CHAPTER 17 THE WOMAN BESIDE THE ROAD
The abandoned ambulance was found sixteen miles north of the hospital.
It had left the highway, broken through a wooden barrier and stopped among a line of dead trees.
The rear doors were open.
There was blood on one of the seats.
But there was no baby.
Nathan searched the surrounding woods while Gabriel examined the vehicle.
Claire had refused to remain at the facility. She sat in the passenger seat of Nathan’s car, pale and weak, with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
“You should not be here,” Nathan told her.
“My daughter is here.”
“We don’t know that.”
“Then find out.”
Evelyn remained in the second vehicle with a hospital attendant. She stared at the ambulance as if it were a ghost from her past.
Gabriel discovered cut restraints on the floor.
Someone had escaped.
Nathan followed a trail of broken branches toward a drainage ditch.
A woman lay beneath the highway embankment.
It was Vanessa.
Her clothes were torn. One side of her face was bruised, and a deep red mark circled each wrist.
Nathan knelt beside her.
“Vanessa.”
Her eyes opened.
For one terrified second, she tried to crawl away.
“It’s me,” Nathan said. “You called us.”
Vanessa looked beyond him.
“Where is Gabriel?”
Nathan hesitated.
“He’s near the ambulance.”
“Which Gabriel?”
The question stopped him.
Gabriel approached from behind.
Vanessa immediately reached for a broken branch and held it like a weapon.
“Stay away from me.”
Gabriel raised both hands.
“I’m not the man who took you.”
Vanessa stared at his face.
“Show me your right shoulder.”
Gabriel frowned.
“What?”
“The scar.”
He pulled his jacket aside.
A long surgical scar crossed the front of his shoulder.
Vanessa lowered the branch.
“The other one doesn’t have it.”
Evelyn was brought closer in the wheelchair.
The moment Vanessa mentioned the other man, Evelyn began trembling again.
Nathan turned to her.
“You said he was your son.”
Evelyn looked at Gabriel.
“I gave birth to more than one child.”
Gabriel stepped back.
“You told me I was alone.”
“I believed you were.”
Vanessa pushed herself upright.
“The other man calls himself Gideon.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“How do you know his name?”
“Because Cole trained him inside Blackwood.”
Nathan looked sharply at her.
“You said Cole locked you inside the estate.”
“He did. But Gideon was the one who moved me.”
“And the woman who looks like you?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with shame.
“Her name is Vera.”
“Your sister?”
“My twin.”
Claire had left the car.
She stood several feet away, supporting herself against the hood.
“You knew she existed?”
“No. Not until three years ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Because Cole told me she would be killed if I spoke.”
Claire’s voice hardened.
“Cole is dead.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“That is what he wanted everyone to believe.”
A cold silence moved through the group.
Nathan crouched beside Vanessa again.
“Where did they take the baby?”
“I heard them mention the coast. A bell room. A road that disappears when the tide comes in.”
Evelyn whispered:
“St. Orla.”
Vanessa reached inside her damaged coat.
She removed a brass key attached to a faded wooden tag.
BELL ROOM.
On the reverse side was a handwritten address.
Nathan recognized the coastal town.
It was less than two hours away.
Gabriel took the key.
Before anyone could speak, the abandoned ambulance radio crackled.
A man’s voice filled the vehicle.
It sounded exactly like Gabriel.
“The tide reaches the road at midnight.”
Everyone turned toward the radio.
“You have ninety minutes,” the voice continued.
“Bring Evelyn Shaw.”
Claire stepped closer.
“And my daughter?”
The man laughed softly.
“Claire should come too.”
“Why?”
“Because St. Orla did not only create Gabriel and Gideon.”
Static swallowed the next few words.
May you like
Then the voice returned.
“It created her.”
