CHAPTER 23 : Laura’s First Daughter
Emily stared at the photograph.
Her hands began shaking.
“That isn’t real.”
Sophie picked it up carefully.
Laura appeared much younger.
She could not have been more than seventeen.
The newborn wore a hospital bracelet, but the printed name had been torn away.
Ethan studied Laura’s face.
He had seen photographs from that period of her life.
But he had never seen this one.
“She never told me,” he said.
Emily backed away.
“Northstar made fake photographs.”
“They also altered birth records,” Rachel said. “We need evidence.”
Daniel remained focused on the explosive device beneath Elsie.
“Discuss it somewhere else.”
Emily closed the file.
“I’m going to Wren.”
“No,” Sophie said.
“If I don’t, Elsie could die.”
“If you do, he’ll take you.”
Emily looked at the frightened child sitting on the pressure sensor.
“He already took me once.”
Daniel examined the wiring.
“The system has two triggers. Pressure and remote activation.”
“Can you disable it?” Ethan asked.
“Not while Wren controls the remote signal.”
Emily stepped toward the lower tunnel.
“Then he needs to believe I’m surrendering.”
Sophie caught her hand.
“We do it together.”
“You’re nine.”
“And you’re scared.”
Emily looked at her.
“So are you.”
“Yes.”
Sophie did not release her hand.
“But being scared doesn’t mean going alone.”
They developed a plan.
Emily entered the lower passage wearing a concealed microphone.
Daniel used the movement to trace Wren’s signal.
Ethan followed at a distance.
The tunnel opened into an underground medical chamber.
Old hospital beds lined the walls.
Judge Wren stood behind a glass partition.
Gideon Price was beside him.
The guardian appointed to protect Noah and Elsie smiled when Emily entered.
“Subject Seven,” Price said. “You’ve grown.”
“My name is Emily.”
“That name was assigned to you.”
“What was my name before?”
Wren stepped closer to the glass.
“Your mother never chose one.”
Emily’s face tightened.
“Laura was my mother.”
“Laura was a frightened teenager whose family considered you a problem.”
Sophie listened through Daniel’s headset.
She wanted to believe Wren was lying.
But Emily’s silence frightened her.
Wren placed a document against the glass.
A birth certificate.
The mother’s name read:
LAURA ELIZABETH BLACKWOOD.
The father’s name was sealed.
“Laura searched for you for years,” Wren said. “When she finally found you, she discovered what Northstar had become.”
“What was it before?”
“A solution.”
“For stolen children?”
“For inconvenient heirs. Unwanted infants. Families facing scandals. Children whose existence threatened fortunes.”
Emily moved closer.
“And the Blackwoods paid for it.”
“Laura’s grandfather founded it.”
Ethan heard the words through the microphone.
His stomach turned.
Wren pressed a button.
The speakers inside the archive activated.
“Daniel has forty seconds before I trigger the explosives.”
Emily looked toward Price.
“What do you want?”
“The file Laura hid.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Sophie does.”
Sophie looked down at the framed photograph of Laura she always carried.
The frame felt heavier than it should.
She opened the back.
A thin metal key fell into her palm.
Laura had hidden it behind the photograph.
Wren’s voice continued.
“Bring me the Blackwood key.”
Daniel cut the final wire beneath Elsie.
Nothing happened.
He lifted her from the pressure plate and carried her to Marissa.
At the same moment, Wren activated the remote trigger.
A section of the lower tunnel exploded.
Smoke filled the archive.
Ethan rushed toward the glass chamber.
Price grabbed Emily.
She struck him and pulled away.
Wren disappeared through a rear door.
Daniel shouted through the radio.
“The Lane children are safe, but the tunnel is collapsing!”
Ethan reached Emily.
They ran toward the archive.
Behind them, Price raised a weapon.
A gunshot echoed.
May you like
Emily fell.
Sophie screamed her name.
