Chapter 10 - The Twin Taken into the Night
The ambulance carried Adrian and Ethan to St. Matthew’s Hospital.
Adrian’s wound was serious but not fatal.
Ethan had been sedated with an Orpheus compound found in a syringe near the front entrance.
Noah had been taken by Celeste.
Police checkpoints closed major roads throughout the city, but Celeste’s vehicle was discovered abandoned beneath a bridge.
Inside, investigators found a blond wig, false license plates and one of Noah’s shoes.
Mara held the shoe while Detective Lena Brooks asked questions.
“You’re saying Celeste Vale kidnapped the child to conduct an experimental memory procedure?”
“Yes.”
“And you are Lillian Hawthorne, legally declared dead three years ago?”
“Yes.”
“And you were kept alive under another identity after your memories were chemically altered?”
“Yes.”
Detective Brooks lowered her pen.
“You understand how this sounds.”
Mara looked through the glass at Ethan’s hospital room.
“My son understood it when he was three.”
Brooks followed her gaze.
“Children remember fear clearly. Details less so.”
“He identified the men involved.”
“Marcus Dane is missing. Jonas Reed is dead. Celeste Vale has international resources. We need evidence a prosecutor can use.”
Mara placed the blue key and the recovered drive on the desk.
“Then use this.”
The drive had survived the vault.
Technicians discovered hidden files, but most were encrypted through biometric data.
Only Mara could access them.
She pressed her thumb to the scanner.
A map appeared.
Project Orpheus had maintained laboratories in New York, Maryland, Switzerland and Montenegro.
One location had been accessed within the past hour.
Vale Center for Childhood Trauma, upstate New York.
The facility had officially closed after a fire twelve years earlier.
Mara recognized it from Ethan’s drawing.
The red door.
The black bird symbol.
“She took Noah there.”
Detective Brooks ordered tactical units to prepare.
Mara stood.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“She needs my memory sequence.”
“That makes you a target.”
“It also makes me the only person she will negotiate with.”
Adrian entered despite the sling on his arm and the doctor arguing behind him.
“You’re not going alone.”
Mara looked at his pale face.
“You were shot.”
“I have another shoulder.”
Detective Brooks stepped between them.
“This is now a police operation.”
Adrian placed his phone on the desk.
“My security company intercepted a call from Celeste five minutes ago.”
The recording played.
Celeste’s voice said, Bring Subject Zero before sunrise, or the child begins treatment.
Mara’s stomach twisted.
A second voice answered.
Marcus.
He was alive.
Mara replayed the message.
Marcus said, You promised the boy would not be harmed.
Celeste replied, You promised Lillian would stay buried.
Their alliance was breaking.
That weakness might be Noah’s only chance.
Before leaving the hospital, Mara visited Ethan.
He opened his eyes when she touched his hand.
“Where’s Noah?”
“We’re bringing him home.”
“He’s scared of the red room.”
“I know.”
Ethan’s fingers tightened.
“Don’t sing the last part.”
“What?”
“The last part of the song.”
“Why?”
“Mommy told us it wakes the bad memories too.”
Mara leaned closer.
“What bad memories?”
Ethan began to cry.
“The ones that aren’t ours.”
Mara stared at him.
“What do you mean?”
May you like
He looked toward the door, afraid someone might hear.
“Sometimes Noah remembers being a little girl.”
