Chapter 9 - The Missing Twin
Laney’s scream tore through the dark room.
“My baby!”
Asher reached the empty bassinet.
Blanket.
Hospital bracelet.
No Elias.
Amara began crying in Laney’s arms.
Malik woke fully and panicked.
“What happened?”
Asher grabbed his phone and turned on the flashlight.
“Stay with Mom.”
He ran into the hallway.
Emergency lights blinked.
Nurses shouted from multiple rooms.
A backup generator had failed to activate properly.
Daniel appeared from the stairwell.
“What happened?”
Asher slammed him against the wall.
“Where is my son?”
Daniel’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“Elias is gone.”
Daniel shoved Asher’s arm away.
“If I took your son, would I be standing here?”
Asher remembered Richard’s note.
Do not trust Daniel Cross.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You’ve known me eight years.”
“My father knew you longer.”
That changed something.
Daniel went still.
“What are you talking about?”
“You knew Richard.”
“No.”
“My father said not to trust you.”
Daniel’s face drained.
“Richard is dead.”
“Recently.”
Daniel stared.
Then immediately shifted back to the crisis.
“We find Elias first. You can accuse me afterward.”
He activated his radio.
“All exits locked. Nobody leaves the building. Infant abduction protocol now.”
Alarms began sounding.
Laney appeared in the doorway holding Amara.
“You’re locking down the building?”
“Yes.”
“The person who took him may still be on this floor.”
Daniel nodded.
“Exactly.”
Security footage was useless during the power interruption.
But one camera on an independent battery caught seventeen seconds.
A nurse entering the suite.
White scrubs.
Mask.
Hospital cap.
Elias in her arms.
“Who is she?” Asher asked.
The maternity supervisor stared.
“I don’t recognize her.”
“She had a badge.”
“Fake.”
Daniel enlarged the image.
The badge contained a photograph.
Laney stepped closer.
Then froze.
“I know her.”
Asher turned.
“Who?”
Laney’s voice shook.
“Dr. Helen Marsh.”
“Your fertility doctor?”
Laney nodded.
The room went silent.
Daniel issued a citywide alert.
Then his deputy interrupted.
“Sir, Dr. Marsh died last month.”
Laney stared.
“What?”
“Car accident in Connecticut.”
Asher looked at the image.
“Then that’s not Dr. Marsh.”
Laney shook her head.
“It is.”
“Are you sure?”
“I saw that woman every week for almost five months.”
Daniel frowned.
“Maybe the death report was false.”
Asher thought about Richard.
Apparently death reports meant very little in his family.
They checked hospital exits.
No infant had passed through the main lobby.
No suspicious vehicle left the garage.
Then a maintenance worker reported an old service elevator had opened during the blackout.
It led underground.
Asher followed Daniel downstairs.
Laney wanted to come.
Asher refused.
“For once, let me protect you.”
She started to argue.
Then looked at Malik and Amara.
“Bring him back.”
“I will.”
Daniel and four officers entered the underground corridor.
Asher followed despite every objection.
The passage connected hospital facilities to laundry services and an older parking structure.
Near a loading bay, they found a discarded nurse’s cap.
Then a blue-striped blanket.
Asher picked it up.
His hands shook.
Daniel touched his shoulder.
“We’ll find him.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
At least he didn’t lie.
A phone rang.
Not Asher’s.
Not Daniel’s.
A pay phone mounted on the concrete wall.
Everyone stared.
It rang again.
Asher answered.
“Hello?”
A woman’s voice.
“Do you have the drive?”
His blood turned cold.
“Where is my son?”
“Safe.”
“Let me hear him.”
Silence.
Then a newborn cry.
Asher gripped the receiver.
“If you hurt him—”
“Bring Richard’s drive to Pier 17.”
“When?”
“Forty minutes.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Then choose which secret matters more.”
The line disconnected.
Daniel immediately began issuing orders.
Asher turned.
“You’re staying here.”
Daniel stared.
“No.”
“My father told me not to trust you.”
“And somebody just kidnapped your son.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“You think I arranged this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then start knowing faster.”
Asher looked at him.
Daniel continued.
“Richard distrusted me because I discovered he was alive.”
Asher froze.
“You knew?”
“Not for long.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“And you said nothing?”
“He threatened my family.”
Asher laughed bitterly.
“Join the club.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“I tracked a security breach to Montreal. Richard met me there. He said if you learned he was alive before he finished his investigation, you would become a target.”
“And you believed him.”
“I saw the people following him.”
“Who?”
“I never identified them.”
“Did my mother know you met him?”
“No.”
“Then why did he tell me not to trust you?”
Daniel looked hurt.
“I don’t know.”
Asher studied him.
For eight years, Daniel had protected Malik.
Taken bullets? No, no dramatic exaggeration. He had guarded family vacations, investigated threats, carried a sleeping Malik from a car after Asher fractured his wrist skiing.
Trust had become expensive.
But Asher needed allies.
“Help me get Elias.”
Daniel nodded once.
“Always.”
They prepared a fake drive.
Asher insisted on going to Pier 17 himself.
Daniel placed trackers in his coat and stationed teams nearby.
At dawn, Asher stood alone beside the waterfront.
Wind cut across the East River.
A black SUV pulled up.
The rear window lowered.
Helen Marsh sat inside.
Alive.
She held Elias.
Asher’s heart stopped.
“Give me my son.”
“Drive.”
“First Elias.”
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
Asher held up the drive.
“Neither are you.”
Helen studied him.
Then smiled.
“You really are Gabriel’s son.”
Asher froze.
“You knew Gabriel?”
“Get in.”
He entered the SUV.
The doors locked.
Helen handed Elias to him.
Asher gathered the tiny baby against his chest.
For one second, nothing else mattered.
His son was warm.
Breathing.
Alive.
Elias opened his eyes.
Asher almost cried.
Then Helen pressed something cold against his side.
A small pistol hidden beneath her coat.
“Drive.”
The SUV moved.
Asher looked at her.
“Why fake your death?”
“Because death is the Lennox family’s favorite hiding place.”
“Who are you working for?”
Helen smiled.
“The person who actually owns Lennox Global.”
Asher’s jaw tightened.
“No one person owns it.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Who?”
She looked at Elias.
“Your grandfather.”
“Henry has been dead for thirty years.”
Helen smiled wider.
“No.”
Asher stared.
May you like
She leaned closer.
“Henry Lennox is very much alive.”
