Chapter 18 - THE MISSING PAGE
Only six people had access.
Brooks was one of them.
Two federal agents.
A supervisor.
A database administrator.
And the task force director.
Daniel stared at him.
"Which one opened it?"
"They are checking."
"Check faster."
Brooks ignored the anger.
He understood it.
Sarah examined the tracker.
"Vale does not need the federal file if this is working."
"Unless he wants to know where they move next."
Elizabeth looked toward the windows.
"We are leaving."
"No," Brooks said.
She turned.
"You do not get to tell me that."
"If someone inside federal protection is compromised, leaving without a secure destination is exactly what they want."
Sarah added quietly, "He will expect you to run."
Elizabeth looked at her.
"You do not get to tell me what he expects either."
Lucy touched her mother's hand.
"Can we stay with Winnie?"
The question ended the argument.
For that night, they stayed.
At three in the morning, Winnie found Daniel sitting beneath the dining room chandelier.
The torn D01 page lay in front of him.
She climbed onto the chair beside him.
"Did Mom use you?"
Daniel looked at her.
He had forgotten how much children heard while adults believed they were elsewhere.
"I do not know."
"Did she love you?"
"Yes."
"You sound sure."
"I am."
"Then maybe both things can be true."
Daniel stared at his daughter.
Again, she had reached the place adults spent years avoiding.
By morning, investigators identified the unauthorized access.
Special Agent Caleb Rourke.
A senior member of the federal task force.
Brooks swore.
"You know him?" Daniel asked.
"I have worked with him for eleven years."
Rourke had attended three Haven briefings.
He had seen the master index.
He knew where Elizabeth and Lucy were.
Federal officers moved immediately.
Rourke was gone.
His apartment was empty.
His phone sat on the kitchen counter.
But his laptop remained.
Someone had tried to erase the hard drive.
They failed.
By afternoon, technicians recovered fragments.
Payments.
Offshore accounts.
Encrypted messages.
One name appeared repeatedly.
A.V.
Adrian Vale.
The most recent message had arrived two hours before the blackout.
HOUSE OPEN.
H18-3 PRESENT.
RECOVER TRANSFER PAGE.
Daniel remembered the page missing from the master index.
"Status transferred."
Brooks nodded.
"Rourke came for it."
"But it was already removed."
"Which means Vale does not have it either."
Sarah looked at the black binder.
"Rebecca removed it."
Daniel turned.
"How do you know?"
"Because she told me she created one final safeguard."
"When?"
"2019."
Daniel's patience snapped.
"You spoke to Rebecca in 2019?"
"Once."
"Sybil said Rebecca found Elizabeth that year."
"She did."
"Because of you?"
Sarah shook her head.
"Rebecca found me first."
Elizabeth stared.
"What?"
Sarah explained.
For twenty one years, she had lived under false identities.
She checked on Elizabeth from a distance.
Never close enough to be followed.
Then Rebecca found a forgotten Project Haven staff roster containing Sarah's real photograph.
She followed a chain of medical licenses and aliases.
Eventually she found Sarah.
"Rebecca told me she married Daniel because his name appeared beside hers in an old Haven pairing analysis."
Daniel's stomach tightened.
"What pairing analysis?"
"Not a marriage plan."
Sarah saw his expression.
"It was statistical. Thomas compared family lines. Potential inherited outcomes."
"So Rebecca found my name."
"Yes."
"And came looking for me."
"Yes."
Daniel stood.
"How long before we met?"
"Six months."
He walked away from the table.
Winnie watched him.
Sarah continued carefully.
"Rebecca planned to tell you."
"Everyone planned to tell me."
Sarah did not answer.
Brooks opened Rourke's recovered messages.
One contained an address.
Northbridge Women's Clinic.
Closed nine years earlier.
Beneath it:
TRANSFER PAGE STORED OFFSITE UNTIL H18-3 CONFIRMED.
Lucy.
Elizabeth looked at Brooks.
"What does confirmed mean?"
Sarah answered before he could.
"A blood test."
Elizabeth became pale.
Lucy had undergone routine blood work six months earlier.
A school medical examination.
Daniel looked at Sarah.
"Could Vale have gotten it?"
"Yes."
Brooks searched the recovered files.
A laboratory number appeared.
He called.
The lab confirmed an outside physician had requested Lucy Ward's archived sample.
The physician was fake.
The sample was gone.
Sarah sat down.
"What?"
Daniel saw fear on her face.
Not old fear.
New fear.
"What is it?"
Sarah looked at Lucy.
"If Adrian has her blood, he knows."
"Knows what?"
May you like
Sarah whispered.
"Whether Project Haven finally succeeded."
