Chapter 15 - THEY CAME FOR ELENA
Daniel called Elena before Adrian finished reading the note.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
His chest tightened.
Marcus called the officers guarding the safe house.
One answered.
His voice was panicked.
“We have a breach.”
Daniel grabbed the phone.
“Where is Elena?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel felt the world drop away.
“What do you mean?”
“The cameras went down.”
“Backup?”
“Down.”
“Children?”
“Noah and Sophie are here.”
Daniel exhaled once.
“Elena?”
“Missing.”
Adrian was already moving.
Daniel blocked him.
“You knew where she was.”
“I knew the safe house.”
“How?”
Adrian stared.
“I know every Whitmore property.”
Daniel grabbed his shirt.
“Did you tell anyone?”
“No.”
“Did you lead them there?”
“No.”
Marcus pulled Daniel back.
“We find her faster if we move.”
They drove without sirens.
Noah was sitting on the floor when Daniel arrived.
He ran to him.
“Daddy!”
Daniel dropped to his knees.
“Where’s Mommy?”
Noah started crying.
“She went to get water.”
“And then the lights went out.”
Sophie stood near the hallway.
She looked terrified but controlled.
Daniel moved to her.
“What did you see?”
“A woman.”
Everyone froze.
“What woman?”
“She wore a nurse shirt.”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
Adrian’s face changed.
“What?”
Daniel asked.
Adrian whispered.
“Claire Donnelly.”
The nurse who had helped Reed trace Baby B.
Marcus frowned.
“She disappeared years ago.”
Adrian nodded.
“She worked for Victor after Reed died.”
Daniel stared.
“So the witness became part of the cover-up.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Victor had her daughter.”
Daniel felt sick.
“Everyone had someone.”
Adrian nodded.
“That’s how he controlled people.”
Sophie tugged Daniel’s sleeve.
“The nurse said something.”
Daniel crouched.
“What?”
“She told Elena…”
Sophie swallowed.
“She said, ‘Your sister is waiting.’”
Elena thought Rachel was dead.
Daniel stared at Adrian.
“Could Rachel be alive?”
Adrian shook his head.
“I saw her body.”
“You said she drowned.”
“I found her the next morning.”
Daniel froze.
“You found her?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“South bank.”
“Did Charles know?”
“No.”
“What did you do?”
Adrian looked ashamed.
“I buried her.”
Elena’s accusation echoed in Daniel’s mind.
People like us were the ones who paid for it.
Another man had decided what happened to Rachel’s body.
Adrian continued.
“I thought if Victor found her, he would erase everything she carried.”
“Did she have evidence?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Adrian touched his chest.
“She had a memory card sewn into her coat.”
Daniel stared.
“What was on it?”
“Names.”
“Payments.”
“Video from the clinic.”
“Consent violations.”
“And one recording.”
“What recording?”
Adrian looked at Charles.
“Victor admitting the entire program.”
Daniel’s heart raced.
“You have it?”
“Not anymore.”
“Who does?”
Adrian looked toward the dark hallway.
“Elena.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“I hid the card inside the greenhouse safe years ago.”
“The velvet box.”
Adrian nodded.
“The ring wasn’t the important thing.”
Daniel remembered Elena opening it.
“Did she take the card?”
“She must have.”
Marcus looked at Noah.
“Did your mom find anything small at the greenhouse?”
Noah frowned.
“A black square?”
Every adult froze.
He nodded.
“She put it in her shoe.”
Daniel almost laughed with disbelief.
Elena had hidden the evidence without telling anyone.
Smart.
Terrified.
Prepared.
Marcus looked at Adrian.
“That’s why they took her.”
“Yes.”
Charles arrived under police escort.
Daniel turned toward him.
“If Claire worked for Victor, where would she take Elena?”
Charles thought.
“There was a recovery house.”
“Where?”
“Outside Richmond.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Closed.”
Charles looked at him.
“You know it?”
“I burned it.”
Daniel stared.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Charles almost smiled.
“Good.”
Adrian looked disgusted.
“Don’t approve of me.”
Daniel interrupted.
“Other locations.”
Charles thought again.
Then his face changed.
“The original clinic.”
Adrian stared.
“It was demolished.”
Charles shook his head.
“The public wing was.”
Daniel understood.
“There’s another part.”
“Underground.”
Adrian cursed.
Charles continued.
“Victor built archival storage beneath the east wing.”
“Access?”
“Old service tunnel.”
Daniel was already moving.
The abandoned clinic stood thirty miles outside the city.
Rain began falling as they arrived.
Most of the building was rubble.
Charles led them toward a concrete drainage tunnel.
Marcus looked at him.
“You remember this well.”
Charles’s expression was hollow.
“I built it.”
They entered.
The tunnel smelled of water and rust.
At the end stood a steel door.
Charles entered an old code.
Nothing.
Adrian pushed him aside.
He removed a knife.
Cut open the keypad.
Crossed two wires.
The lock clicked.
Daniel stared.
Adrian shrugged.
“I had a strange childhood.”
They descended.
Dim fluorescent lights were still on.
Daniel felt sick.
Medical rooms.
Small beds.
Restraints.
Old equipment.
Adrian stopped outside one room.
His face emptied.
“This was mine.”
Daniel looked inside.
A child’s height marks remained scratched into the wall.
A-17.
A-18.
A-19.
Not height.
Days.
Adrian whispered.
“I counted how many days they kept me.”
Daniel looked at his brother.
For one second, all anger disappeared.
Then a scream echoed down the hallway.
Elena.
Daniel ran.
He kicked open a door.
Elena was strapped to a chair.
Claire Donnelly stood beside her holding a syringe.
“Elena!”
Claire spun.
Adrian knocked the syringe from her hand.
Marcus tackled her.
Daniel cut Elena’s restraints.
She grabbed his jacket.
“The card.”
“I know.”
“She wants the card.”
“Do you have it?”
Elena nodded.
“Where?”
She looked at him.
“Not here.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Even tied to a chair, she had not surrendered it.
Claire laughed from the floor.
“You think this is over?”
Marcus cuffed her.
“Who sent you?”
Claire smiled.
“No one.”
Daniel frowned.
“Then why take Elena?”
Claire looked at her.
“Because Rachel asked me to.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
Claire’s smile vanished.
“I didn’t lie.”
“Your sister is waiting.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
“You found a body.”
“You assumed it was Rachel.”
Adrian went pale.
“I saw her.”
“Water changes faces.”
Silence.
Elena began shaking.
Daniel caught her.
Claire continued.
“Rachel survived.”
“No.”
Elena whispered.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Claire smiled.
“In the room behind you.”
Daniel turned.
A glass observation window stood at the end of the hall.
Darkness behind it.
Then a light came on.
A woman stood on the other side.
Thin.
Scarred.
Older.
But Elena recognized her instantly.
Her knees gave out.
“Rachel.”
The woman raised one trembling hand to the glass.
Elena pressed hers against the other side.
Neither could touch.
Both began to cry.
Then Rachel looked past Elena.
At Adrian.
Her expression changed completely.
Fear.
She stepped backward.
May you like
And mouthed two words.
HE KNOWS.
