Chapter 6 - They Took My Son
Gabriel reached the hospital in record time.
Daniel's room was empty.
Cole was injured but alive.
The attackers had triggered a fire alarm, created a diversion, and used an ambulance transfer team.
Elena had gone willingly.
"Why?"
Cole handed Gabriel a note.
Because they threatened Daniel.
Elena had traded herself for the chance to stay beside him.
Gabriel crushed the paper in his fist.
Anthony arrived.
Gabriel nearly attacked him again.
"Find them."
Anthony used old Guardian channels.
The transfer authorization pointed toward St. Catherine's Research Center.
Abandoned officially.
Active secretly.
Gabriel assembled a legal federal tactical response through Army CID and the FBI.
He refused revenge.
He wanted Daniel alive.
He wanted evidence preserved.
He wanted Guardian exposed in a courtroom where nobody could bury it again.
At St. Catherine's, Elena woke inside a treatment room.
Daniel lay nearby.
Still alive.
She reached for him.
Mercer entered.
"You've caused considerable trouble."
Elena stared at him.
"You killed Mateo."
Mercer smiled.
"No."
Her breathing stopped.
"Where is he?"
"Useful."
Mercer explained Guardian had kept certain subjects alive under false identities.
Mateo had become a research technician after years of manipulation.
Elena refused to believe him.
Then a door opened.
A man entered.
Older than the brother she remembered.
But the eyes were the same.
"Elena?"
She broke.
"Mateo."
He crossed the room.
They embraced.
For fourteen years Elena had mourned him.
He had been told she died in a car accident.
Guardian had stolen both of their lives.
Mercer watched without emotion.
Then Daniel whispered.
"Elena."
She immediately returned to his bedside.
That was when Mateo understood.
"That's Moretti's son?"
"Yes."
Mateo looked terrified.
"They're going to operate."
Elena stared.
"Why?"
"To remove evidence."
He pointed toward Daniel's chest.
A small implanted diagnostic device had been placed during a previous cardiac procedure.
Isabel had secretly arranged it.
The device stored longitudinal cardiac data proving deliberate prenatal manipulation.
Guardian needed it destroyed.
Elena grabbed Mateo's arm.
"Help us."
Mateo hesitated.
"They'll kill us."
"They already stole fourteen years."
That changed him.
Mateo disabled the treatment-room lock.
At the same moment, Gabriel's tactical team entered the facility.
No cinematic heroics.
No reckless charge.
Gabriel moved with trained officers room by room.
They arrested guards.
Secured laboratories.
Recovered servers.
Then gunfire erupted deeper inside.
Gabriel heard Elena scream.
He ran.
He found Mercer holding Daniel's gurney.
Mateo stood beside Elena.
Mercer had a weapon.
Gabriel aimed.
"Step away from my son."
Mercer smiled.
"You don't understand what Daniel is worth."
"He's worth everything."
"To you."
Mercer's weapon shifted toward Elena.
Mateo moved first.
He knocked Mercer's arm aside.
A shot struck the wall.
Gabriel closed the distance.
Seconds later Mercer was on the floor, disarmed and handcuffed.
Gabriel rushed to Daniel.
"Dad."
"I'm here."
Daniel began crying.
Gabriel lifted him carefully.
"I've got you."
Elena stood nearby.
Bruised.
Exhausted.
Alive.
Gabriel looked at Mateo.
"Your brother?"
Elena nodded through tears.
Gabriel understood what that meant.
One family restored while another mystery remained.
Federal agents seized Guardian's servers.
Dozens of names emerged.
Doctors.
Contractors.
Military officials.
Politicians.
Executives.
Guardian was bigger than anyone imagined.
Mercer wasn't the director.
Margaret wasn't the director.
Hale wasn't either.
Anthony had suspected the truth.
But Isabel had known.
The final encrypted file opened at sunrise.
Gabriel watched the video.
His wife appeared on screen.
Pregnant.
Frightened.
Alive in a way that hurt to see.
"Gabriel, if you're watching this, then Daniel is in danger."
Gabriel touched the screen.
Isabel continued.
"The person controlling Guardian is someone you trust completely."
Then she spoke a name.
Gabriel's face went pale.
Before the recording could continue, every screen in the command room suddenly went black.
May you like
A new message appeared.
HE KNOWS YOU FOUND HIM.
