Chapter 3 - The Soldier Who Came Home Dead
Arthur stared at Richard Sterling.
Emily remained frozen beside the table.
Arthur said quietly, "Choose your next words carefully."
Richard closed the consultation room door behind him.
"My son did not die in Kandahar."
Arthur grabbed him by the lapels.
Emily gasped.
Arthur slammed Richard against the wall.
"I watched him burn."
Richard did not fight.
"You watched the wrong man die."
Arthur's face went blank.
Richard continued.
"The remains identified as Daniel were not Daniel."
"You're lying."
"The body was badly burned. Dental records were substituted."
Arthur's grip tightened.
"By who?"
Richard looked directly into his eyes.
"By me."
Arthur struck him.
Richard crashed into the chair.
Emily stepped between them.
"Stop!"
Arthur's chest heaved.
Seventeen years of grief had suddenly become something else.
Not grief.
Theft.
"You let his unit believe he was dead."
Richard wiped blood from his mouth.
"I did what was necessary."
"Where is he?"
Richard looked toward the baby.
"That is complicated."
Arthur took another step.
Emily blocked him.
"Arthur."
He stopped.
Barely.
Richard slowly stood.
"Daniel survived the explosion. Severe burns. Traumatic brain injury. Multiple fractures. He was evacuated through a private medical channel."
Arthur stared.
"Private?"
"The Sterling Foundation had contracts in the region."
"You stole a wounded soldier."
"I saved my son."
"You erased him."
Richard's expression hardened.
"You don't know what condition he was in."
"Then tell me."
Richard remained silent.
Arthur's voice dropped.
"Tell me."
"He had periods of violent confusion. Memory loss. He couldn't identify himself consistently."
"So you brought him home."
"Not immediately."
"Where?"
Richard looked toward Emily.
"This conversation should be private."
Emily crossed her arms.
"That infant is my patient. If something you're telling him concerns her medical safety, I stay."
Richard studied her.
"Your compassion will become expensive, Nurse Carter."
Emily's expression sharpened.
"Was that a threat?"
"It was advice."
Arthur stepped forward.
"Where did you take Daniel?"
Richard exhaled.
"A research facility."
"What kind?"
"Neurological rehabilitation."
"Name."
"Red Haven."
Emily's eyes widened.
Arthur noticed.
"You know it?"
She shook her head too quickly.
Richard smiled faintly.
"Everyone in Sterling Memorial administration knows Red Haven exists. They simply pretend they don't."
Arthur turned back.
"Where is Daniel now?"
Richard looked tired for the first time.
"I don't know."
Arthur almost laughed.
"You faked your son's death, secretly kept him in a medical facility, and now you don't know where he is?"
"Daniel escaped nine years ago."
The room went still.
Richard continued.
"We found evidence he survived for several years afterward. Then nothing."
Arthur's eyes moved toward the infant.
"How does a missing man have a newborn daughter?"
Richard's expression became unreadable.
"Stored reproductive material."
Arthur felt sick.
"You used it without him?"
Richard did not answer.
Emily whispered, "That's illegal."
Richard looked at her.
"Many things begin as illegal before wealthy institutions convince society they were necessary."
Arthur seized the folder from the table.
"What is S-17?"
Richard's eyes changed.
That reaction was small.
But it was enough.
Arthur lifted the page.
"Daniel's sample is DS-0917. The baby is labeled S-17. My dog tag has S-17 scratched into it. Explain."
Richard stared at the tag.
"You still have that?"
"It was Daniel who scratched it."
Richard slowly sat.
"When?"
"Three days before the explosion."
Richard's confidence disappeared.
"What did he tell you?"
Arthur remembered.
Daniel had taken Arthur aside during a night patrol.
He had scratched S-17 into the back of Arthur's dog tag with the point of a utility knife.
"If anything happens to me," Daniel had said, "and anyone ever asks you about Sterling Seventeen, tell them you don't know what it means."
Arthur had laughed.
"Do I know what it means?"
"No."
"Then that should be easy."
Daniel had not laughed.
Instead he had said something Arthur had forgotten until now.
"If a child ever comes looking for you, don't believe my father."
Arthur looked at Richard.
"He knew."
Richard's face turned pale.
Arthur whispered, "Daniel knew what you were planning."
Richard stood abruptly.
"Take me to the baby."
"No."
"Arthur."
"No."
Richard's phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
Whatever message he saw terrified him.
He looked through the consultation-room glass.
The infant's incubator was empty.
Emily spun around.
"What?"
She opened the door and ran.
Arthur followed.
The blanket remained inside.
The monitoring leads had been disconnected cleanly.
No alarm had sounded.
No nurse had seen anyone remove the child.
On the mattress lay Arthur's second dog tag.
Daniel's.
And beneath it was a handwritten message.
May you like
YOU HELD HER.
NOW FIND HER.
