Chapter 4 - THE PATERNITY FILE
Daniel fired a single shot into the chapel speaker.
The voice stopped.
A shower of dust fell from the wall.
No one moved.
Claire stood in the center of the chapel, one hand over her stomach and the other gripping the back of a pew.
“That isn’t true,” she said.
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
“Tell her.”
Claire turned toward her mother.
“No.”
“Claire—”
“Tell me he’s lying.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled with a grief Claire had never seen before.
“He may believe what he said.”
“That is not the same as being right.”
Daniel placed the red folder on the altar.
“You are my daughter.”
“Biologically?”
The question struck him harder than a weapon.
“Claire, I raised you. I was there when you were born.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Evelyn sat heavily in the first pew.
“Twenty-seven years ago, I worked as a civilian medical analyst at Fort Halston. I reviewed health records for personnel assigned to classified projects.”
“Icarus,” Claire said.
“Yes.”
“Did you know Adrian Vale?”
“I knew his name. I never had a relationship with him.”
“Then why does he think I’m his daughter?”
Evelyn looked toward Daniel.
“Because someone changed the records after you were born.”
Daniel opened the red folder and removed a sealed envelope.
“I found this during the investigation. I never showed it to Evelyn.”
Inside was a hospital document bearing Claire’s birth date.
The father’s name had been blacked out.
Beneath it appeared a handwritten identification code.
Rebecca entered the number into her tablet.
Her expression became grim.
“It belongs to Vale.”
Claire stared at the paper.
“This could be forged.”
“It could,” Daniel agreed.
“Did you test me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because your mother told me there had been no one else, and I believed her.”
Evelyn’s voice cracked.
“There was no one else.”
Grant stepped forward, limited by the officers holding him.
“The genetic test from Claire’s hospital appointment was compared with a sample registered under Vale’s military identification.”
Daniel faced him.
“How did you see the result?”
“I intercepted it before it reached Icarus.”
“And?”
Grant looked at Claire.
“The file was encrypted. I only saw the request, not the final match.”
Claire’s anger sharpened.
“You allowed me to think you were spying on my appointments.”
“I was spying on them.”
“Why?”
“Because three months after our wedding, someone approached me.”
Grant’s composure began to fracture.
“They knew about debts I had before I met you. They offered to erase everything if I installed new security systems at Mercer House.”
“You accepted.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“Who approached you?”
“A woman named Lydia Crane. She claimed she worked for a private intelligence company.”
Rebecca searched the name.
“No government record.”
“She doesn’t exist under that name,” Grant said. “At first, she only asked for schedules and floor plans. Then the requests changed. She wanted access to Daniel’s study, the chapel, and Claire’s medical account.”
Claire’s eyes burned.
“You sold us.”
“I told myself it was harmless information. By the time I understood, they had recordings, financial evidence, and proof I had helped them enter the estate.”
“So you moved the money.”
“I was preparing an escape.”
“For yourself?”
“For us.”
“You locked me inside a room.”
“Because Lydia told me someone would take you from the east corridor. I thought if I kept you in the drawing room until your father arrived, you would be safe.”
“You took my phone.”
“It contained a tracking program.”
“You could have told me.”
Grant looked down.
“I knew you would never trust me.”
Claire stared at the man she had married.
He had betrayed her.
Perhaps he had later tried to protect her, but every road to that protection had been paved with another lie.
Daniel turned to Rebecca.
“Take Grant to the command vehicle.”
Grant resisted.
“Listen to me. The person who entered the drawing room was not Vale.”
Claire remembered the hand in the dark.
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know. But the person wore a military ring.”
Rebecca’s expression changed.
“What kind of ring?”
“Black stone. Silver crest. Three stars around the edge.”
Daniel and Rebecca exchanged a glance.
Claire noticed.
“You recognize it.”
Rebecca answered.
“It belongs to members of the Strategic Defense Council.”
“That sounds important.”
“It is a private advisory group made up of retired generals, intelligence directors, and defense executives.”
Daniel looked toward the officers surrounding them.
“Only twelve people possess that ring.”
Grant gave a hollow laugh.
“And at least one of them was inside your house.”
A phone rang from the altar.
It was not Claire’s.
It was an old black phone hidden beside the secret compartment.
Daniel picked it up.
Vale spoke without greeting.
“You have fifteen minutes to bring Claire to the north gate.”
Daniel’s voice turned cold.
“Come and take her.”
“I already tried. Your son-in-law created complications.”
Grant looked up.
Vale continued.
“Now I am offering a trade. Claire for Evelyn.”
Claire looked at her mother.
Evelyn’s face went blank.
“You don’t have her,” Daniel said.
Vale laughed softly.
“Look at the woman beside you.”
Everyone turned.
Evelyn remained seated in the pew.
Then Claire’s phone vibrated.
A live video appeared.
In it, Evelyn was tied to a chair in a concrete room.
Her mouth was covered, but her eyes were open.
Claire slowly looked back at the woman sitting inside the chapel.
The woman smiled.
She reached beneath the skin-colored edge near her jaw and peeled away a thin strip of material.
Her face changed.
The officers raised their weapons.
The stranger wearing Evelyn’s clothes calmly lifted her hands.
“Colonel Mercer,” she said, “Adrian sends his regards.”
Daniel stared at the false face.
“Lydia Crane.”
May you like
The woman’s smile widened.
“At last, Grant told the truth.”
