Chapter 10 - The Man Who Called Me Son
“Hello, son.”
The man stood in the hospital doorway under the red emergency light.
I stepped in front of Claire.
One officer raised his weapon.
“Hands where I can see them.”
The stranger immediately lifted both hands.
“I’m not armed.”
Leonard Voss looked like he had stopped breathing.
“You.”
The stranger smiled faintly.
“Hello, Leonard.”
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
I almost laughed.
Apparently that sentence had become normal in my family.
The officer moved closer.
“Identify yourself.”
The man looked at me instead.
“Gabriel Voss.”
I turned toward Leonard.
“Your brother?”
Leonard nodded slowly.
“My older brother.”
Gabriel was somewhere in his early seventies, but he carried himself like someone younger.
Tall.
Straight-backed.
Gray hair cut short.
And those eyes.
Mine.
Not similar.
Mine.
I looked at the photograph in my hand.
NORTHSTAR SUBJECT N-01.
The young man in the picture was Gabriel.
Claire whispered, “Daniel.”
I knew.
I saw it too.
Gabriel took one careful step inside.
The officer stopped him.
“That’s far enough.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Fine.”
I looked at him.
“You called me son.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you are.”
Leonard snapped, “You don’t know that.”
Gabriel turned.
“Yes, I do.”
“How?”
“Because I was there.”
Leonard went pale.
“You told me the specimens had been destroyed.”
“They weren’t.”
“What specimens?”
I demanded.
Neither answered.
“Stop.”
They both looked at me.
“My wife is seven months pregnant. Someone cut power to this hospital. My father was kidnapped. My sister disappeared. Victor Hale is hunting something called Northstar. So whichever one of you wants to speak in riddles can leave.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
Not anger.
Respect.
“Fair.”
The emergency lights flickered.
A nurse appeared behind the officers.
“Backup power is stable. We’re moving high-risk maternity patients if necessary.”
I turned immediately toward Claire.
“I’m okay,” she said.
The monitor still showed our daughter’s heartbeat.
Strong.
For now.
The officer touched his radio.
“No response from the south stairwell team.”
His partner looked toward him.
“What?”
“Security says the outage wasn’t building-wide. Only this wing.”
Gabriel lowered his hands slightly.
“I told you.”
The officer snapped, “Hands up.”
Gabriel obeyed.
I looked at him.
“You caused this?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Victor.”
The name landed like a stone.
“Is he here?”
“Not yet.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if he were here, Leonard would already be dead.”
Leonard stared at his brother.
“So would you.”
Gabriel smiled without humor.
“He’s tried.”
I looked at the officers.
“You need to lock down the floor.”
“They already are.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“That won’t be enough.”
The officer turned toward him.
“You want to explain why?”
“Yes. Victor spent thirty years buying people who were supposed to stop him.”
Leonard said, “This is exactly why I went into witness protection.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“And yet he found you.”
The room fell silent.
That was the problem.
Victor knew Leonard had been brought to the hospital.
Maybe he knew because someone had followed him.
Or because someone had told him.
I thought about Thomas’s warning.
Someone inside law enforcement was helping Victor.
The officer seemed to think of the same thing.
He moved farther into the hallway and began speaking quietly into his radio.
I turned back to Gabriel.
“Start talking.”
He looked at Claire.
“This isn’t the place.”
“It became the place when you walked into my wife’s hospital room and called me son.”
Claire reached for my hand.
“Tell him.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Northstar began as a fertility project.”
“I know.”
“No. You know the story they wrote afterward.”
“What’s the difference?”
“The clinic was real. The infertility treatments were real. But Victor didn’t build Northstar because he cared about families.”
“Then why?”
“Genetics.”
Leonard closed his eyes.
Gabriel continued.
“Victor became obsessed with the idea that certain traits could be predicted. Intelligence. physical health. risk tolerance. longevity.”
“That sounds like science fiction.”
“It was mostly bad science.”
“Mostly?”
“Enough was real to attract investors.”
Leonard interrupted.
“And enough was unethical to destroy lives.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“You helped.”
“I was a physician.”
“You were the medical director.”
“And you signed the first consent forms.”
I raised my voice.
“Both of you stop.”
They did.
I pointed at Gabriel.
“What was N-01?”
“Me.”
“I know that.”
“I was the first male genetic source entered into the program.”
My stomach turned.
“What does that mean?”
“Sperm donor.”
Claire looked at the photograph again.
“So you were the donor used for Evelyn?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Yes.”
Leonard said, “We don’t know that for certain.”
Gabriel reached inside his jacket.
The officer immediately returned.
“Don’t.”
Gabriel stopped.
“There’s a document in my inner pocket.”
The officer retrieved it.
A sealed envelope.
Gabriel said, “Open it.”
The officer checked it, then handed it to me.
Inside was a laboratory report dated eight months before my birth.
Donor designation:
N-01.
Recipient:
Evelyn Mercer.
Procedure:
Embryo transfer successful.
My hands started shaking.
I looked up.
“So you’re my biological father.”
“Yes.”
Leonard said, “Biologically, very likely.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“Do you still need to hide behind technical language?”
“I need evidence.”
Gabriel looked at me again.
“You want evidence? Take my blood. Take his. Test us tonight.”
I said nothing.
He continued.
“I came because Leonard contacted someone he trusted and said you had found Northstar.”
“Who?”
Gabriel glanced at the officer.
“That matters later.”
“No. It matters now.”
“A retired federal agent named Rebecca Sloan.”
Michael had never mentioned her.
“Why would she contact you?”
“Because she knew I was alive.”
“You were in witness protection too?”
“No.”
“Then where have you been?”
“Moving.”
“For thirty-three years?”
“For most of them.”
“Why?”
“Victor.”
Of course.
I was tired of that name.
“What did you do to him?”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“I took something he believed belonged to him.”
“What?”
“My own genetic records.”
I stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you understand Victor.”
Leonard spoke quietly.
“He believed Northstar belonged to him. Every sample. Every embryo. Every child born through the program.”
Claire instinctively covered her stomach.
Disgust moved through me.
“You’re saying he thought he owned children?”
“Not legally,” Leonard said. “In his mind.”
Gabriel added, “He funded the program. He thought funding meant ownership.”
“And me?”
“You were the first confirmed live birth from N-01.”
I felt sick.
“That’s why Dad called me Northstar.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Robert knew what you represented.”
“Why didn’t Victor know who my donor was?”
“Because Leonard changed the records.”
I looked at Leonard.
He nodded.
“I falsified them.”
“To protect me?”
“To protect Gabriel first. Then you.”
“You wrote L. Voss.”
“Yes.”
“Making it look like you were the donor.”
“It created confusion.”
“Apparently.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
Then I remembered James.
“What about James Callahan?”
The smile vanished.
Gabriel looked at Leonard.
Leonard looked away.
I asked again.
“What was James’s role?”
Gabriel answered.
“He discovered what Northstar really was.”
“He was investigating Victor.”
“Yes.”
“He believed I was his child.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Your mother told him that.”
I clenched my jaw.
“And you let him believe it?”
“I didn’t know about you yet.”
That caught me.
“When did you find out?”
“After James died.”
“How?”
“Robert found me.”
I stared.
“Dad knew you?”
“Eventually.”
“You were in that photograph with Victor.”
“Yes.”
“Dad had another picture with James, Victor and Thomas.”
“I took it.”
Pieces shifted again.
“You were there.”
“At the warehouse meeting.”
“The last meeting?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
Pain.
Real pain.
“James had copied Northstar records.”
“And Victor found out.”
“Yes.”
“Mom told him where James would be.”
“She did.”
“Did Victor kill James?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
“How do you know?”
“Because I saw the car.”
My chest tightened.
“You were there?”
“I followed Victor.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“He had two men with him. By the time I reached James’s vehicle, the brake line had already been cut.”
“Then warn James.”
“I did.”
“But he drove anyway?”
Gabriel looked down.
“He never got my message.”
“Why?”
“Robert intercepted it.”
That froze me.
“What?”
Leonard whispered, “Gabriel.”
“No more.”
Gabriel looked directly at me.
“Robert knew James’s car had been sabotaged.”
My mouth went dry.
“No.”
“He knew.”
“Why would he let him drive?”
“I didn’t say he let him.”
“You just said he intercepted your warning.”
“Yes.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Gabriel stepped closer.
The officer almost stopped him.
I lifted one hand.
Let him.
Gabriel lowered his voice.
“Robert was trying to force James to give him the Northstar evidence.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Robert believed the files were the only leverage he had against Victor.”
“So he risked James’s life?”
“He thought James would stay at the warehouse until they worked something out.”
“But James left.”
“Yes.”
“And died.”
“Yes.”
I thought of Dad’s handwritten note.
BRAKE LINE CUT.
He had known.
For thirty-three years.
“Did Dad cause James’s death?”
“No.”
“Did he help cause it?”
Gabriel didn’t answer.
That was worse.
My phone rang.
Michael.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“Hospital.”
“With Claire?”
“Yes.”
“Listen carefully. Do not leave the secured maternity floor.”
I looked at Gabriel.
“Why?”
“Police found your mother’s car.”
My stomach tightened.
“Where?”
“Two blocks from the hospital.”
“Is she there?”
“No.”
“Melissa?”
“No.”
“What did they find?”
“Blood in the driver’s seat.”
I closed my eyes.
“How much?”
“Enough that they’re treating it seriously.”
Gabriel watched my face.
I said, “Mom might be hurt.”
His expression changed instantly.
“Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Her car.”
He moved toward the door.
The officer blocked him.
“I need to find her.”
“No one is leaving.”
Gabriel looked ready to argue.
Then Claire gasped.
I turned.
“Claire?”
She gripped the bed rail.
Another contraction.
Longer this time.
The monitor accelerated.
A nurse entered.
Then another.
The doctor followed.
“Daniel, I need you on this side.”
“What’s happening?”
“Contractions are progressing.”
“I thought the medication—”
“It’s not stopping labor.”
Claire’s face went white.
“How soon?”
The doctor checked the monitor.
“We need to prepare for delivery.”
Everything inside me shifted.
The secrets disappeared again.
I moved beside Claire.
“I’m here.”
She squeezed my hand.
“I’m scared.”
“So am I.”
She looked at me.
That was what she needed.
Not false confidence.
Truth.
I kissed her forehead.
“We do this together.”
Gabriel stood near the wall.
Watching.
He looked emotional.
I didn’t have room for that yet.
The doctor said, “We’re moving you to a delivery room.”
The doors opened.
Nurses moved the bed.
I walked beside Claire.
Two officers accompanied us.
Gabriel and Leonard remained behind.
For three minutes, nothing mattered except following my wife.
Then every light came fully back on.
The emergency alarm stopped.
One officer touched his earpiece.
His expression changed.
“What?”
I asked.
He didn’t answer immediately.
Then:
“They found Mrs. Mercer.”
I stopped walking.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Relief hit me.
“Where?”
The officer looked confused.
“That’s the problem.”
“What problem?”
“She’s inside the hospital.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where?”
“Security footage shows her entering twenty minutes ago.”
“Then find her.”
“They’re trying.”
Claire gripped my hand.
I walked again.
“Stay with me,” she whispered.
“I’m not leaving.”
We reached the delivery suite.
Before the doors closed, my phone buzzed.
A message from Mom.
I'M SORRY.
Then another.
I DIDN'T COME HERE FOR YOU.
I stopped.
A third message appeared.
VICTOR HAS ROBERT ON THE FOURTH FLOOR.
I looked at the elevator indicator.
We were on five.
Another message.
HE THINKS YOU'RE STILL IN MATERNITY.
My pulse exploded.
Claire saw my face.
“What?”
Before I could answer, the hospital intercom crackled.
A man’s voice came over the speakers.
Calm.
Controlled.
Victor.
“Daniel Mercer.”
Everyone froze.
“Do not allow them to move your wife.”
The nurses stared at one another.
The officers drew their weapons.
Victor continued.
“If you want Robert alive, come to the fourth floor.”
I looked at Claire.
She shook her head immediately.
“No.”
The intercom clicked again.
“And Daniel?”
A pause.
Then Victor laughed softly.
“Bring Gabriel with you.”
The speakers went silent.
One officer said, “Nobody is going anywhere.”
Then an elevator bell rang at the end of the corridor.
The doors opened.
Gabriel stepped out.
Alone.
His shirt was covered in blood.
He looked directly at me.
“It’s not mine.”
I stared.
“Whose is it?”
Gabriel opened his hand.
A hospital identification bracelet lay across his palm.
EVELYN MERCER.
Then he looked behind him.
The elevator doors began to close.
A bloody hand suddenly reached through the gap from inside.
Gabriel turned.
The doors opened again.
And my mother stumbled out, whispering one sentence.
“Victor isn’t holding Robert.”
She collapsed.
I caught her before she hit the floor.
“Mom!”
Her eyes opened.
Barely.
She gripped my shirt.
“Daniel…”
“Who has Dad?”
Her lips trembled.
Then she looked past me toward Gabriel.
Pure terror crossed her face.
She lifted one shaking finger.
Not toward Gabriel.
Behind him.
The stairwell door slowly opened.
Thomas stepped into the corridor.
He was holding Dad’s black briefcase.
And in his other hand was the red folder.
Mom stared at him.
May you like
Then whispered:
“Thomas took Robert.”
