Chapter 7 - The Children Are Innocent

Judge Warren Pike’s order arrived electronically three minutes later.

Insufficient evidence of imminent destruction.

Nora Bell laughed once.

“That is not a legal finding. That is a warning.”

Charles leaned over the document.

“He assigned himself to the emergency review.”

“He should have recused.”

“He didn’t.”

Evelyn looked at Lena.

“Your father knows you’re alive.”

Lena’s face tightened.

“He always knew.”

Everyone stared.

“What?” Evelyn said.

Lena looked toward the window.

“I told him two years ago.”

Eli stepped back.

“You said you were hiding.”

“I was.”

“From him?”

“No. From Sloan.”

Charles cursed.

“You’ve been talking to Pike?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Intermittently.”

“Why?”

“Because he wanted to help expose the program.”

Noah stared.

“The same judge who sealed my brother’s records?”

Lena nodded.

“He regretted it.”

Eli’s voice became cold.

“That’s another adult word for too late.”

Lena flinched.

Nora grabbed her coat.

“I’m going upstairs.”

Charles frowned.

“To Pike?”

“Yes.”

“Without a warrant?”

“With a witness.”

Lena shook her head.

“He won’t talk.”

“He just denied me. He’ll talk.”

Evelyn said, “We’re coming.”

“No.”

“Nora.”

“This is federal procedure.”

“And those are my sons.”

Nora studied her.

“Fine. Lobby only.”

Judge Pike’s chambers occupied the top floor.

Security was tight.

Marcus remained with the boys near the elevators.

Evelyn, Charles, Lena, and Nora entered a conference room.

Pike arrived ten minutes later.

He looked older than his photographs.

He saw Lena and stopped.

“Hello, Dad.”

His eyes filled.

“You should not be here.”

“Neither should you.”

Nora held up the order.

“You denied a warrant involving a case in which your daughter is a material witness.”

Pike sat.

“I denied a defective application.”

“You buried medical records twelve years ago.”

His jaw tightened.

“I followed a sealed emergency petition.”

“Filed by Jonathan Mercer.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I believed my daughter had committed a crime.”

Lena laughed bitterly.

“I had.”

Pike looked at her.

“I was trying to protect you.”

“You protected Jonathan.”

“I did both.”

Evelyn leaned forward.

“You helped erase my son.”

Pike looked at her.

“I did.”

The admission was immediate.

No excuse.

Evelyn almost preferred anger.

“Why?”

“Jonathan threatened to prosecute Lena for embryo tampering. He also threatened to expose Adrian Vale as the source of stolen genetic material.”

“False evidence.”

“I learned that later.”

Lena snapped, “You chose not to know.”

Pike closed his eyes.

“Yes.”

Nora placed the ledger on the table.

“Did you receive money?”

“No.”

“Did your family foundation?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“Two million.”

Evelyn stared.

Pike continued.

“I returned it through intermediaries after Jonathan died.”

Charles looked at him.

“That doesn’t erase bribery.”

“No.”

Nora said, “Then cooperate.”

Pike looked toward the door.

“I cannot.”

“Why?”

“My grandson.”

Lena froze.

“What grandson?”

Pike’s face broke.

“Your sister’s boy.”

Lena stood.

“Matthew?”

“Yes.”

“What about him?”

“Sloan has him.”

The room went still.

Nora whispered, “Explain.”

Pike gripped the table.

“Matthew disappeared from boarding school yesterday. Sloan called me last night.”

Lena’s voice became a whisper.

“You denied the warrant because he threatened a child.”

“Yes.”

Evelyn closed her eyes.

The pattern repeated.

Adults committing crimes while claiming children gave them no choice.

“Where is Matthew?” Nora asked.

“I don’t know.”

“When is Sloan calling again?”

“Soon.”

Marcus entered without knocking.

“Mrs. Mercer.”

“What?”

“Eli is gone.”

The blood left Evelyn’s face.

“What do you mean gone?”

“Noah says he followed the gray-suit man.”

Evelyn ran.

Noah stood near the stairwell, pale and furious.

“I tried to stop him.”

“Where?”

“He got a text.”

“What text?”

Noah handed her Eli’s borrowed phone.

A message:

BLUE TRUNK FOR THE BOY. COME ALONE. UNDERGROUND GARAGE C.

Evelyn’s vision narrowed.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“He said they had a kid.”

“Matthew?”

Noah nodded.

“He said if adults kept trading kids for evidence, he was going to stop it.”

Marcus was already moving.

“Garage C.”

Nora triggered a security lockdown.

Too late.

Security cameras showed Eli entering the underground garage.

Then a gray van leaving thirty seconds before the gates sealed.

Evelyn stared at the screen.

“No.”

Noah began to cry.

“I should’ve stopped him.”

“This is not your fault.”

“He’s my brother.”

It was the first time Noah said it without hesitation.

Evelyn pulled him close.

“I know.”

Marcus pointed at the screen.

“The van has a municipal fleet plate.”

Nora frowned.

“Fake?”

“Maybe cloned.”

Pike stood behind them.

“Sloan owns a decommissioned research campus outside Albany.”

Lena turned.

“The old Mercer Neuro facility.”

“Yes.”

Charles said, “That place closed after Jonathan died.”

Pike shook his head.

“Not all of it.”

Nora grabbed her phone.

“I need tactical authorization.”

Pike said, “You won’t get it fast enough.”

“Then give me probable cause.”

He looked at her.

“I’ll testify.”

Lena stared at him.

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“Because Matthew was taken?”

Pike swallowed.

“Yes.”

“And Gabriel wasn’t enough twelve years ago?”

Pike looked at the floor.

“No.”

Lena’s eyes filled with tears.

“At least you finally said it.”

Noah looked at Pike.

“My brother’s name is Eli.”

Pike nodded.

“Eli.”

Nora obtained the emergency warrant.

They drove toward Albany with federal agents following.

Evelyn sat beside Noah.

She could barely breathe.

“Mom.”

“Yes?”

“What if he thinks we won’t come?”

“He knows.”

“How?”

“Because he came back to us yesterday.”

Noah looked out the window.

“He didn’t come back. We found him.”

Evelyn squeezed his hand.

“Then we find him again.”

At the research campus, federal vehicles surrounded a concrete building.

Marcus studied thermal images.

“Three heat signatures in the basement.”

Nora pointed.

“One likely guard. Two juveniles.”

Evelyn’s knees weakened.

Eli.

Matthew.

Agents entered.

Gunfire erupted below.

Noah flinched.

Evelyn held him.

Minutes stretched into years.

Then Marcus’s radio crackled.

“Two minors secured.”

Evelyn ran before anyone could stop her.

Eli emerged from a service stairwell wrapped in a federal jacket.

Blood marked his lip.

Matthew Pike, fourteen, walked beside him.

Evelyn grabbed Eli.

He went rigid.

Then collapsed into her.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t ever do that again.”

“I had to.”

“No.”

“They had him.”

“I know.”

“I thought if I gave them the trunk—”

“You are not responsible for saving every child adults endanger.”

He began to cry.

Evelyn held him tighter.

“You are allowed to be twelve.”

Noah reached them.

“You idiot.”

Eli laughed weakly.

“You followed me once.”

“Not into a kidnapping.”

“Details.”

Noah hugged him.

Eli froze.

Then hugged back.

Marcus approached.

“We found the blue trunk in the van.”

Evelyn stared.

“You had it?”

Eli nodded.

“I took it.”

Charles muttered, “Of course you did.”

Nora walked toward them.

“We have one suspect in custody.”

“Who?” Evelyn asked.

A man in a gray suit was led out in handcuffs.

Eli looked at him.

“That’s him.”

Nora said, “Name is Victor Sloan.”

Richard Sloan’s brother.

Marcus frowned.

“And Richard?”

Nora’s face darkened.

“Missing.”

A federal agent ran toward her.

“Ma’am, we found a secure room.”

“What’s inside?”

“Archived video.”

Miriam, watching remotely, helped identify the files.

Dozens of recorded child assessments.

Mercer subjects.

Vale subjects.

Other families.

Then one final folder.

J. MERCER — FINAL STATEMENT.

Evelyn stared.

“Jonathan recorded something before he died.”

Nora opened the file.

Jonathan appeared on screen.

Older.

Tired.

Terrified.

“If this is being watched, I am probably dead.”

Noah’s hand tightened around Eli’s.

Jonathan continued.

“I created the Mercer Selection Program.”

Evelyn shut her eyes.

“I told myself I was helping families. Then I told myself I was advancing science. Eventually I stopped needing excuses.”

Charles looked away.

“I authorized illegal genetic collection.”

Jonathan’s voice cracked.

“I allowed children to be categorized, tracked, reassigned.”

Eli stared.

“I gave away one of my wife’s sons because he was not genetically mine.”

Noah’s eyes filled.

Jonathan looked directly into the camera.

“Gabriel, if you ever see this, I was your father in law and in cowardice, but never in the way you deserved.”

Eli whispered, “Don’t call me that.”

The video continued.

“Noah, I used you as a comparison subject.”

Noah began to shake.

“I told myself the monitoring could protect you.”

He laughed bitterly.

“It did not.”

Then Jonathan leaned closer.

“Richard Sloan funded the expansion. Warren Pike covered the first scandal. Charles Vane hid the money. Rose Calder took Gabriel. Lena Pike broke protocol. Adrian Vale tried to stop us.”

Charles closed his eyes.

Jonathan’s final words came slowly.

“No one in this story is innocent.”

Evelyn stared.

Then Jonathan said one more thing.

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“But the children are.”

The screen went black.