Chapter 8 - THE PRICE OF A CHILD“No.”
Adrian said the word before anyone proposed the trade.
“No.”
Thomas closed the door behind him.
“Nobody is suggesting—”
“They took my son because they want Elias.”
“We know.”
“I am not handing one child over to save another.”
Mrs. Parker held Elias tightly.
Adrian looked at the frightened boy.
His expression softened.
“You’re safe.”
Elias stared at him.
“Where’s Owen?”
Adrian swallowed.
“We’re going to bring him home.”
Mara stood near the window.
Midnight was ninety minutes away.
Her sister was alive.
Somewhere.
Owen had been taken.
Somewhere.
And the only new lead was Emily’s key.
“Storage locker,” Mara said.
Adrian looked at her.
“What?”
“The numbers.”
She showed him the key.
Thomas searched the code.
“Central Station.”
“Open twenty-four hours?”
“Yes.”
“Go.”
Adrian shook his head.
“We don’t have time.”
“That key appeared yesterday.”
“So?”
“Emily knew something was happening today.”
Mara stepped toward him.
“She left that key before Cassandra pushed Owen into the pool.”
Adrian stopped.
“She knew the attempt was coming.”
“Yes.”
“Then the locker may contain instructions.”
They left Elias with Mrs. Parker and eight federal agents.
Adrian insisted the location remain off the main task-force communication channels.
Only Thomas and two trusted agents knew where the boy was.
At 10:47, they entered Central Station.
Locker 318.
The key fit.
Inside was a backpack.
Mara opened it.
Clothes.
Cash.
Fake identification.
A phone.
And a notebook.
On top was an envelope.
MARA.
She ripped it open.
Sis,
I’m sorry.
Two words.
Mara nearly collapsed.
Adrian steadied her.
She kept reading.
If you found this, Elias trusted you.
That means I was right about you.
Mara cried silently.
I never wanted you involved.
But Claire thinks Shepherd finally knows where both boys are.
If Owen is taken, do not make the trade they demand.
They don’t want Elias only for the chip.
They need both boys alive.
Mara frowned.
“Why?”
She continued.
The answer is genetic.
Adrian leaned closer.
Haven House created dozens of children through illegal embryo programs.
Most records were destroyed.
Owen and Elias are the only two children whose DNA links directly to the people who built the network.
Adrian whispered, “Jonathan and me?”
Mara read.
Jonathan was undercover.
Adrian was not supposed to be involved.
His genetic material was stolen because Shepherd needed leverage against Claire.
But there is something Claire never understood.
Adrian’s sample came from inside the federal office.
Somebody with access gave it to Haven House.
Adrian’s expression hardened.
Thomas looked away.
Emily continued.
The person who took Owen will want Adrian to bring Elias personally.
Don’t.
They’re trying to identify which federal officers Adrian trusts.
Mara looked at Thomas.
“So the trade is a test.”
Adrian nodded.
Emily’s next paragraph was underlined.
Mara, if Claire appears, trust her only if she knows what we said on August 14.
Nobody else knows.
Not Cassandra.
Not Jonathan.
Not Shepherd.
Only Claire and me.
Mara frowned.
“What happened August 14?”
“You tell me,” Adrian said.
“I don’t know.”
Maybe that was the point.
A secret between Emily and Claire.
At the bottom of the letter was one final instruction.
Midnight is fake.
They always move thirty minutes early.
Adrian checked the time.
10:55.
“Then they’ll move Owen at eleven-thirty.”
Thomas grabbed his phone.
“Where?”
Mara searched the locker.
Nothing.
Then she saw the fake ID.
Name: Sarah Monroe.
Monroe.
The hospital bracelet.
Baby Girl Monroe.
Mara flipped the card over.
An address had been handwritten there.
St. Matthew’s Women’s Clinic.
The clinic where Owen had been found.
Adrian was already moving.
They reached the abandoned clinic at 11:21.
Federal authorities had closed it two years earlier.
Windows boarded.
Parking lot empty.
But a light burned in the basement.
Adrian entered through a side door.
Mara followed.
Thomas cursed.
“You two are terrible at following instructions.”
Neither answered.
Downstairs, they heard a baby crying.
Owen.
Adrian ran.
The basement corridor opened into what looked like an old delivery ward.
One person stood beside a crib.
Agent Morales.
Adrian stopped.
Morales had protected Owen for two years.
Shared Thanksgiving dinner.
Held the baby during Adrian’s late-night calls.
Morales raised empty hands.
“Listen.”
Adrian looked ready to kill him with his eyes.
“Where is my son?”
“Here.”
“Step away.”
“I didn’t take him for Shepherd.”
“You disappeared with my child.”
“To keep Shepherd from getting him.”
Adrian froze.
Morales looked toward the crib.
“The original protection route was compromised.”
“How?”
“Thomas transmitted it.”
Mara looked at Thomas.
He stared at Morales.
“That’s a lie.”
Morales continued.
“I saw a vehicle following us. I shut off communications and changed route.”
“Then why bring him here?” Adrian demanded.
“Because Claire told me to.”
Mara’s stomach tightened.
“Claire?”
A door opened.
A woman stepped out.
White coat.
Blond hair.
Green eyes.
The woman from the nursery.
Adrian forgot how to breathe.
Claire looked older.
Thinner.
A scar ran along her jaw.
But it was her.
Adrian whispered her name.
“Claire.”
She started crying.
He did not move toward her.
That was somehow more painful than if he had.
Four years of grief stood between them.
Mara stepped forward.
“August fourteenth.”
Claire looked at her.
“What?”
“What did you and Emily say?”
Claire’s face changed.
She understood.
She answered immediately.
“She told me that if we survived, she wanted pancakes at two in the morning.”
Mara’s heart stopped.
Emily had done that since childhood.
Whenever she was scared, she made pancakes.
Claire continued.
“I told her I hated pancakes.”
Mara waited.
“And she said anybody who hated pancakes couldn’t be trusted.”
Mara began crying.
It was Emily.
It had to be.
No one else knew that ridiculous rule.
She looked at Claire.
“Where is she?”
Claire glanced toward Thomas.
Fear crossed her face.
“Not in front of him.”
Thomas stared.
“What?”
Claire stepped backward.
“Adrian.”
He looked at Thomas.
Years of trust.
Hundreds of missions.
Claire whispered.
“He’s Shepherd.”
Thomas laughed.
A real laugh.
Almost hurt.
“That’s ridiculous.”
Claire’s hand trembled.
“He was Jonathan’s supervisor.”
Adrian looked at Thomas.
“You never told me that.”
Thomas’s face changed.
Barely.
But it was enough.
Morales moved toward Owen.
Thomas suddenly reached inside his coat.
Adrian reacted instantly.
He slammed Thomas against the wall.
A phone fell from Thomas’s hand.
Not a weapon.
The screen lit up.
A message.
PACKAGE COMPROMISED. CLEAN SITE.
Morales shouted.
“We have to move!”
An alarm began sounding.
Claire grabbed Owen.
Adrian took the baby.
Mara ran behind them.
They escaped through a rear stairwell seconds before the basement lights died.
Outside, federal vehicles surrounded Thomas.
He did not resist.
He only looked at Claire.
“You still don’t understand.”
Claire stared at him.
“Understand what?”
Thomas smiled.
“I was never Shepherd.”
Claire froze.
“Then why—”
“I worked for him.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Who is he?”
Thomas looked at Owen.
Then at Claire.
“Ask your first husband.”
Claire’s face went white.
Thomas smiled.
“Jonathan never disappeared.”
May you like
He looked toward the road.
“He built Haven House.”
