Chapter 5 - The Truth Beneath the Clinic
The abandoned clinic had no visible lights.
Luca stood across the street with Grace.
"You aren't going inside alone."
"He said you can't."
"I don't care."
"I do."
Grace turned on him.
"That's my daughter."
The words struck both of them.
Luca didn't correct her.
Would never correct her.
"She's my daughter too," he said.
Grace stared at him.
It was the first time either of them had spoken the truth aloud.
Biology had turned them into something neither had asked to be.
Not enemies.
Not exactly family.
But bound.
Grace looked away.
"Patrick was her father."
"Yes."
"He raised her."
"Yes."
"She called him Daddy."
"Then that's what he was."
Grace's eyes filled.
"You really believe that?"
"I didn't know she existed until tonight."
Luca looked toward the clinic.
"I don't get to erase the man who spent seven years loving her."
Grace studied him, then nodded.
"Then help me bring her home."
They entered together.
Against Daniel's instruction.
Luca refused to remain outside.
Marco and Roman covered exits.
Vale disappeared during the transfer from Patrick's building.
Luca assumed he would reappear when most inconvenient.
Inside the clinic, dust covered the lobby.
Grace led them toward old treatment rooms.
"I came here for two years."
"You never noticed anything strange?"
"I was trying to have a baby. I noticed nothing except test results."
A light flickered beneath a door.
They opened it.
Empty room.
On a desk sat a monitor.
Daniel appeared live.
"Luca."
"Where's Ivy?"
"Safe."
"Show me."
The camera shifted.
Ivy sat in another room eating crackers.
No restraints.
No syringes.
She looked frightened but unharmed.
Luca exhaled.
Grace touched the screen.
"Ivy."
Daniel returned.
"I needed you both here."
"You could have asked."
"No. Vale monitors communication."
"Vale said you're trying to use Ivy to unlock the ledger."
"I am."
Grace stepped forward.
"You are not touching her."
Daniel's face softened.
"I don't need to hurt her."
"What about those syringes?"
"Props."
Luca almost admired it.
"You wanted Vale to think you were doing something dangerous."
"I wanted everyone to move."
"Why?"
"Because for twelve years, I've been trapped while the Covenant grew."
"Who held you?"
"Different people. Vale for the last six months."
"Vale claims he left the Covenant."
"He did."
"So he's helping?"
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"Adrian Vale helps Adrian Vale."
Luca looked at the screen.
"Did you create Ivy?"
Daniel's expression changed.
There.
Guilt.
Luca's anger rose.
"Answer."
"I designed the encryption protocol."
"That's not what I asked."
"Caroline came to me."
"Did you use my DNA?"
"Yes."
Grace closed her eyes.
Luca's voice dropped.
"You made a child into a key."
"I made a key that happened to require a genetic pattern."
"Don't hide behind words."
Daniel flinched.
Good.
"I was twenty-six," Daniel said. "I thought the ledger could prevent thousands of deaths."
"So you created a life to protect data?"
"No. Caroline had already preserved embryos."
Luca stared.
"What?"
"She had a hereditary condition. She froze eggs before treatment. After she learned she would likely die, she wanted a child."
"With me?"
"She loved you."
Luca looked away.
"She never told me."
"Because your father threatened her."
Silence.
"He told Caroline if she stayed with you, he'd kill everyone in her family."
Luca remembered how suddenly she had ended things.
No explanation.
Just gone.
"She contacted me afterward."
"Why?"
"She knew your father's crimes overlapped with the Covenant."
"And Grace?"
"Patrick and Grace had lost embryos during treatment. Patrick agreed to an illegal transfer."
Grace recoiled.
"He agreed?"
Daniel looked ashamed.
"He thought he was saving Caroline's child and protecting you."
"He lied to me."
"Yes."
"You all lied to me."
"Yes."
Grace stepped back as if physically struck.
Luca understood her rage.
The men in her life had made decisions over her body, her marriage, her motherhood.
For a supposed greater good.
There was nothing noble about that.
"Where is Ivy?" Grace demanded.
A door behind them unlocked.
They entered.
Ivy ran out.
"Mommy!"
Grace dropped to her knees and caught her.
The sound she made was raw enough that Luca looked away.
Ivy buried her face in Grace's neck.
"You came."
"Always."
Daniel emerged slowly from another doorway.
Luca saw him in person for the first time in twelve years.
He looked older than forty.
Scars crossed one wrist.
His left leg dragged slightly.
Luca walked toward him.
Neither smiled.
Daniel said, "You look expensive."
Luca punched him.
Daniel hit the wall.
Grace gasped.
Ivy stared.
Luca immediately regretted doing it in front of her.
Daniel wiped blood from his lip.
"I deserved that."
"You deserved more."
"Probably."
Ivy whispered, "Mr. Luca?"
He turned.
She looked frightened of him.
That hurt more than anything Daniel could have said.
Luca lowered his hands.
"I'm sorry."
Ivy studied him.
"Are you mad at Mr. Daniel?"
"Very."
"Can you be mad later?"
Luca almost laughed.
"Yes."
"Okay."
Daniel looked at Ivy with something like affection.
"She's definitely yours."
Grace's stare could have cut steel.
"Don't."
"Right."
Daniel led them deeper beneath the clinic.
A hidden elevator descended.
At the bottom was a server room, old but functional.
"This is the archive?" Luca asked.
"A mirror."
Daniel approached a terminal.
"The real data is distributed. This accesses it."
"Why Ivy?"
"Genetic authentication."
"Blood?"
"Saliva works."
Grace immediately said, "No."
Daniel nodded.
"We don't have to do anything."
Luca studied him.
"You brought us here to unlock it."
"I brought you here because the Covenant thinks I'm going to."
"So?"
"So they'll come."
Luca finally understood.
"This is a trap."
"Yes."
"For whom?"
"Everyone."
Grace stared.
"You used my daughter as bait?"
Daniel's confidence vanished.
"I knew Luca would protect her."
"That doesn't make it better."
"No."
A security alarm flashed.
Daniel looked at the monitor.
"They're here."
Multiple vehicles.
Men entered from three directions.
Marco's voice sounded in Luca's earpiece.
"Boss, we've got at least twenty."
"Hold exterior."
"That's a lot."
"Do your best."
Daniel typed.
"I need two minutes."
"For what?"
"To copy their incoming device signatures."
Luca looked at him.
"You knew they'd bring secure systems."
"They always do."
Grace took Ivy behind reinforced glass.
Luca drew his weapon.
"Daniel."
"Yeah?"
"If we survive this, I'm hitting you again."
"Fair."
The first explosion shook the corridor.
Then gunfire.
Luca's men engaged outside.
The Covenant team breached the clinic.
Daniel continued typing.
"Almost."
Roman shouted through comms.
"Boss, there's another group approaching."
"Vale?"
"Yes."
"Hostile?"
"Can't tell."
Adrian Vale's voice suddenly came through the building speakers.
"Luca."
Luca swore.
"Of course."
Vale continued.
"You may want to stop Daniel."
"Why?"
"Because he isn't copying signatures."
Daniel froze.
Luca turned his gun toward him.
"What are you doing?"
Daniel's fingers remained over the keyboard.
Vale's voice echoed:
"He's opening the archive."
Grace stared through the glass.
Daniel looked at Luca.
"I can end this."
"By exposing everyone?"
"By releasing the ledger."
"Including innocents?"
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"There will be collateral damage."
"No."
"Luca—"
"No."
"You don't know what they did."
"I know exactly what men tell themselves when they decide innocent people are acceptable losses."
Daniel stared at him.
Luca stepped closer.
"My father said the same things."
That hit.
Daniel slowly removed his hands from the keyboard.
Then every monitor went black.
"What happened?" Grace asked.
Emergency lights came on.
Daniel typed.
Nothing.
"Someone shut the system remotely."
"Who?"
A new image appeared.
A live video.
Adrian Vale.
He wasn't outside.
He stood somewhere else entirely.
Behind him was an older woman strapped to a chair.
Luca's face went blank.
He knew her.
Caroline Reed.
Alive.
Daniel whispered, "No."
Luca couldn't breathe.
Vale smiled into the camera.
"You've all been chasing a dead woman's ghost."
Caroline lifted her head.
Older.
Bruised.
But unmistakably alive.
May you like
Then Vale said:
"Now, Luca, ask Daniel why he told you she died."
