”
Emily thought of the memory card labeled NOAH.
“Noah has a rare blood type,” she said.
Ethan looked at her.
“AB negative.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Victor has been tracking descendants of the St. Catherine’s children.”
“For medical research?”
“For something he calls the Continuity Project.”
No one spoke.
A truck passed on the road, filling the silence with the roar of its engine.
Ethan held up the memory card.
“Why is my son’s name on this?”
Claire shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Stop lying.”
“I am not lying about that.”
“You knew Victor’s name.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the ledger.”
“I suspected.”
“You knew Margaret was watching us.”
“Yes.”
“What else do you know?”
Claire’s voice broke.
“I know Anna did not die naturally.”
Ethan went still.
Claire looked at him.
“She survived the delivery. She begged to see you. Margaret told her you were dead.”
Emily’s eyes burned.
“Then what happened?”
“Anna tried to leave the hospital. Victor’s people stopped her. Dr. Reed attempted to intervene.”
“And?”
“They injected her with something. She died before sunrise.”
Ethan turned away.
For several moments, the only sound was the wind moving through the fence.
Emily wanted to touch him, but something about his posture warned her to wait.
Detective Bennett took possession of the memory card and delivered it to the digital forensics unit.
By evening, they had an answer.
The card contained video files recorded inside Emily and Ethan’s house.
Some came from Margaret’s surveillance system.
Others came from cameras Emily had never found.
There were also medical records for Noah.
Blood tests.
Growth charts.
DNA sequences.
A report dated four months earlier described Noah as Candidate N-7.
The final page included a planned collection schedule.
Blood sample.
Bone marrow compatibility screening.
Neurological imaging.
The final procedure was listed only as transfer.
Emily’s hands shook as she read.
“They were experimenting on him?”
“We don’t know whether any procedure occurred,” Detective Bennett said. “The files may be plans.”
“He’s had blood drawn twice this year.”
Ethan looked up.
“When?”
“Margaret took him to the pediatrician when I had the flu.”
Ethan called the clinic.
There was no record of either appointment.
Noah had been taken somewhere else.
The memory card also contained audio files.
The first was Margaret speaking to an unknown man.
“He’s healthy,” she said. “Stronger than Ethan was at that age.”
The man answered, “The father’s value was theoretical. The child confirms it.”
Emily felt ill.
Margaret continued, “You promised no invasive work.”
“We promised nothing permanent.”
“If Emily discovers the appointments, she’ll leave.”
“Then make sure she cannot take him.”
The next audio file had been recorded six days earlier.
Margaret sounded angry.
“The mother is becoming suspicious.”
The man replied, “Accelerate the custody petition.”
“Ethan may resist.”
“Then show him the recordings.”
“They’re not convincing enough.”
“Create better ones.”
Emily stopped the playback.
“That voice.”
Ethan was staring at the speaker.
“You recognize it?” Bennett asked.
“Yes.”
“Who is it?”
“Victor Lang.”
The room fell silent.
Ethan stood.
“I need to call my company.”
“No,” Bennett said. “You need to stay away from Victor.”
“He has access to my son’s medical information.”
“And he may have committed murder, trafficking, unlawful surveillance, forgery, and conspiracy.”
“He also has three thousand employees and friends in every major hospital.”
“That is precisely why you don’t warn him.”
Ethan looked at Emily.
She saw the battle in his face.
The employee who had spent twelve years admiring Victor.
The stolen child who now knew Victor might have purchased him.
The father who had heard his son described as valuable.
“What do we do?” Emily asked.
Bennett closed the file.
“We find Margaret before Victor does.”
That night, Noah woke screaming.
Emily ran into his room.
He sat upright in bed, clutching the back of his neck.
“It hurts,” he cried.
She switched on the lamp.
There was a tiny red mark beneath his hairline.
Ethan examined it.
“It looks like an injection.”
Noah shook his head frantically.
“Grandma said it was a mosquito bite.”
“When did she say that?” Emily asked.
“Yesterday.”
Margaret had injected him less than twenty-four hours before disappearing.
Emily called Detective Bennett.
While Ethan spoke to the emergency doctor, Emily changed Noah into warm clothes.
Something fell from the pocket of his pajama top.
A folded piece of paper.
She opened it.
The handwriting belonged to Margaret.
Emily,
If you find this, I failed to get Noah away from Victor.
Do not trust Claire.
Do not trust the police.
May you like
Most of all, do not trust Ethan.
He does not know what happens when he sleeps.
