Chapter 10 — The Person I Trusted Most
Frank Miller's gun was aimed directly at Emily.
Michael couldn't move.
For eleven years, Frank had been beside him.
He had protected his family.
His businesses.
His home.
His secrets.
Michael had trusted him more than any man alive.
Now Frank's finger rested against the trigger.
“Put the gun down,” Michael said.
Frank shook his head.
“I can't.”
“Frank.”
“Don't make me do this.”
Emily slowly raised her hands.
“Why are you doing this?”
Frank's eyes filled with tears.
“Because they have my daughter.”
Silence.
Michael lowered his weapon slightly.
“They have your daughter?”
Frank nodded.
“Eight years ago.”
He swallowed.
“Richard took her.”
Michael stared.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was ordered to choose.”
“Choose what?”
Frank's voice broke.
“My daughter's life…”
He looked at Noah.
“…or yours.”
Michael's jaw tightened.
“You chose your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“And you've been working for Richard ever since.”
Frank nodded.
Michael looked at the floor.
“How many times?”
Frank closed his eyes.
“What?”
“How many times did you betray me?”
Frank couldn't answer.
Michael repeated:
“How many?”
“Seven.”
The word landed like a gunshot.
Emily stared at him.
“What did you do?”
Frank's face twisted with shame.
“I disabled the cameras.”
Michael's expression changed.
“The night Noah disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“You gave them access to the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“You put the tracker in Noah's blanket.”
Frank shook his head.
“No.”
Michael stopped.
“That wasn't me.”
“Then who?”
Frank looked at David.
“David.”
David stepped forward.
“I was following orders.”
Michael looked between them.
“Whose?”
David answered:
“William's.”
Michael turned toward his father.
William remained silent.
Michael's voice became cold.
“You ordered Noah's kidnapping?”
William shook his head.
“I ordered him moved.”
“Without telling me?”
“You would have tried to stop me.”
“Of course I would have!”
“Because you didn't understand.”
William stepped closer.
“Richard had already infiltrated the hospital.”
Michael looked at Noah.
William continued.
“The baby wasn't safe.”
“So you took him?”
“I saved him.”
Michael shook his head.
“You made me believe he was dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
William's face hardened.
“Not when your enemy owns the people who are supposed to protect you.”
Emily suddenly looked at David.
“Then why did you work for Richard?”
David didn't answer.
William did.
“Because David was never working for Richard.”
Michael stared.
“What?”
David slowly removed his jacket.
A small scar crossed his chest.
He touched it.
“Richard killed my brother.”
Michael's eyes narrowed.
“And you infiltrated his organization.”
“Yes.”
“To destroy him?”
“Yes.”
Michael looked at Frank.
“And you?”
Frank lowered his weapon.
“I was trying to survive.”
Michael slowly lowered his own gun.
Then the basement door slammed shut.
Everyone turned.
A timer appeared on the wall.
05:00
Emily stared.
“What is that?”
David's face went pale.
“That's the purge system.”
Michael looked at William.
“What happens at zero?”
William answered:
“The entire facility floods with anesthetic gas.”
Emily's face drained of color.
“And the children?”
William didn't answer.
Michael understood.
“No.”
He handed Noah to Emily.
“Take him.”
Emily stared at him.
“What are you going to do?”
“Find the control room.”
David pointed toward the far corridor.
“There's a maintenance tunnel.”
Frank stepped forward.
“I know where it is.”
Michael looked at him.
“You're coming with us?”
Frank nodded.
“I owe you that much.”
They ran.
The timer dropped.
04:21.
They reached the tunnel.
Behind them, alarms began screaming.
Michael heard children crying behind the steel doors.
Dozens of them.
He stopped.
Frank grabbed his arm.
“We don't have time.”
Michael looked at the doors.
“We're not leaving them.”
Frank stared at him.
“If we stay, we all die.”
Michael shook his head.
“Then we find a way to save them.”
They opened the first door.
Three children were inside.
Then the second.
Two.
Then the third.
Four.
Emily carried Noah while helping the children escape.
David worked on the electronic locks.
Frank led them toward the emergency exit.
Then—
A voice echoed through the intercom.
Richard.
“You still don't understand, Michael.”
Michael looked up.
Richard continued.
“Project 214 was never about replacing children.”
The lights flickered.
“It was about controlling them.”
Michael stopped.
Richard laughed.
“Every family you thought you knew…”
A pause.
“…was already connected.”
The screen changed.
Photographs appeared.
Politicians.
Businessmen.
Judges.
Doctors.
Police chiefs.
All connected by lines.
Then Michael saw one final photograph.
His mother.
Elizabeth.
Standing beside Richard.
And between them—
Claire.
Alive.
Michael stared.
Richard spoke again.
“Your mother didn't betray us.”
Michael's blood ran cold.
“She betrayed your father.”
The screen went black.
Then another message appeared.
CLAIRE WILL TELL YOU WHY.
The timer reached:
02:00.
Michael turned to Frank.
“Where's the control room?”
Frank pointed ahead.
“Behind the old vault.”
They reached it.
The door required two fingerprints.
Michael placed his hand on the scanner.
Nothing.
Frank tried.
Nothing.
David looked at the wall.
“There has to be another way.”
Michael noticed a small inscription beneath the scanner.
BLOOD BEFORE NAME.
He cut his palm and pressed it against the reader.
The lock opened.
Inside was a room filled with monitors.
One showed the children.
Another showed the mansion.
Another showed the hospital.
And another—
showed Claire.
Michael stepped closer.
Claire was sitting in a chair.
Her hands were tied.
A man stood behind her.
Richard.
But Richard wasn't alone.
Beside him stood Elizabeth.
Michael's mother.
Alive.
Michael stared at the screen.
“Mom?”
Elizabeth looked directly into the camera.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
Richard smiled.
“Now you're ready.”
Michael stepped closer.
“What do you want?”
Richard leaned toward Claire.
Then he said:
“Ask your wife.”
Michael looked at Claire.
“Why did you let them take you?”
Claire's face crumpled.
“I didn't.”
“Then why?”
Claire looked at Noah's image on another monitor.
Her voice broke.
“Because I was trying to save him.”
Michael's heart stopped.
“Save him from what?”
Claire whispered:
“From you.”
The entire room went silent.
Michael stared at the screen.
Claire continued:
“Michael, you have to understand.”
She took a shaky breath.
“You were exposed to Project 214 before you were born.”
Michael's eyes widened.
“And Richard didn't choose Noah.”
Claire looked toward Richard.
“He chose you.”
Then the lights went out.
The timer disappeared.
A hidden door opened behind Michael.
And from the darkness came a woman's voice.
“Michael…”
He turned.
Elizabeth was standing there.
Not on the screen.
In the room.
Alive.
Holding a folder.
She looked at Noah.
Then at Michael.
May you like
And whispered:
“It's time you learned what happened on the night you were born.”
