Chapter 6 - THE OTHER DAUGHTER
The woman at the north gate called herself Mara Vale.
She surrendered without resistance.
Officers searched her, scanned the umbrella, examined the blanket, and brought her into the estate through a secured entrance.
Claire watched from behind the glass wall of the command room as Mara entered.
The resemblance was undeniable.
They were not identical, but they shared the same dark eyes, the same high cheekbones, and the same slight tilt of the chin when uncertain.
Mara appeared to be a few years younger. Rain had soaked the ends of her black hair. She wore a simple gray coat and looked exhausted.
Daniel stood beside Claire.
“This proves nothing.”
Claire did not answer.
Mara looked through the glass.
Straight at her.
“Let me speak to her,” Claire said.
Daniel shook his head.
“Vale may have trained her.”
“Then you can listen.”
Rebecca placed Mara in an interview room with two officers outside.
Claire sat opposite her while Daniel watched through the glass.
For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
Mara placed the baby blanket on the table.
It was pale blue and worn at the edges.
“Adrian said you would recognize this,” Mara said.
“I don’t.”
“He told me it was wrapped around you when you were taken from Fort Halston.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“I was born at St. Mary’s Hospital.”
“That is what your documents say.”
“Why did you come here?”
“To stop my father.”
“You call him your father.”
“He raised me.”
“Does he believe we are sisters?”
Mara looked at Claire’s stomach.
“He believes you are his biological daughter and I am the child he chose after losing you.”
“That sounds convenient.”
“It is also what he told me every year on your birthday.”
Claire forced herself to remain calm.
“Where is my mother?”
“In an underground medical facility beneath the old Halston communications center.”
“Fort Halston was demolished.”
“Not the lower levels.”
“Why would you betray him?”
Mara looked toward the mirrored glass, knowing Daniel stood behind it.
“Because Adrian does not want a daughter.”
“What does he want?”
“A genetic key.”
Claire thought of the hospital tests.
Mara continued.
“Icarus stored its highest-level archives behind a biological security system. The original directors believed passwords could be stolen, so they linked access to selected bloodlines.”
“That sounds impossible.”
“It was experimental. Many records were destroyed. Adrian believes Daniel’s original list contains the names of the people whose genetic profiles were approved.”
Claire remembered the red circles beside certain names.
“Vale’s name was marked active.”
“His profile can open part of the network, but not the central archive. He believes a child created from his DNA and the DNA of Evelyn Mercer can open all of it.”
Claire stared at her.
“My mother was a medical analyst.”
“She was also part of the team that designed the authentication process.”
Through the glass, Daniel turned toward Rebecca.
Claire saw the reaction.
Mara was telling them something they had not known.
“Are you saying my parents created me for a computer system?”
“No.”
Mara’s voice softened.
“I am saying Adrian believes you were created for one.”
Claire stood.
The room tilted slightly.
Mara rose as well, concern crossing her face.
“Sit down. Please.”
Claire steadied herself against the table.
“Do not tell me what to do.”
“I know what it is like to discover your childhood was built around a lie.”
“You do not know anything about my childhood.”
“I know Daniel moved you every time Adrian’s people came close. I know Evelyn hid your blood records. I know your first school used a false surname. I know you were taught to check the back seat of a car before you were old enough to understand why.”
Claire remembered.
The habit had remained with her for years.
She sat again.
“Where is Evelyn?”
Mara reached into the lining of the baby blanket.
The officers outside immediately entered, but she lifted both hands.
A small paper card fell onto the table.
It contained a series of numbers.
“Coordinates,” Mara said. “And an elevator code.”
Rebecca entered and took the card.
“How current?”
“I left Halston forty minutes ago.”
“Why didn’t Vale stop you?”
“He let me leave.”
Everyone went still.
Claire stared at Mara.
“Then this is a trap.”
“Yes.”
“You expect us to walk into it?”
“He expects Daniel to refuse.”
Mara looked toward the glass.
“He has spent eighteen years studying Colonel Mercer. He believes Daniel will protect the Icarus map rather than exchange it for one life.”
Daniel entered the room.
“Your father mistakes discipline for indifference.”
Mara met his gaze.
“He said you would say something like that.”
“What else did he say?”
“That Claire would come even if you ordered her not to.”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
Mara pushed the baby blanket toward him.
“He wants all of you at Halston. You, Claire, Evelyn, Grant, and me.”
“Why Grant?”
“Because Grant stole the names of Adrian’s current agents.”
Claire thought of the hidden account.
“Did your father order Grant to lock me in the drawing room?”
“No.”
“Did Lydia?”
“No.”
“Then who entered the room?”
Mara looked genuinely uncertain.
“Adrian’s team was not supposed to enter the estate until after midnight.”
Claire remembered the military ring Grant had described.
Someone else had acted first.
Someone connected to the Strategic Defense Council.
“Who else knows about the genetic key?” Rebecca asked.
“Adrian believes only three former Icarus directors know the complete process.”
“Names?”
“One is dead. One disappeared. The third uses the title Shepherd.”
Daniel and Rebecca exchanged another glance.
Claire was tired of secret looks.
“Who is Shepherd?”
Daniel answered reluctantly.
“The current chair of the Strategic Defense Council.”
“What is his real name?”
“General Thomas Voss.”
Claire knew the name.
Everyone in America did.
General Voss was a celebrated national hero, a former presidential adviser, and Daniel Mercer’s oldest mentor.
A man whose photograph stood on the mantel in Daniel’s study.
Mara looked at Daniel.
“Adrian thinks Shepherd has been watching both of you.”
Daniel’s secure phone rang.
The caller identification showed Thomas Voss.
No one spoke.
Daniel answered on speaker.
Voss’s familiar voice filled the room.
“Daniel, I heard there was an incident at the estate. Tell me Claire is safe.”
Daniel looked at his daughter.
Then at Mara.
“She is.”
“Good. I am sending a protective unit to your location.”
“We have enough people.”
“This is beyond local command.”
“How do you know?”
A pause followed.
Only a brief one.
But everyone heard it.
Voss replied, “Because Adrian Vale contacted me.”
Daniel’s expression became unreadable.
“What did he say?”
“That you have something he wants.”
“What else?”
“He warned me there may be a traitor inside your house.”
Claire looked through the glass wall toward the officers filling the command room.
Voss continued.
“Do not trust anyone wearing the black council ring.”
Grant had seen that ring in the drawing room.
May you like
Daniel slowly looked down.
On his own right hand, he wore a black stone ring surrounded by three silver stars.
