Chapter 9 - The Dead Man Walked Into Church
Arthur crossed the distance between them without remembering moving.
He grabbed Daniel by both shoulders.
Then stopped.
As if touching him might make him disappear.
Daniel smiled weakly.
"You got old."
Arthur made a broken sound somewhere between laughter and grief.
Then he pulled Daniel into his arms.
Daniel held him tightly.
Arthur's face twisted.
"You son of a bitch."
"I know."
"I buried you."
"I know."
"I carried your tag for seventeen years."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"I know."
Arthur shoved him away.
Then punched him in the shoulder.
Daniel winced.
"Okay. I probably earned more than one."
Arthur's eyes filled.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Daniel's humor vanished.
"Because every time I trusted someone, they got hurt."
Arthur looked toward Claire.
"She knew."
"Only pieces."
"Rebecca knew."
Daniel's face changed.
"Rebecca died because she knew."
Richard spoke from the chair.
"That's not fair."
Daniel turned.
The softness vanished from his face.
"You don't get to use that word."
Richard lowered his eyes.
Daniel walked toward him.
His limp was pronounced.
For several seconds, father and son simply stared at each other.
Richard whispered, "Daniel."
Daniel struck him.
Hard.
Richard fell sideways with the chair.
Claire made no effort to intervene.
Daniel crouched.
"You signed the transfer order."
Richard's lip bled.
"I was trying to save you."
"You signed the order."
"My father said—"
"Your father was a monster. You were forty-seven years old. Stop blaming your father for decisions you made."
Richard closed his eyes.
Daniel stood.
Arthur watched him.
He had imagined this reunion thousands of times without knowing he imagined it.
In most versions, Daniel walked through Arthur's door smiling.
There were beers.
Stories.
Maybe anger.
Nothing in those fantasies included a stolen baby, a secret research program, or three dead infants.
Emily stepped forward.
"Anna is alive?"
Daniel looked at her.
"As of three hours ago."
"Where?"
"Mercer moved her."
"Why?"
"Because Anna finally remembered something."
Arthur frowned.
"Remembered?"
Daniel nodded.
"Rebecca left information inside a childhood memory exercise."
Emily stared.
"What kind of information?"
"A location."
"For what?"
"The complete Sterling Seventeen archive."
Claire whispered, "I thought it was destroyed."
"So did Mercer."
Daniel looked at Arthur.
"That's why he needed me."
Arthur pointed toward Richard.
"And the baby?"
Daniel's expression filled with pain.
"I didn't know she existed until yesterday."
"She's Rebecca's granddaughter."
"I know."
"You knew Rebecca had a daughter."
"Yes."
Arthur stepped closer.
"And you let that daughter grow up alone?"
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Rebecca's last request was that Anna never know the Sterling name."
"That worked."
"No."
Daniel's eyes hardened.
"It didn't."
Silence.
Then he said, "And that's on me."
Emily asked, "Why does the baby respond to Arthur?"
Daniel looked toward Arthur's dog tag.
"I embedded Arthur as the alternative regulation reference in the original protocol."
Arthur stared.
"You used me."
Daniel looked ashamed.
"I was desperate."
"You put my voice into experiments?"
"Recordings from deployment communications."
Arthur stepped back.
Daniel continued.
"I thought I was sabotaging the project. My father wanted children neurologically dependent on Sterling-controlled caregivers. I replaced the primary attachment reference with someone they couldn't control."
"Me."
"You."
Arthur laughed bitterly.
"So this child was conditioned before she was born?"
Emily shook her head.
"Not exactly. Fetuses can respond to repeated sounds, but this goes beyond anything standard."
Daniel nodded.
"Mercer's group incorporated prenatal audio exposure and postnatal sensory reinforcement."
Arthur looked horrified.
"They played my voice to her."
"Yes."
"How did they get it?"
Daniel looked away.
"Military archives."
Arthur stared at the scars on his arms.
The past had reached into a child's nervous system without his knowledge.
Daniel stepped closer.
"I'm sorry."
Arthur's eyes hardened.
"Don't apologize to me."
He pointed toward the hospital.
"Apologize to her."
Daniel nodded.
"I intend to."
Claire's phone vibrated.
She read the message.
Her face drained.
"Daniel."
He took the phone.
A live video showed Anna.
She sat restrained in a bare room.
Young.
Exhausted.
Hospital bruises covered her arms.
Mercer stood behind her.
He looked directly into the camera.
"Bring Arthur and Daniel to the Sterling Institute by midnight."
Anna lifted her head.
May you like
Mercer smiled.
"Or Baby Girl Sterling becomes the last surviving member of her line."
