Chapter 4 - The Name on the DNA Report
“Lock down the hospital.”
Adrian was already calling security.
Torres grabbed the phone from him.
“Do not warn whoever is watching.”
“They're watching my wife.”
“And if they realize we found this phone, they'll move.”
“They just said to move them.”
“Which means we have minutes.”
Adrian looked toward the warehouse exit.
“Then stop talking.”
At St. Catherine's, Monica knew something was wrong before anyone told her.
The hallway changed.
Two security guards became six.
A nurse quietly locked the conference room door.
Claire noticed too.
“What happened?”
The nurse forced a smile.
“Routine precaution.”
Monica stood.
“Routine doesn't involve locking doors.”
Grace was drawing on hospital stationery.
Emily sat beside Noah's bassinet.
After feeding, he had finally fallen asleep.
Emily touched one finger to his tiny fist.
“Mom.”
Monica looked at her.
“There are men outside.”
Not hospital security.
Two men in dark suits stood beyond the glass corridor.
Neither wore badges.
Monica moved toward the baby.
Claire reached for the call button.
The lights went out.
Grace screamed.
Emergency lighting came on a second later.
Red.
Dim.
Someone struck the door from outside.
Once.
Twice.
Claire grabbed Noah.
Monica pulled Emily and Grace behind the conference table.
The third impact shattered the lock.
A man stepped inside.
He wore hospital scrubs.
But Monica recognized his face.
The second man from the shack.
He held no visible gun.
He did not need one.
“Give me the baby.”
Claire backed away.
“Get out.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
He stepped forward.
Monica grabbed a metal chair.
“Come closer.”
He looked at her.
“Monica, this isn't your fight.”
Her blood turned cold.
“You know me.”
“We've known you for years.”
Emily heard every word.
The man glanced at her.
“And those girls should never have been involved.”
Monica raised the chair.
“Don't look at my daughters.”
The man moved.
Monica swung.
The chair struck his shoulder.
Claire screamed.
He shoved Monica into the table.
Emily grabbed Grace and pulled her beneath it.
Then hospital security stormed in from the second doorway.
The attacker ran toward the emergency stairwell.
Two officers followed.
One tackled him before he reached the stairs.
The lights returned.
Adrian arrived seven minutes later.
He found Claire holding Noah.
Monica sat with an ice pack against her shoulder.
Emily and Grace were pressed together beside her.
He looked at the broken door.
“What happened?”
Claire pointed toward the hallway.
“They came for Noah again.”
Torres entered behind him.
“They didn't come only for Noah.”
She looked at Monica.
“We found something at 317.”
Monica's face tightened.
“What?”
“A DNA report.”
Adrian shut the conference room blinds.
“We need to talk.”
Grace whispered, “Are we in trouble?”
“No,” Adrian said.
“For finding Noah?”
“No.”
Emily stared at him.
“Then why does everybody keep trying to take him?”
Nobody had a good answer.
Torres sat opposite Monica.
“The report has your name.”
Monica frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
“It was created six years ago.”
She placed a photograph of the document on the table.
MONICA REYES.
REFERENCE SAMPLE: FEMALE CHILD A.
REFERENCE SAMPLE: FEMALE CHILD B.
Grace leaned over.
“That's us.”
Monica went pale.
“Where did they get their DNA?”
“We don't know.”
Adrian placed the second page down.
The missing name was visible now.
EDWARD VALE.
Adrian's father.
Claire looked from the page to Emily and Grace.
“What does that mean?”
Torres answered carefully.
“The report indicates a biological relationship.”
Adrian stared at Monica.
Monica shook her head.
“No.”
“Did you know my father?”
“I cleaned his office.”
“Did you have a relationship with him?”
“No.”
The word came sharp.
“Absolutely not.”
“Then why—”
“I don't know!”
Emily flinched.
Monica lowered her voice.
“I’m sorry.”
Torres pointed to the analysis.
“This does not say Edward Vale was the girls' father.”
Adrian looked closer.
“What does it say?”
“Second-degree relationship.”
Claire understood first.
“Siblings. Grandparent. Aunt or uncle.”
Torres nodded.
“The report suggests Edward Vale was closely related to Emily and Grace.”
Adrian's mind moved quickly.
“My father had one brother.”
“Samuel Vale,” Claire said.
“Died eighteen years ago.”
“Any children?”
“No.”
Monica suddenly sat very still.
Emily noticed.
“Mom?”
Torres noticed too.
“Who was the twins' father?”
Monica looked down.
“His name was Jonah.”
“Last name?”
“Reyes.”
“Was that his legal name?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian stared.
“You don't know your children's father's real name?”
“He said his family was dangerous.”
Monica's voice dropped.
“I thought he meant drugs. Debt. Something criminal.”
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared while I was pregnant.”
“Did he ever mention Vale?”
“No.”
“Daniel Mercer?”
“No.”
“Did he leave anything?”
Monica froze.
Grace said, “The necklace.”
Monica turned.
“Grace.”
“What necklace?” Torres asked.
Grace pointed to Monica's throat.
A thin chain disappeared beneath her shirt.
Monica slowly pulled it free.
A small silver disk hung from it.
Adrian recognized the symbol.
The same V inside a circle.
Vale family insignia.
He stared at Monica.
“Where did you get that?”
“Jonah.”
Adrian reached toward it.
Then stopped.
“May I?”
Monica removed the necklace.
He turned the disk over.
Engraved on the back:
J.V.
Adrian stopped breathing.
He had known one Jonah.
Not well.
A cousin he had met only twice as a teenager.
Jonathan Vale.
Samuel's son.
The family had been told Jonathan died abroad.
A boating accident.
No body recovered.
“Jonah wasn't Jonah Reyes,” Adrian said.
Monica stared.
“Then who was he?”
“My cousin.”
The room went silent.
Emily looked at Grace.
Grace looked back.
Adrian lowered himself into a chair.
“My father told everyone Jonathan was dead.”
“He wasn't.”
“No.”
Torres leaned back.
“So Emily and Grace are Vale descendants.”
Adrian looked at the twins.
Children who searched garbage for food.
Children whose grandfather's family controlled billions.
Claire whispered, “That's why Daniel watched Monica.”
Adrian nodded slowly.
“My father knew.”
Monica's voice became cold.
“Your father knew my daughters existed?”
“It looks that way.”
“And he let them live like this?”
“I don't know what he knew.”
“I do.”
She stood.
“He knew enough to steal their DNA.”
Adrian accepted the accusation.
Because she was right.
Torres tapped the note Daniel had written.
“Somebody tried to erase a child.”
Adrian looked at Noah.
“More than one.”
The pieces began aligning.
Jonathan Vale had survived.
He had children.
Someone wanted those children hidden.
Years later, Noah was kidnapped.
Instead of being killed, he was placed where Emily and Grace would find him.
Why?
Claire whispered the question.
“Why leave Noah for the twins?”
Torres looked at the photographs from the warehouse.
“Maybe whoever took him wasn't trying to kill him.”
Adrian stared.
“They were trying to connect us.”
“Exactly.”
“Daniel?”
“Possibly.”
“He's supposed to be missing.”
“Maybe missing isn't dead.”
The captured attacker from the hospital finally agreed to speak at 8:30 that night.
His name was Eric Sloan.
Former private security.
He asked for a lawyer.
Then made one statement before refusing everything else.
“Daniel Mercer didn't kidnap the baby.”
Torres sat across from him.
“Who did?”
“I don't know.”
“You tried to take him.”
“I was paid to recover him.”
“By whom?”
Silence.
“Who left Noah behind Benson Market?”
Sloan smiled.
“Somebody trying to save him.”
Torres leaned forward.
“From who?”
Sloan's smile vanished.
“The same person who made Jonathan Vale disappear.”
Torres placed Adrian's family photograph on the table.
“Name.”
Sloan looked away.
“Name.”
He said nothing.
Torres stood.
Then Sloan whispered:
“Ask why Marcus Vale was at St. Catherine's three hours before the kidnapping.”
Upstairs, Adrian stood at the window.
His brother had stopped answering calls.
Security could not locate him.
Adrian opened the family tracking system.
Marcus's company vehicle appeared on the map.
Not at home.
Not at the hospital.
At property 317.
Adrian stared at the blinking dot.
Then his phone rang.
Marcus.
Adrian answered.
“Where are you?”
For several seconds, only breathing.
Then Marcus said:
“I found Daniel.”
Adrian's body went rigid.
“Put him on.”
A distant sound came through the phone.
A door opening.
Then another man's voice.
Older.
Weak.
Familiar from childhood.
“Adrian?”
May you like
He knew that voice.
Daniel Mercer was alive.
