Chapter 8 - THE LIE HIS MOTHER KEPT
Danny looked like he’d been punched.
Graham stared at him.
“What does he mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Vale’s voice continued through the speaker.
“Anna never told him?”
“Shut up!” Danny screamed.
“Oh. She didn’t.”
Graham looked at Danny.
The boy’s face had gone white.
Vale sounded almost amused.
“Danny, your mother was very good at keeping secrets.”
Cal whispered, “We need to move. There’s a tunnel under the cellar.”
Graham nodded.
Vale kept talking.
“Would you like me to tell you why Anna ran from Halcyon?”
Danny covered his ears.
Maya started crying.
Graham grabbed Danny’s wrist.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Danny ripped free.
“I want to know.”
“Not from him.”
“From who? You?”
That landed.
Danny pointed at Graham.
“You didn’t even tell your own daughter what you funded.”
Claire looked away.
Danny shouted toward the ceiling.
“Who’s my father?”
Silence.
Then Vale answered.
“I am.”
Danny stopped breathing.
“No.”
Maya whispered, “Danny?”
Vale’s voice softened.
“Anna and I were together for three years.”
“You’re lying.”
“You were born at St. Vincent’s. February eighteenth. Seven pounds, four ounces. Your mother wanted to name you Daniel. I wanted Nicholas.”
Danny’s knees buckled.
Graham caught him.
Vale continued.
“She left me when she found out what Eden had become.”
Danny shook his head over and over.
“No.”
“She took you. She took Maya. Later she had Eli with another man.”
“What about Rose?”
Vale went silent.
Danny screamed, “What about Rose?”
Then Vale said, “Rose is mine too.”
Graham felt the room tilt.
Claire stared at him.
Vale continued.
“Anna came back to Halcyon because Eli was sick. She needed money. I helped her.”
Danny’s face twisted with disgust.
“You killed her.”
“I didn’t order her death.”
“You sent those men!”
“I sent them to recover Rose.”
“She’s not yours!”
“She is my daughter.”
Danny’s hands shook violently.
“No.”
Graham grabbed his shoulders.
“Look at me.”
Danny didn’t.
“Danny.”
Finally, he did.
“Being someone’s father takes more than DNA.”
Vale heard him.
His voice hardened.
“You’re hardly the man to give parenting advice, Graham.”
Claire flinched.
Graham said nothing.
Vale knew exactly where to cut.
Cal opened a steel hatch in the rear wall.
A dark tunnel stretched beyond it.
“Go.”
Claire carried Rose.
Maya and Eli followed.
Danny hesitated.
Vale spoke again.
“Danny, I can save her.”
Danny stopped.
Graham turned.
“No.”
“She is dying because she used her gift on him.”
Danny looked at Rose.
Vale continued.
“I understand her physiology. I know what happens after a transfer. Graham doesn’t.”
Claire whispered, “He might be right.”
Graham looked at her.
“What?”
“If Halcyon created this—”
“They didn’t create her.”
“They may know how it works.”
Danny stared toward the ceiling.
“Can you save her?”
Vale answered instantly.
“Yes.”
Graham saw hope appear in Danny’s face.
Dangerous hope.
The kind desperate people died for.
Cal grabbed Danny.
“We go now.”
Danny resisted.
“If he can help her—”
“He murdered your mother.”
“He said he didn’t.”
Graham shouted, “He’s lying.”
Danny spun on him.
“And you never lie?”
Silence.
Graham took it.
He deserved it.
Cal pushed Danny into the tunnel.
Behind them, something exploded upstairs.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
They ran.
Or tried to.
Graham limped behind them, refusing the wheelchair because the tunnel floor was too narrow.
Every step tore through him.
But he kept moving.
After two hundred yards, they reached a steel door hidden behind trees.
Cal cracked it open.
“No vehicles.”
Graham looked toward the lake.
A boathouse stood fifty yards away.
“Boat.”
They moved.
Then Eli cried out.
Everyone turned.
A man in black had stepped from the trees.
He grabbed Eli around the chest.
A knife flashed.
Danny charged.
“No!”
The man pressed the blade to Eli’s throat.
“Back up.”
Danny froze.
Maya screamed.
Claire held Rose tighter.
The man smiled.
“Dr. Vale said you’d choose the baby.”
He dragged Eli backward.
Danny shook his head.
“Please.”
May you like
The man looked at him.
“Now he wants to see what you’ll choose when it’s your brother.”
