“The only living map to Eleanor’s final experiment.”
Audrey stared at Richard.
“That sentence means nothing.”
“It means Dominic isn't carrying a document they want.”
Richard looked toward his son.
“He is the document.”
Dominic had returned to the NICU corridor with two federal agents after discovering Natalie had already been taken from obstetric triage. His face was white with rage.
“Stop talking about me like I’m one of Eleanor’s laboratory samples.”
Richard met his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you're not.”
“I am.”
“You disappeared for fourteen years.”
“To protect you.”
“You keep saying that as if it makes abandoning me noble.”
Richard absorbed the accusation without defending himself.
Audrey interrupted.
“Natalie is twenty-six weeks pregnant, having contractions, and being held at gunpoint. Whatever family reckoning you two need can wait.”
Dominic turned toward her.
For once, he nodded immediately.
“Agreed.”
Audrey held up the message.
“They want you at Helix Meridian.”
“I’m going.”
“No.”
Dominic stared.
“You don't get to decide that.”
“They specifically told us no police. That means they expect you to come emotionally, not intelligently.”
“She’s carrying a child that might be mine.”
Audrey looked at him.
“The DNA report excluded you.”
“Reports have been manipulated all day.”
That was true.
“And even if the baby isn't mine,” Dominic continued, “Natalie is there because of me.”
Audrey studied him.
Months earlier, perhaps even hours earlier, Dominic would have found a way to make the statement about ownership.
My woman.
My child.
My problem.
Now he simply sounded responsible.
It did not redeem him.
But it was different.
Evelyn took the flash drive from the investigator and examined the Helix photograph.
“We need to know where they’re taking her.”
Richard answered.
“The original facility.”
Harrison stared.
“You said it was destroyed.”
“Officially.”
Audrey almost laughed.
“Of course.”
Richard ignored the remark.
“The laboratory above ground burned thirty-one years ago. The underground structure survived.”
“Where?”
“Pennsylvania.”
Dominic frowned.
“Natalie can't be there yet.”
“No.”
“So why tell us to bring me there?”
“Because they need time.”
“For what?”
Evelyn answered.
“To stabilize her pregnancy.”
Silence.
Audrey’s stomach turned.
“They're planning to keep her?”
“If they believe her fetus carries the markers they want, yes.”
Dominic’s expression became murderous.
“No.”
Audrey looked at Richard.
“What is the map?”
He hesitated.
Dominic slammed his hand against the wall.
“Enough hesitation.”
Richard looked at him.
“When you were four, Eleanor’s remaining research team implanted something beneath your skull.”
Dominic went completely still.
Audrey stared.
“What?”
Dominic touched the back of his head instinctively.
“That’s impossible.”
“You have a scar.”
“No.”
“Behind your left ear.”
Dominic’s hand moved.
Audrey remembered.
A thin pale line hidden beneath his hair.
She had asked about it once.
He told her he had fallen from a bicycle.
Another childhood story that might never have happened.
“What did they implant?” Audrey asked.
“A ceramic capsule.”
Dominic laughed.
It sounded almost desperate.
“With what inside?”
“Microfilm.”
Harrison frowned.
“Eleanor hated microfilm.”
“She hated digital records more.”
“What’s on it?”
Richard looked at Evelyn.
“The embryo registry.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
“All of it?”
“I believe so.”
Audrey felt sick.
“Why put it inside a child?”
“Because Eleanor knew people would search vaults.”
Richard looked at Dominic.
“She wanted one archive that could walk away.”
Dominic stared at his father.
“You knew this was inside me?”
“Not until years later.”
“When?”
“When you were twelve.”
Audrey immediately noticed the age.
The same period when Richard supposedly abandoned him.
“What happened when Dominic was twelve?”
Richard said nothing.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Dad.”
“You began remembering things.”
“The greenhouse.”
“Yes.”
“The fountain.”
“Yes.”
“Audrey.”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“Those weren't my memories.”
“No.”
“Then why did I have them?”
Richard looked toward Evelyn.
She answered.
“Conditioning.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“Brainwashing.”
“Yes.”
“What was Eleanor trying to make me?”
Evelyn’s voice softened.
“Alexander.”
Audrey felt cold.
The real Alexander.
The primary heir.
“If Alexander died,” Audrey whispered, “Dominic could replace him.”
Richard nodded.
“Not legally at first. But Eleanor believed identity could be manufactured if enough records were controlled.”
Harrison stared at him.
“She planned to substitute Richard’s son for my grandson?”
“Not exactly.”
Richard’s expression darkened.
“She didn't care whose biological son Dominic was. She cared whether he could pass the succession tests.”
Audrey thought of the archive conditions.
Age.
Living heirs.
A Mercer returning voluntarily.
Everything suddenly looked less mystical.
They were authentication mechanisms.
Crude.
Manipulable.
Designed by someone who believed identity was a system.
“What is the final experiment?” Audrey asked.
Richard looked at the twins.
“I don't know.”
“You called Dominic its map.”
“The registry contains coordinates, subject codes and cryogenic inventory.”
Evelyn whispered, “Cryogenic.”
Harrison heard it too.
“You think embryos still exist.”
Richard nodded.
“How many?”
“Possibly hundreds.”
Audrey felt nauseated.
Hundreds of potential children created from stolen genetic material.
Frozen for decades.
Waiting.
“For what?” she whispered.
Richard answered.
“For someone to decide they should be born.”
The corridor fell silent.
Then Dominic said:
“Take it out.”
Richard stared.
“What?”
“The capsule.”
“No.”
“If it leads to Natalie, take it out.”
“You would need surgery.”
“Then operate.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“We don't know exactly where it is.”
“Scan me.”
Richard stepped closer.
“If Helix discovers we removed it—”
“They already know it exists.”
“Yes.”
“Then why leave it inside me?”
“Because right now they need you alive.”
Dominic understood.
The capsule was leverage.
Remove it, and Dominic might become disposable.
Audrey looked at the ransom message again.
BRING DOMINIC MERCER.
Not bring the map.
Not bring the archive.
Dominic himself.
“They need something else from him.”
Evelyn nodded.
“I think so.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
Audrey looked toward the twins.
Then an uncomfortable thought surfaced.
“Living tissue.”
Richard’s face changed.
“Possibly.”
“Blood?”
“Possibly.”
“Reproductive material?”
No one answered.
That was answer enough.
Dominic looked sick.
“They want to continue Eleanor’s program.”
“Yes,” Evelyn said.
“With me.”
“Yes.”
“And Natalie’s child.”
“Yes.”
Dominic turned away.
For several seconds, he stared through the NICU glass.
Then Audrey saw his shoulders change.
Decision.
“I’m still going.”
“So are we,” the federal investigator said.
Dominic turned.
“The message says no police.”
“It also says Helix Meridian, an organization connected to fraud, kidnapping and potentially attempted murder. We aren't honoring their preferences.”
Audrey almost smiled.
Harrison looked toward the investigator.
“Can you trace Natalie’s phone?”
“Already trying.”
A technician approached with a tablet.
“We have something.”
Everyone moved closer.
“Natalie’s phone went offline in the parking structure.”
“We know.”
“But her smartwatch is still transmitting intermittent location data.”
Dominic stared.
“She wears one?”
Audrey almost laughed.
“You were sleeping with her for eleven months and don't know what she wears?”
He glared at her.
“Not helpful.”
“No.”
The technician zoomed in.
“The signal is moving east.”
“Vehicle?”
“Yes.”
“Highway?”
“Looks like it.”
“Can you track continuously?”
“Battery is low.”
“How long?”
“Maybe forty minutes.”
Richard looked at the route.
“They’re not going to Pennsylvania.”
Evelyn frowned.
“Where then?”
Richard enlarged the map.
A point lay outside the city.
Harrison went pale.
“No.”
Audrey noticed.
“What?”
“That land belongs to Vale Health.”
“What's there?”
“Nothing.”
Audrey stared.
“Harrison.”
“An abandoned research campus.”
“Name?”
He hesitated.
“Saint Catherine Institute.”
Audrey stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
“It was renamed after she died.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
“It was called Saint Catherine before she died.”
Harrison stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Richard looked at him.
“You never checked the original deed.”
“Why would Eleanor name a facility after Catherine while Catherine was alive?”
Richard’s expression darkened.
“Because it wasn't named for your daughter.”
Audrey felt cold.
“Then who?”
Richard looked at Evelyn.
“Catherine wasn't the first Catherine Vale.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Harrison whispered:
“My mother.”
Audrey stared.
Another Catherine.
Another erased woman.
“What happened to her?”
Harrison looked away.
“She died when Jonathan and I were children.”
“How?”
“Childbirth.”
Audrey’s skin prickled.
“Whose birth?”
Harrison did not answer.
Richard did.
“Eleanor’s.”
Silence.
Evelyn looked as though the floor had disappeared beneath her.
“My mother was your sister?”
Harrison whispered, “Half-sister.”
Audrey closed her eyes.
The family tree twisted again.
“Harrison.”
“Yes.”
“Eleanor was your sister.”
“Yes.”
“And you had a child with her?”
“No.”
“Then why did you tell us Evelyn was your daughter?”
Harrison’s eyes filled with shame.
“Because I raised her.”
Evelyn stared.
“You told me you were my father.”
“I believed it was kinder.”
“Who was my father?”
Harrison said nothing.
Evelyn’s voice sharpened.
“WHO?”
Richard answered.
“Jonathan.”
Evelyn recoiled.
“My father was Harrison’s brother.”
“Yes.”
“And my mother was Harrison’s sister.”
“Half-sister.”
“That does not make it better!”
She stumbled backward.
Maria caught her.
Audrey felt sick.
Eleanor’s obsession with genetics suddenly became even darker.
A family already tangled by secrecy.
A scientist determined to manipulate inheritance.
Harrison looked broken.
“I tried to get you away from her.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“You let me call you Father.”
“I loved you as one.”
“That was not your choice to make.”
“No.”
Audrey understood the theme now.
Everyone in this family believed love gave them permission to decide another person’s truth.
It did not.
The technician interrupted.
“Natalie’s signal stopped.”
Dominic moved toward the screen.
“Where?”
“Saint Catherine Institute.”
Richard cursed.
The federal investigator began issuing orders.
Tactical teams.
Medical support.
Air surveillance.
Audrey wheeled toward the elevator.
Harrison blocked her.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“You're not going.”
“My children stay here.”
“Yes.”
“And I am going to help bring Natalie back.”
“You can barely stand.”
“I don't need to stand.”
“Audrey.”
“Move.”
Dominic spoke behind her.
“She shouldn't come.”
Audrey turned.
“Do not mistake concern for authority.”
His jaw tightened.
“This could be dangerous.”
“It became dangerous when you brought divorce papers into my NICU.”
He absorbed that.
Then nodded.
“Fair.”
Audrey looked at Maria.
“Stay with Liam and Chloe.”
Maria immediately understood.
“I will.”
Audrey looked through the glass one final time.
Two incubators.
Two tiny lives.
Everything that mattered.
“Don't let anyone change their equipment.”
“No one.”
“Not even hospital administration.”
“Not even God without showing identification.”
Audrey smiled weakly.
“Thank you.”
Then she turned toward the elevator.
Dominic walked beside her.
Not as husband and wife.
Not yet as enemies.
Something stranger.
Two people bound by children, betrayal and a family history neither had chosen.
As the elevator doors closed, Dominic whispered:
“If I don't come back—”
“No.”
“Audrey.”
“No dramatic speeches.”
“Listen.”
She looked at him.
“Everything I did to you today…”
His voice broke slightly.
“The divorce. Natalie. The money.”
Audrey remained silent.
“I thought I was escaping a marriage I no longer wanted.”
“That does not make it better.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
“I didn't know someone was using us.”
“You still made your choices.”
“Yes.”
For once, no excuse.
Audrey looked forward.
“That is the first honest thing you've said to me all day.”
The elevator descended.
When the doors opened, federal vehicles were waiting.
Twenty minutes later, they approached Saint Catherine Institute.
The abandoned campus appeared beyond iron gates.
Three concrete buildings.
Dark windows.
Overgrown grounds.
No visible movement.
Natalie’s SUV stood outside.
Driver door open.
Empty.
Dominic tried to leave the vehicle.
The federal investigator stopped him.
“Wait.”
“For what?”
“Thermal scan.”
A drone passed overhead.
The operator studied the screen.
“Multiple heat signatures underground.”
“How many?”
“Hard to tell.”
“Give me an estimate.”
“Twenty.”
Richard went pale.
“That facility was supposed to be abandoned.”
Audrey stared at the dark building.
A light suddenly turned on in a third-floor window.
Then another.
Then another.
One by one, windows illuminated across the entire structure.
Not abandoned.
Awake.
Waiting.
Audrey’s phone vibrated.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
She opened the message.
A live video.
Natalie lay on a medical bed.
Her wrists were restrained.
Doctors in masks surrounded her.
A fetal monitor showed a rapid heartbeat.
Dominic grabbed the phone.
“Natalie.”
She could not hear him.
A woman stepped into the video.
The blond Helix representative.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Dominic Mercer.”
Then she smiled.
“You have something that belongs to us.”
Dominic touched the scar behind his ear.
The woman continued.
“Come inside.”
The camera moved.
Another bed stood beside Natalie’s.
Empty.
Prepared.
Waiting for Dominic.
Then the camera panned farther.
Audrey stopped breathing.
A glass wall separated the operating room from a second chamber.
Inside were rows of cryogenic tanks.
Hundreds.
Each labeled with a code.
The camera moved toward one.
A label came into focus.
A.V.-C.M.
Audrey stared.
Her initials.
Dominic’s initials.
Below them:
EMBRYOS: 12.
DATE CREATED: EIGHT YEARS AGO.
Their wedding year.
Audrey’s blood turned cold.
Dominic whispered:
“We never gave anyone permission.”
Richard looked at the screen.
“No.”
Audrey could barely speak.
“How could they have our embryos?”
Evelyn, seated in the federal vehicle behind them, leaned forward.
“They didn't need embryos from you.”
Audrey turned.
“What?”
“They needed your genetic material.”
“From where?”
Dominic understood first.
“The fertility screening.”
Audrey stared at him.
Before their wedding, Dominic and Audrey had undergone routine reproductive testing at a private clinic because twins ran in Audrey’s family.
A clinic Dominic had chosen.
Audrey felt sick.
“Which clinic?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Helix Family Reproductive Center.”
Richard whispered, “Oh, God.”
The video moved to another tank.
A second label.
A.V.-A.V.
Audrey’s initials.
Another Vale.
EMBRYOS: 8.
Audrey stared.
“Who is the second A.V.?”
Nobody answered.
Then a man stepped into the chamber.
Tall.
Dark hair.
A scar behind his right ear.
The real scar.
Seventeen stitches.
Audrey’s heart stopped.
He turned toward the camera.
For the first time in twenty-three years, Audrey saw the real Alexander Vale.
He looked directly at her through the screen.
Then he placed one hand against the glass.
“Addie,” he said.
“I’m sorry it took me so long.”
Audrey began crying.
Alexander looked toward the cryogenic tanks.
Then back at the camera.
“And whatever you do…”
His expression changed to terror.
“Do not let Dominic come inside.”
A gun appeared behind Alexander’s head.
The blond woman stepped into frame.
She smiled.
“Too late.”
Behind Audrey, a federal agent shouted.
Everyone turned.
Dominic’s car door stood open.
He was gone.