Chapter 10 - The Daughter Henry Chose to Carry On His Name
The tunnel beneath Mercy Ridge extended nearly three miles.
It ended near a private railway platform hidden beneath the Wallace estate.
By the time federal teams reached the property, Henry was gone.
So were the missing children.
A helicopter had departed twenty minutes earlier under medical clearance.
The authorization bore Captain Grant’s credentials, though Grant was already in custody.
The network still controlled active officials.
Investigators found a command center beneath Henry’s library.
Screens displayed medical records, family trees, blood types, and photographs of children.
Sarah’s file occupied the central monitor.
Beside it was Emily’s.
A red notice flashed across both.
CONTINUITY DECISION PENDING.
Rebecca stood beside Sarah.
“He was still deciding which of you survived.”
Sarah looked at the dates.
The most recent update had been entered that morning.
Preferred identity vessel: Sarah Cross Bennett.
Emily Bennett status: compromised.
Henry had chosen Sarah to replace Emily after all.
Not because he valued her.
Because Sarah’s public rescue generated sympathy.
He intended to transform the imprisoned girl into a carefully controlled heir to the Wallace legacy.
Emily had become disposable.
Daniel called the hospital security team.
No answer.
He contacted the officer assigned to Emily’s room.
The officer was found unconscious inside a supply closet.
Emily had disappeared.
Noah remained safe with child services, but he had seen a woman enter the pediatric wing wearing a red scarf.
“She said she was Emily’s grandmother,” he told Daniel.
Henry’s wife had died years earlier.
Margaret was in custody.
The woman may have been Dr. Evelyn Shaw.
A message arrived on Sarah’s phone.
It came from Emily’s number.
A video opened.
Emily sat inside a helicopter with her hands tied.
Dr. Shaw appeared beside her.
Henry Wallace sat across from them in a wheelchair, silver cane resting between his knees.
He looked frail.
His voice remained strong.
“Sarah, Margaret failed because she confused emotion with purpose. Emily cannot continue our work. You can.”
Sarah spoke toward the screen even though the video was not live.
“I will never help you.”
Henry continued.
“You already have. Your rescue exposed disloyal locations. Weak partners are being removed. The system will become stronger.”
The camera turned toward Emily.
Her face was bruised.
She looked directly into the lens.
“Do not trade yourself for me.”
Dr. Shaw struck her.
The video shook.
Henry raised one hand.
“Enough.”
He looked toward the camera.
“The next leap day is in seventy two hours. Return to the Bennett basement at midnight. Come alone, and Emily lives.”
The video ended.
Daniel immediately rejected the demand.
“He expects surveillance. The basement is compromised.”
Sarah examined the files recovered from Henry’s command center.
One map showed every known Site 29 location.
Most had been abandoned.
One remained active.
A facility beneath a private island in Lake Erie.
The island belonged to the Wallace Foundation.
Flight records showed Henry’s helicopter moving northwest.
Sarah pointed toward the screen.
“He does not want me at the basement.”
“He gave a location.”
“He trained me for sixteen years to obey doors, clocks, and leap day rules. He wants me focused on the house while he moves Emily.”
Daniel understood.
The basement demand was a diversion.
Federal aircraft prepared for the island.
Sarah was not permitted on the tactical team.
She accepted the decision only after receiving live communication access.
Rebecca remained beside her.
Noah asked to speak before the operation began.
Sarah knelt near him.
“Bring Emily back.”
“I’ll try.”
“She saved me in the elevator.”
“I know.”
“Does that make her good now?”
Sarah considered the question.
“People are not only one thing.”
“Is Mom bad?”
He meant Margaret.
“She did terrible things.”
“Can she still love us?”
“Maybe she believes she does.”
“Is that enough?”
“No.”
Noah nodded as if confirming something he already understood.
The island raid began before dawn.
Agents found landing marks near the old medical building.
Underground cameras showed movement.
The first rooms contained records.
The second level held surgical theaters.
The third contained children.
Seventeen were rescued.
Emily was not among them.
Dr. Shaw’s medical case was found beside an operating table.
Fresh blood marked the floor.
A monitor displayed Sarah’s rare blood type.
Daniel’s voice came through the command feed.
“We found another tunnel.”
The passage led toward the island’s northern cliff.
A boat had departed into heavy fog.
Coast Guard units closed the surrounding water.
Radar detected three vessels.
Two stopped when ordered.
The third continued toward Canadian waters.
Sarah watched its position on the screen.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Emily whispered, “Sarah?”
“I’m here.”
“They think I’m unconscious.”
“Where are you?”
“On a boat.”
“I know.”
“Henry keeps asking Dr. Shaw whether my heart is compatible.”
Sarah’s breath stopped.
Emily’s kidney was no longer the immediate target.
Henry needed a heart for someone.
“Compatible with whom?”
A floorboard creaked near Emily.
She spoke quickly.
“There’s another girl here. She looks exactly like you.”
The line became silent.
Sarah gripped the phone.
“What did you say?”
Emily’s voice returned in a whisper.
“She says her name is Abigail Cross.”
Sarah could not move.
Rebecca stared at her.
Sarah had been identified as Abigail through DNA.
Rebecca was her biological mother.
Yet another girl on Henry’s boat claimed the same name and apparently resembled Sarah.
A man took the phone.
Henry Wallace spoke.
“Your mother gave birth to only one child, Sarah. But Dr. Shaw created two.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Sarah forced herself to speak.
“What does that mean?”
Henry laughed softly.
“You were never stolen because you matched Emily by chance.”
The boat’s signal moved closer to international waters.
“You were designed for her.”
The call ended.
On the command screen, the vessel disappeared into fog.
Then Sarah received a photograph.
Emily sat beside a pale teenage girl with the same long brown hair, the same eyes, and the same crescent birthmark behind her ear.
Between them rested a metal case labeled with Sarah’s birth date.
A note had been taped across the lid.
ONLY ONE OF THE GIRLS WAS BORN AT MERCY RIDGE.
Sarah looked toward Rebecca.
Her biological mother had spent sixteen years searching for Abigail.
But the final evidence suggested Sarah might not be the missing baby at all.
May you like
And somewhere beyond the fog, Henry Wallace was preparing to reveal which girl had been created, which girl had been stolen, and which one he intended to bring home.
Continue to the next part: Sarah must discover whether she is Rebecca’s missing daughter or the first child secretly created by Dr. Shaw’s experiments, while Emily remains trapped aboard Henry’s disappearing vessel.
