Chapter 6 - The Missing Son
William read the hospital bracelet again.
The birth date was twenty-two years old.
Eli stood beside him.
“Mom never told me I had a brother.”
Lena Brooks opened a thin folder.
“This bracelet was found in the abandoned ambulance.”
“Was there a birth record?” William asked.
“No record under Mara Ellison.”
Dennis leaned forward.
“Then the delivery was hidden.”
Lena nodded.
“Or the record was removed.”
William stared at the date.
He had been deployed overseas when the child was born.
His father had personally delivered the news that Mara had left him.
The timing was no longer suspicious.
It was precise.
“What happened to the baby?” Eli asked.
No one answered.
Lena continued.
“We checked sealed adoption records in Missouri.”
“And?”
“There is one male child matching the date and hospital.”
William’s chest tightened.
“Name?”
“The file is restricted.”
“Unrestrict it.”
“You’re a senator, not a judge.”
William pulled out his phone.
“Then I’ll find one.”
Lena stopped him.
“There is another problem.”
She placed a photograph on the table.
A young man stood outside a courthouse.
Dark hair.
Straight posture.
Calm eyes.
William stared at the face.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
“This is Daniel Sloan,” Lena said.
Eli looked at her.
“Sloan?”
“Rebecca Sloan’s adopted son.”
William’s phone nearly slipped from his hand.
“How old is he?”
“Twenty-two.”
Dennis whispered a curse.
Rebecca had not merely known Mara’s secret.
She had raised it.
William looked at Lena.
“Does Daniel know?”
“We don’t know.”
“Where is he?”
“He works as a junior analyst for the Senate Armed Services Committee.”
William’s face went cold.
“My committee.”
“Yes.”
A knock sounded at the door.
An agent entered and handed Lena a note.
She read it twice.
“What happened?” Dennis asked.
“Daniel Sloan entered the federal building this morning.”
William looked toward the window.
“At what time?”
“Eleven minutes before Eli arrived.”
“Is he still there?”
“He never scanned out.”
William headed for the door.
Lena blocked him.
“The building is being searched.”
“I’m going back.”
“Senator, whoever took Mara may be waiting for you to do exactly that.”
William’s voice lowered.
“My son may be inside.”
Eli stared at him.
The word had come naturally.
Son.
William saw the pain in Eli’s expression.
He immediately understood.
“I’m not leaving you behind.”
Eli looked away.
Lena arranged an armored convoy.
By the time they returned to the Truman Federal Building, the entrance was packed with reporters.
Questions exploded around them.
“Senator, who is the boy?”
“Is your campaign manager involved in a kidnapping?”
“What does the ring mean?”
William kept one hand near Eli’s shoulder without touching him.
They entered through a secure side door.
The seventh floor had been evacuated.
Daniel’s access badge had last been used near the records archive.
Dennis opened the archive door.
The lights were off.
Rows of shelves disappeared into darkness.
A computer monitor glowed at the far end.
William moved toward it.
On the screen was a video file labeled:
ELLISON — FINAL STATEMENT.
He clicked it.
Mara appeared on the screen.
She looked exhausted.
But she was alive.
“William,” she said.
“If you are seeing this, then Rebecca has already taken me.”
Eli stepped closer.
Mara continued.
“She did not steal our first son.”
“Your father gave him to her.”
William gripped the desk.
“He believed a child connected to the Fort Leonard Wood exposure could become evidence.”
“He ordered the birth hidden.”
“He ordered me silenced.”
“I spent twenty-two years trying to find Daniel.”
Mara looked directly into the camera.
“And three weeks ago, he found me first.”
A sound came from behind the shelves.
Metal scraped against the floor.
Dennis raised his weapon.
“Federal security.”
A young man stepped into the dim light.
May you like
Daniel Sloan held a gun.
It was pointed directly at William.
