Daniel secured the laptop beneath his jacket. Elena guided Samuel toward the kitchen while Teresa struggled to find her shoes.
Isaac remained still.
His attention had fixed on one sentence in his father’s letter.
The institute wanted the child.
Not a child.
The child.
“Why me?” he asked.
Rebecca stopped.
“What?”
“Why did they want me specifically?”
The men outside started walking toward the house.
Liam hissed, “This is not the time.”
“It is exactly the time.”
Isaac held up the birth certificate.
“You said there were others. Why did they follow me? Why sabotage my parents’ car? Why build an entire system around watching me?”
Rebecca’s eyes shifted toward the front door.
“Because of your donor.”
“What donor?”
A shadow passed behind the frosted glass.
The doorknob moved.
Liam hurried everyone toward the kitchen.
Rebecca remained in the hallway with Isaac.
“Your biological father was not Samuel,” she said.
“I already figured that out.”
“He was not a volunteer either.”
The lock at the front door clicked.
Someone outside had a key.
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“The institute used material from its founder.”
The door opened an inch before the security chain caught.
A man’s hand appeared through the gap.
He reached for the chain.
Isaac pulled Rebecca back.
“Who was the founder?”
She looked into his eyes.
“Dr. Adrian Vale.”
Isaac stared at her.
“Vale?”
“My father,” Rebecca said. “Your grandfather.”
The chain snapped.
The door swung open.
Liam tackled the first man as he entered. They crashed into the wall, knocking down a framed photograph. Elena pulled Teresa into the kitchen while Daniel helped Samuel through the rear doorway.
The second man reached inside his jacket.
Isaac seized the patched cane from the floor and struck his wrist. A pistol dropped onto the carpet.
Rebecca kicked it beneath the cabinet.
The man drove his shoulder into Isaac’s chest.
Isaac hit the wall hard, pain flashing through his back. He caught the man by the coat and slammed his forehead into the doorframe.
Liam shouted from the floor.
“Go!”
Rebecca grabbed Isaac’s arm.
They ran through the kitchen and into the backyard.
Behind them came the sound of furniture breaking.
The alley was narrow, lined with trash bins and wooden fences. Elena and Daniel were already helping Samuel toward an old blue truck half a block away.
Teresa stumbled behind them.
Isaac looked back.
Liam had not emerged.
“We can’t leave him.”
Rebecca kept moving. “He knew the risk.”
“He’s my brother.”
“So were the others.”
Isaac stopped.
“What does that mean?”
A gunshot exploded inside the house.
Teresa screamed.
Isaac turned and ran back.
Elena shouted his name, but he ignored her.
He reached the rear door just as Liam burst through it, blood covering one side of his face.
“Move!” Liam yelled.
The two men appeared behind him.
Isaac dragged Liam into the alley.
They ran.
Another shot cracked through the air. Wood splintered from the fence beside Isaac’s head.
They reached the truck. Liam climbed into the driver’s seat, Isaac beside him, while the others crowded into the cab and truck bed.
The engine coughed once.
Twice.
“Come on,” Liam muttered.
The men entered the alley.
The truck finally roared to life.
Liam slammed it into gear and accelerated, clipping a trash bin as they sped away.
For several minutes, no one spoke.
Samuel was hunched between Isaac and Teresa, struggling to breathe. Rebecca sat pressed against the passenger door. Elena and Daniel lay hidden beneath a tarp in the truck bed.
Liam checked the mirror repeatedly.
Isaac touched the blood on his brother’s face.
“Are you hit?”
“Glass.”
“Who were they?”
“Northbridge.”
“The security company my money funded?”
Liam gave him a hollow look.
“Northbridge stopped working for us three years ago.”
“Then why did you keep paying them?”
“I didn’t.”
Daniel’s voice came through the rear window.
“The transfers continued every month.”
Liam shook his head.
“Then someone copied my authorization.”
Isaac leaned back.
Every answer opened another lie.
Every lie concealed another name.
“Where are we going?” Teresa asked.
Rebecca answered.
“The clinic.”
Liam glanced at her. “That’s the first place they’ll look.”
“They already found the house.”
“They may not know about the lower facility.”
Isaac looked at her.
“Lower facility?”
Rebecca ignored him.
They left Phoenix and headed south.
The sun rose behind them, turning the desert gold and red. Mountains sharpened against the horizon. Isaac watched the city disappear in the mirror and wondered how many years of his life had been constructed around secrets he had never agreed to keep.
After nearly two hours, Liam turned onto an unmarked dirt road.
The truck bounced through dry scrubland until a low stucco building appeared between the hills. A weathered sign identified it as a pediatric rehabilitation center.
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