CHAPTER 11 – Across the Ocean
For several seconds, no one in the command center moved.
Rebecca slowly lowered the satellite phone.
"Trace it."
The communications team sprang into action.
Screens lit up.
Signals bounced across satellites.
Encrypted routing paths appeared one after another.
Thirty seconds later, the lead analyst looked up.
"I've got the last relay."
"Where?"
"The North Atlantic."
Rebecca frowned.
"That's impossible."
"The call came through a moving satellite terminal."
"A ship?"
The analyst nodded.
"Or a private aircraft."
I arrived at the command center just as Rebecca finished explaining the call.
Claire was still recovering in the hospital under heavy protection, refusing to believe her daughter had left the country.
I refused to believe it too.
"Tell me exactly what Emily said."
Rebecca repeated every word.
"Victor isn't hiding your granddaughter in America."
"He's already taken her across the ocean."
Marcus leaned over the map.
"Victor never does anything without planning three steps ahead."
"He escaped with a newborn."
"He wouldn't risk commercial travel."
Rebecca nodded.
"So where did he go?"
The analyst highlighted three possible routes.
Private jet.
Cargo ship.
Medical evacuation aircraft.
One destination appeared on all three routes.
Iceland.
"Why Iceland?" I asked.
Marcus answered quietly.
"Because it has something Victor values."
"What?"
"No extradition delays for private medical transports."
Rebecca turned sharply.
"And?"
"And..."
Marcus hesitated.
"...because Legacy Protocol once operated a research facility there."
The room fell silent.
Every clue led back to the same thing.
Legacy.
Not hospitals.
Not money.
Legacy.
Meanwhile...
Thousands of miles away...
Claire's baby slept peacefully inside a glass nursery overlooking snow-covered cliffs.
The room looked more like a luxury pediatric suite than a prison.
Warm lighting.
Soft music.
Medical monitors of the highest quality.
Emily Voss stood beside the crib.
She gently adjusted the baby's blanket.
"I'm sorry."
Tears welled in her eyes.
"I couldn't stop him."
Behind her, Victor entered carrying a bottle of warm milk.
"You've grown attached."
Emily didn't answer.
Victor looked down at the sleeping infant.
"I warned you."
"She's just a baby."
"So were all the others."
Emily turned toward him.
"And look what happened to them."
Victor's expression darkened.
"They survived."
"They lost themselves."
Victor walked toward the panoramic window.
Beyond the glass stood an isolated compound surrounded by volcanic rock and endless snow.
No roads.
No nearby towns.
Only one small airstrip.
The perfect place to disappear.
"They'll come."
Emily crossed her arms.
"Evelyn?"
"Yes."
"And when she arrives?"
Victor smiled faintly.
"She'll finally understand why I did all of this."
Back in Washington...
The forensic team completed the restoration of Emily's journals.
One page had been hidden beneath glued paper.
Rebecca carefully separated the sheets.
A hand-drawn family tree appeared.
Victor Voss stood at the top.
Below him...
Daniel.
Emily.
Several unfamiliar names.
Then, off to one side, connected by a red line instead of black...
Claire.
Rebecca stared.
Claire wasn't listed as a victim.
She wasn't listed as adopted.
She was listed as...
Candidate 17.
"What does Candidate mean?" I asked.
No one answered.
Marcus slowly turned another page.
At the bottom appeared a handwritten note from Emily.
Father never chose Claire because of Daniel.
He chose Daniel because of Claire.
I felt the room spin.
Daniel hadn't selected my daughter.
Victor had arranged everything.
Their meeting.
Their relationship.
Their marriage.
Their child.
Every moment had been orchestrated years before.
Claire awoke in the hospital to find two federal agents outside her room.
The first thing she asked was the same question.
"My daughter?"
The silence told her everything.
She looked toward the window.
"I need to see my mother."
One of the agents nodded.
"She's at headquarters."
Claire slowly reached beneath her pillow.
She removed the photograph of herself and Emily as children.
"I remember her now."
The agent frowned.
"You do?"
Claire nodded.
"She used to sing to me."
"What song?"
Claire closed her eyes.
Without thinking, she quietly began humming a lullaby.
The melody was haunting.
Simple.
Old.
One of the nurses passing the doorway suddenly stopped.
She turned pale.
"Where did you learn that?"
Claire opened her eyes.
"I don't know."
The nurse whispered,
"My grandmother used to sing that."
"So?"
"She worked..."
Her voice trembled.
"...at Legacy Academy."
Hours later, the nurse was interviewed by Rebecca.
Her grandmother had died years earlier, but she had left behind several boxes of personal belongings.
One box contained photographs.
Another contained letters.
The last contained a leather notebook.
Inside was a list of children's names.
Rebecca's breath caught.
Twenty-two names were crossed out.
One remained untouched.
Candidate 17
Claire Hale.
The final page held a single sentence.
When Candidate 17 becomes a mother, Phase Four begins.
Marcus looked up slowly.
"We've been asking the wrong question."
"What question should we be asking?"
He looked directly at me.
"Not why Victor kidnapped Claire's baby."
He paused.
"But..."
"Why did he wait until now?"
At that same moment, inside the Icelandic compound, alarms quietly sounded.
A security officer approached Victor.
"Sir."
"What is it?"
"The DNA sequencing is complete."
Victor accepted the report.
He smiled for the first time in years.
"So..."
He looked toward the nursery where Claire's daughter slept peacefully.
"...it's true."
Emily stepped into the room.
"What is?"
Victor handed her the report.
Her face drained of color as she read the final line.
GENETIC MATCH CONFIRMED
PHASE FOUR ELIGIBLE
Emily whispered,
"No..."
May you like
Victor looked out across the frozen sea.
"The future can finally begin."
