CHAPTER 12 THE CHILDREN WITH THE SAME NAME
Mercy Bridge had created six Noah Blackwoods.
The discovery came from tax records, school registrations, and sealed medical claims.
All six boys shared the same birth date.
All six possessed similar physical characteristics.
Brown hair.
Hazel eyes.
Matching blood type.
Each had lived under the name Noah Blackwood for a limited period before being reassigned another identity.
Claire stared at their photographs.
One lived in Canada.
One had died at age four.
One disappeared from a foster home in Nevada.
One was currently aboard the Mercy Bridge vessel.
One signal came from Lighthouse Point.
The sixth was Claire’s son.
Or the boy she had raised as her son.
Names no longer felt like identifiers.
They felt like masks.
“Harbor tested the identity across multiple children,” Rosa said. “They wanted to know whether different institutions would detect the duplicates.”
“They were rehearsing,” Claire replied.
“For what?”
“For replacing someone important.”
Nathaniel examined the birth records.
“Or creating an heir who could survive any challenge.”
The compensation fund contained billions in recovered assets. Several trusts required authentication from surviving Lighthouse victims and members of the Blackwood and Hale families.
Noah’s official identity connected all three.
Claire finally understood Vanessa’s warning.
The boy was not the key.
The mother was.
As Noah’s legal mother, Claire could validate whichever child Harbor placed before her.
“They don’t need the real Noah,” she said.
“They need you to identify one of them as real.”
A secure call arrived from the Mercy Bridge vessel.
Samuel Hart appeared on the screen.
Behind him stood a boy who looked nearly identical to Noah.
“Where is my son?” Claire asked.
Samuel rested one hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“That depends on which son you mean.”
“Do not play games with me.”
“I am trying to end the game my grandfather started.”
“By kidnapping children?”
“I rescued Ava.”
“You took her from a protected center.”
“Because your protected center was compromised.”
“Where is Noah?”
Samuel looked toward someone outside the camera frame.
“The boy raised in your home is not on this ship.”
“Then who is?”
“The child whose identity he inherited.”
The boy stepped closer to the camera.
“My name is Eli,” he said. “But they told me it used to be Noah.”
Claire’s anger gave way to something colder.
“How old are you, Eli?”
“Twelve.”
“Do you know where my son is?”
Eli nodded.
“He went with the old man.”
“Dr. Hart?”
“He said he was Noah’s grandfather.”
Claire thought of Arthur Hale.
Her father was dead.
Nathaniel’s father was dead.
Elias Hart was not related to Noah.
Unless the biological truth was different from every official record.
“Where did they go?” Claire asked.
“Back to the first house.”
The call ended.
Rosa searched the oldest Harbor land records.
One property predated Lighthouse Point by almost fifty years.
A children’s home on an island off the Oregon coast.
The facility had closed after a fire in 1979.
Thirty-one children were presumed dead.
No bodies had been recovered.
The property was still owned by Mercy Bridge.
A storm was approaching the coast.
Claire prepared to leave by helicopter.
Nathaniel joined her.
“You are still injured.”
“I’m going.”
“You can barely lift your arm.”
“I can still recognize my son.”
Claire faced him.
“Can you?”
Nathaniel froze.
It was cruel.
It was also the question both of them feared.
After a moment, Claire lowered her voice.
“I’m sorry.”
“No. You’re right.”
“I don’t know what is right anymore.”
“We know who raised him.”
“We know who loves him.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“That has to matter.”
The helicopter lifted through heavy rain.
Halfway to the island, Claire received a message from Noah’s personal account.
It contained a live photograph.
Noah stood in front of a burned stone building.
Beside him was an elderly man with a scar across his face.
Dr. Elias Hart.
Noah held a document against his chest.
May you like
The message beneath the photograph read:
MOM, I FOUND YOUR OTHER SON.
