CHAPTER 18 — THE BROTHER WITHOUT A NAME
The hospital’s steel doors slammed shut.
Noah pulled a handgun from beneath the medical cart.
“There is another exit through the surgical wing.”
Ethan lifted the newborn carefully.
The baby’s skin had become pale.
“We need a doctor.”
“The nearest safe doctor works for them,” Noah said.
Vanessa tore the restraint from her other wrist.
“You said the medication was necessary.”
“It was supposed to preserve the child’s genetic markers.”
“No,” Vanessa replied. “Marcus used the same compound on me when I was nineteen. It suppresses certain test results. It does not preserve them.”
Noah looked uncertain for the first time.
The intercom activated again.
“Evelyn,” the surviving brother called. “You remember what Helen promised.”
Claire’s alternate identity stepped toward the speaker.
“She promised my child would survive.”
“He will, if you bring him to me.”
Ethan blocked her path.
“The baby is mine.”
The woman stared at the infant.
“No. He means the child inside me.”
A heavy impact struck the security door.
Noah led them into a corridor lined with old operating rooms. Claire walked beside Ethan, occasionally pressing one hand against the wall as memories overwhelmed her.
“I came here before,” she whispered.
“When?”
“The night after the plane.”
She stopped beside a room labeled DELIVERY SUITE TWO.
Inside, dust covered an old birthing bed.
A leather restraint still hung from its side.
Claire approached a cabinet and opened it without searching.
She knew exactly where the hidden latch was.
Inside were medical tapes labeled with dates.
One carried Ethan’s birthday.
Noah inserted it into a nearby player.
The video showed Helen Carter in the delivery room holding a newborn boy.
Margaret stood beside her in bloodstained clothing.
“Daniel’s son did not survive,” Margaret said.
Helen looked down at the child in her arms.
“This one did.”
“Thomas’s child?”
“Perhaps.”
“What does that mean?”
Helen looked toward someone beyond the camera.
“It means there were two women in labor tonight.”
Another baby cried somewhere nearby.
Margaret’s face hardened.
“Which one belongs to Daniel?”
Helen smiled.
“Only I know.”
The footage jumped forward.
Helen placed one infant inside a Blackwood bassinet. A second child was carried through the room by a masked nurse.
The nurse’s bracelet bore the initials E.C.
Evelyn Carter.
Claire’s aunt.
The tape ended before either child’s face was visible.
Ethan turned toward Noah.
“You said Helen was my mother.”
“She raised you during your first months.”
“That is not what I asked.”
A crash echoed through the hallway.
The armed men had broken through the first door.
Claire found another tape.
This one was labeled:
SUCCESSION CHILD — DO NOT OPEN
The recording showed Daniel Blackwood arguing with Helen years before the crash.
“I asked you to protect my son,” Daniel said.
“You asked me to protect your company,” Helen replied.
“They are the same thing.”
“No child should be born as a legal weapon.”
Daniel grabbed the medical file.
“If Margaret discovers David fathered the heir, she will destroy both of them.”
Helen’s expression turned cold.
“Then perhaps neither brother should know which child is his.”
The tape ended.
Ethan finally understood.
The uncertainty was not an accident.
Helen had deliberately mixed the identities of the children to stop both Blackwood brothers from controlling them.
Claire gripped the edge of the table.
A contraction tightened across her stomach.
Ethan rushed toward her.
“You’re not due yet.”
“I think they gave me something in the car.”
Vanessa checked beneath Claire’s dress.
“She’s bleeding.”
Noah opened the door to the delivery suite.
“We cannot move her through the surgical tunnels now.”
Gunfire erupted at the far end of the corridor.
Agent Grant and his team had reached the underground hospital from the opposite side.
For a moment, Ethan believed help had arrived.
Then Grant raised his weapon at Noah.
“Step away from the child.”
Ethan stared at him.
“You followed us?”
Grant entered with three agents.
“The federal investigation has been tracking this experiment for twelve years.”
“You knew about the babies?”
“We knew someone was creating a genetic heir capable of controlling the Blackwood trust.”
Vanessa moved closer to Ethan.
“Grant does not work for the government.”
The agent smiled faintly.
“Not exclusively.”
He ordered his men to take the newborn.
Ethan backed toward the wall.
Claire cried out as another contraction hit.
The armed group led by the Blackwood brother appeared at the opposite entrance.
Both sides raised their weapons.
The surviving brother looked past everyone toward Claire.
“I am the only person who can stop the labor.”
Ethan shouted, “Tell me your real name.”
The man removed a chain from beneath his shirt.
A wedding ring hung from it.
Margaret’s wedding ring.
“I was Daniel when Ethan was born,” he said.
“I became David when the plane fell.”
“And tonight, I will become Daniel again.”
Agent Grant aimed at him.
The man laughed.
“You still think the Blackwood heir is one of those babies?”
He pointed toward Vanessa.
“She is carrying the controlling bloodline.”
Vanessa’s face drained of color.
“That’s impossible.”
The man looked at her stomach.
“You have been pregnant for six weeks.”
Before she could answer, Grant fired.
The bullet struck the Blackwood brother in the shoulder.
Chaos erupted.
Lights shattered.
Men shouted.
Claire collapsed beside the delivery bed.
Ethan covered her body while holding the newborn against his chest.
Through the darkness, someone whispered into his ear.
“Your wife cannot give birth here.”
Ethan recognized Adrian Shaw’s voice.
May you like
“Why?”
“Because the baby will look exactly like the man Claire remembers killing.”
