The gun pressed harder against Audrey’s neck.
“Don't scream.”
She recognized the voice.
Not because she remembered the man.
Because she had heard him less than an hour earlier.
Through a telephone.
Richard had called him impossible.
Harrison had called him missing.
Evelyn had called him a child she once tried to protect.
Audrey whispered his name.
“Alexander.”
The pressure against her neck eased slightly.
“Good.”
Audrey’s pulse hammered.
The federal vehicles surrounding Saint Catherine Institute had gone dark when the power failed. Agents were scattered around the building. Richard and the tactical team were inside.
Evelyn and Harrison stood only several yards away.
Neither appeared to have noticed the man behind Audrey’s wheelchair.
Yet.
“You were inside,” Audrey whispered.
“I was.”
“The video.”
“Recorded thirty minutes earlier.”
Audrey understood.
Rebecca had manipulated the timing.
Again.
Nothing could be trusted at face value.
“Where is Natalie?”
“Alive.”
“Dominic?”
“Alive when I left.”
“And the man in the video?”
“Me.”
“Then why are you here?”
Alexander leaned closer.
“Because Rebecca thinks I’m still inside.”
Audrey slowly turned her head.
The gun pressed against her again.
“Don't.”
“You're pointing a weapon at your sister.”
“I know.”
“Then you have a strange way of introducing yourself.”
His breath caught.
“Put your hands on the wheels.”
Audrey obeyed.
“Move forward.”
She began wheeling toward the darkness beyond the federal vehicles.
Every movement hurt.
Her incision burned.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere Rebecca can't see.”
“Rebecca is inside.”
“She has cameras outside.”
“How do you know?”
“I installed some of them.”
Audrey stopped.
Alexander pressed the gun against her neck.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Addie.”
“Stop calling me that while threatening me.”
Silence.
Then the gun disappeared.
Audrey heard metal hit the ground.
She turned.
Alexander stood behind her.
Older than the brother hidden in her fractured memories.
Thinner.
A scar curved behind his right ear exactly where Catherine’s recording said it should.
His eyes were wet.
“I’m sorry.”
Audrey stared.
“You could have simply said hello.”
“I didn't know who was watching.”
“So you put a gun against my neck?”
“It wasn't loaded.”
“That does not improve this.”
“No.”
He almost smiled.
For one second Audrey saw the boy beneath the man.
Then it disappeared.
She looked at him carefully.
“Prove you're Alexander.”
He touched the scar.
“That isn't enough.”
“No.”
“What did I call you when I was angry?”
Alexander’s expression changed.
“Thomas.”
Audrey frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Mom called me Alexander Thomas Vale only when I was in trouble. You thought Thomas meant bad Alexander.”
Something inside Audrey opened.
A kitchen.
A boy holding a broken lamp.
A little girl pointing triumphantly.
Thomas did it!
Audrey covered her mouth.
Alexander crouched in front of her.
“Addie?”
A second memory came.
The greenhouse.
Glass.
Blood.
Alexander screaming.
Audrey screamed too.
She grabbed the sides of her head.
“Stop.”
Alexander reached toward her.
She recoiled.
“Don't touch me.”
He froze.
The memory sharpened.
Alexander lying on the floor.
Blood behind his ear.
Dominic—the other boy—crying.
Catherine running toward them.
Then a woman’s voice.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Audrey opened her eyes.
“What did Eleanor do to us?”
Alexander’s face hardened.
“More than anyone knows.”
“She put something inside my skull.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“I don't know exactly.”
“Richard said a map.”
“Richard is partly right.”
“Partly?”
“The implant doesn't contain the registry.”
“Then what does it contain?”
“A key.”
Audrey felt cold.
“To what?”
“Eleanor’s final archive.”
“Where?”
Alexander looked toward Saint Catherine Institute.
“Not there.”
“Then where?”
“You've already been there.”
Audrey stared.
“When?”
“When you were seven.”
A memory surfaced.
A circular room.
Cold air.
Glass walls.
Rows of metal cylinders.
A woman holding Audrey’s hand.
Catherine.
Her mother.
“Helix.”
Alexander nodded.
“The original facility.”
“This isn't it?”
“No.”
“Richard said—”
“Richard knows only part of the program.”
Audrey laughed bitterly.
“Apparently that is another family tradition.”
Alexander stood.
“Rebecca believes the original Helix registry is beneath this campus.”
“But it isn't.”
“No.”
“Where is it?”
Alexander looked at her.
“Under Saint Aurelia.”
Audrey stopped breathing.
“The hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Harrison knows?”
“No.”
“Evelyn?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I lived there.”
Audrey stared.
“Under the hospital?”
“For nine years.”
Her stomach turned.
“After the crash?”
“Yes.”
“You were there while I visited Harrison?”
“Yes.”
“You were underneath me?”
“Sometimes.”
Audrey felt tears filling her eyes.
“Why didn't you come upstairs?”
“I couldn't.”
“Locked doors?”
Alexander’s expression darkened.
“Drugs. Conditioning. Threats.”
“Eleanor?”
“She died when I was fourteen.”
“Then who kept you?”
He looked toward Saint Catherine Institute.
“Rebecca.”
Audrey stared.
“Rebecca was a child too.”
“She was twenty.”
“And she continued Eleanor’s work?”
“At first.”
“Why?”
“Because she believed the program could restore stolen identities.”
Audrey frowned.
“By doing what?”
“Reconstructing memory.”
Dominic’s false memories.
Audrey’s missing ones.
Alexander’s identity.
Everything returned to the same obsession.
“Did it work?”
“No.”
His answer was immediate.
“It destroyed people.”
“Who?”
“Children Eleanor had taken.”
Audrey felt sick.
“How many?”
“Twenty-three.”
“Are they alive?”
“Some.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Audrey stared toward the institute.
“And Rebecca?”
“She eventually realized Eleanor had lied about everything.”
“So now she wants to destroy the embryos.”
“Yes.”
“Then why kidnap Natalie?”
“Because Natalie’s baby is evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
Alexander looked at Audrey.
“That the program never stopped.”
Audrey’s blood chilled.
“Who is the father?”
Alexander said nothing.
“You?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I don't know.”
“You slept with Natalie.”
“Yes.”
“Could you be the father?”
“No.”
“How can you be certain?”
“Because I’m sterile.”
Audrey stopped.
“What?”
“Eleanor made sure of it.”
His expression contained no self-pity.
That somehow made it worse.
“She sterilized you?”
“At thirteen.”
Audrey felt tears again.
“Why?”
“Primary heirs were supposed to reproduce only when she authorized it.”
“That is monstrous.”
“Yes.”
“Dominic Vale?”
“My brother?”
“Yes.”
“Was he sterilized?”
“I don't know.”
“Is he alive?”
Alexander looked away.
“I think so.”
“Where?”
“That is why Rebecca needs the registry.”
Audrey understood.
“To find him.”
“Yes.”
“And Natalie’s baby might be his.”
Alexander nodded.
Audrey felt the family tree twisting again.
“If Dominic Vale is the father, Natalie’s baby is—”
“My niece or nephew.”
“And a Vale heir.”
“Yes.”
“The third heir.”
“Yes.”
The phrase from the photograph finally made sense.
Not Dominic Mercer’s third child.
A third active branch of succession.
Audrey.
Alexander or Dominic Vale.
Natalie’s unborn child.
Someone had been counting heirs.
“Who?”
Alexander looked toward the dark building.
“Rebecca thinks Harrison.”
Audrey laughed.
“Of course she does.”
“I don't.”
“Why?”
“Because Harrison could have killed you years ago.”
The sentence chilled her.
“That is a disturbing argument for his innocence.”
“It’s still true.”
“Who do you suspect?”
Alexander looked toward the hospital lights far in the distance.
“Someone who has been beside you since the twins were born.”
Audrey felt cold.
“Maria?”
“No.”
“Doctor?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Before Alexander could answer, an explosion tore through Saint Catherine Institute.
The ground shook.
Glass shattered.
Flames burst from a lower window.
Audrey screamed.
“Dominic!”
Alexander grabbed the wheelchair.
“Stay here.”
“Natalie is inside!”
“I know.”
“Then move!”
Federal agents rushed from cover.
Emergency lights activated.
The tactical radio exploded with overlapping voices.
“Explosion lower west wing!”
“Possible oxygen ignition!”
“Hostages still inside!”
Audrey saw Richard emerge from a side door, supporting an injured agent.
“Richard!”
He looked toward her.
Then saw Alexander.
His face changed.
“You.”
Alexander stared back.
Twenty-two years separated them.
Richard approached slowly.
“You're alive.”
“No thanks to you.”
“I looked for you.”
“You looked where Evelyn told you.”
Richard stopped.
Alexander continued.
“She was protecting Rebecca.”
Evelyn had arrived behind Harrison.
She heard.
“That’s a lie.”
Alexander turned.
“You moved me from Helix.”
“To keep you alive.”
“You gave me to Rebecca.”
“I gave you to a physician named Dr. Miriam Cross.”
Alexander laughed bitterly.
“Rebecca used that name.”
Evelyn went pale.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I didn't know.”
Alexander stared at her.
“Maybe.”
Audrey watched them.
Another fractured relationship.
Another lie that might have been ignorance.
No time.
“Where is Dominic?”
Richard looked toward the building.
“Operating room was empty when we reached it.”
Audrey’s heart stopped.
“Natalie?”
“Gone.”
“Rebecca?”
“Gone.”
Audrey stared at Alexander.
“Underground route?”
He nodded.
“There are tunnels.”
“Where do they lead?”
“Three places.”
“Name them.”
“The highway maintenance system.”
“Second?”
“The old railway spur.”
“Third?”
Alexander looked toward the city.
“Saint Aurelia.”
Audrey felt cold.
“They're going back to the hospital.”
“Yes.”
Her children.
Liam and Chloe.
Audrey turned the wheelchair immediately.
“Harrison!”
“I know.”
He was already calling security.
“Lock down the NICU. Nobody enters. Nobody leaves.”
Audrey grabbed his sleeve.
“Maria is there.”
“Yes.”
“Call her.”
Harrison dialed.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Audrey’s fear became physical.
“Call the nurses’ station.”
He did.
Nothing.
Richard stared toward the city.
“They've cut communications again.”
Alexander shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
“If Rebecca is going to Saint Aurelia, she isn't going for the twins.”
Audrey glared.
“How can you know?”
“Because she doesn't hurt children.”
“She put a gun against Natalie’s stomach.”
“She wanted Dominic to believe she would.”
“That distinction means very little.”
Alexander accepted it.
“But the twins are not her target.”
“Then what is?”
“The final archive.”
Audrey touched the scar beneath her hair.
“The key.”
“Yes.”
“She needs me.”
“Yes.”
“Then why take Dominic Mercer?”
Alexander looked at Richard.
“Because Rebecca believes he knows the second half of the access sequence.”
Dominic’s implanted memories.
The fountain.
The frog.
The greenhouse.
Not random childhood fragments.
Instructions disguised as memories.
Audrey suddenly understood.
“His memories are a password.”
Alexander nodded.
“And mine?”
“Coordinates.”
Richard stared.
“Eleanor split the archive key between them.”
“Yes.”
“So Rebecca needs Audrey and Dominic together.”
“Yes.”
Audrey felt sick.
Eight years of marriage.
Had Eleanor designed even that?
“No.”
Alexander saw her expression.
“What?”
“She wanted us together.”
“Who?”
“Eleanor.”
Alexander shook his head.
“She was dead before you met Dominic Mercer.”
“But her system could still arrange it.”
“Possibly.”
Audrey thought of the Halston invitation.
Richard’s role.
Dominic recognizing her.
The arranged meeting.
“You did it,” she said.
Richard froze.
Everyone looked at him.
“You arranged our meeting.”
Richard’s face tightened.
“To protect you.”
“No.”
Audrey stared.
“You needed Dominic close to me because the two of us were the archive key.”
Richard said nothing.
That was enough.
Dominic had not merely been a bodyguard.
He had been half of a lock.
Audrey’s marriage had joined two human keys under one roof.
“You knew.”
Richard whispered, “I knew Eleanor intended your paths to cross.”
“And you helped.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted the archive opened.”
Audrey felt betrayed all over again.
“What is inside it?”
Richard looked toward Harrison.
Then Evelyn.
“Proof.”
“Of what?”
“Who actually owns Vale Health.”
Harrison stared.
“This again?”
Richard shook his head.
“You still think this is about money.”
“What then?”
“Vale Health is not a hospital company.”
Silence.
Audrey frowned.
“What?”
“It became one.”
Richard continued.
“But that is not why Eleanor built the network.”
“Why did she?”
“To create the largest private biological database in the country.”
Evelyn whispered, “No.”
“Yes.”
“Hospitals.”
“Patients.”
“Blood tests.”
“Births.”
“Surgeries.”
“Genetic samples.”
Audrey felt nauseated.
Millions of people.
Decades of medical records.
Eleanor had not built hospitals merely to treat patients.
She had built a system capable of collecting human biology at scale.
“The final archive contains the index,” Richard said.
“To all of it?”
“Yes.”
Harrison looked physically ill.
“I never knew.”
Richard stared at him.
“That may be true.”
Audrey looked toward the distant city.
“And Rebecca wants to destroy it.”
“Yes.”
“Shouldn't she?”
Nobody answered.
That frightened Audrey more than disagreement.
If the archive contained illegally collected genetic information, destroying it might protect millions of people.
But it also contained evidence.
And perhaps identities of stolen children.
Alexander.
Dominic Vale.
Others.
Destroying it could erase the only path home for victims who did not even know they were missing.
Audrey understood the impossible choice.
Privacy or truth.
Destruction or accountability.
Then her phone rang.
Dominic Mercer.
She answered.
“Dominic?”
His breathing was ragged.
“Audrey.”
“Where are you?”
“Tunnel.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Yes.”
“How badly?”
“Not important.”
“It is important.”
“Natalie is with me.”
Audrey exhaled.
“Is she okay?”
“No.”
Natalie screamed in the background.
A contraction.
Dominic’s voice broke.
“She’s in labor.”
Audrey looked at Evelyn.
“Twenty-six weeks.”
Evelyn took the phone.
“Dominic, listen carefully. Is there bleeding?”
“I don't know.”
“Check.”
A pause.
Natalie cursed him.
Then Dominic returned.
“Yes.”
Evelyn went pale.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“We need to get her to a hospital immediately.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“We are under a hospital.”
Everyone froze.
Audrey whispered:
“Saint Aurelia.”
“Yes.”
“They brought us through the tunnel.”
“Who?”
“Rebecca.”
“Where is she?”
“Gone.”
“Why leave you?”
“I don't know.”
Alexander stared toward the city.
“I do.”
Audrey looked at him.
“What?”
“She got what she needed.”
“The password?”
“No.”
Alexander looked at Audrey’s phone.
“Dominic, what did Rebecca ask you before she left?”
Silence.
Then:
“She asked about the frog.”
Audrey’s blood chilled.
“What exactly?”
Dominic struggled to remember.
“She asked what color the jar lid was.”
Audrey closed her eyes.
Blue.
The memory appeared instantly.
Blue metal lid.
Alexander asked:
“What did you answer?”
“Red.”
Audrey opened her eyes.
“No.”
Dominic heard.
“What?”
“It was blue.”
Silence.
Alexander whispered, “Exactly.”
Audrey stared.
“What does that mean?”
“The false memories contain wrong details deliberately.”
“Why?”
“Error correction.”
Richard understood.
“A challenge-response system.”
Alexander nodded.
“Rebecca didn't need the memories themselves. She needed to know which details Dominic remembered incorrectly.”
Audrey felt cold.
“And now she has them.”
“Yes.”
“So she has half the key.”
“Yes.”
“And she needs the implant inside me for the other half.”
Alexander looked toward Saint Aurelia.
“Which means she isn't coming to find you.”
Audrey’s hand went to the scar at the base of her skull.
“She’s going to make me come to her.”
Her phone vibrated.
A message.
Live video.
Liam and Chloe.
Both incubators.
Audrey’s heart stopped.
Someone stood between them.
Not Rebecca.
Maria.
Audrey almost cried from relief.
Then Maria slowly turned toward the camera.
Her face was wet with tears.
A gun trembled in her hand.
Audrey stared.
“No.”
Maria looked directly into the lens.
“I’m sorry.”
Behind her, the NICU doors locked.
A second figure stepped into frame.
Rebecca.
She placed one hand on Maria’s shoulder.
Then looked into the camera.
“Bring me the key, Audrey.”
Maria raised the gun.
Not toward the babies.
Toward her own head.
Rebecca smiled.
“Or the nurse dies first.”