Chapter 13: The Kidnapping Attempt
Chapter 13: The Kidnapping Attempt
The room fell into stunned silence.
Daniel stared at Eleanor Graves as though the world had stopped turning.
"He... was kidnapped?" he whispered.
The elderly nurse nodded slowly.
"I've carried that secret for twenty-six years."
Emily reached for Daniel's hand beneath the table.
"When did it happen?"
Eleanor closed her eyes, searching through decades-old memories.
"The morning after the highway accident."
"The twins were in the neonatal nursery."
"Charles and Margaret had already completed the emergency adoption paperwork for Baby A."
She looked toward Daniel with gentle eyes.
"That was you."
Daniel lowered his head.
"And Baby B?"
Eleanor's expression grew solemn.
"A man wearing a hospital maintenance uniform entered the nursery."
"He showed forged identification."
"No one questioned him."
"We believed he was transferring the baby for a medical examination."
Her voice trembled.
"He never came back."
Detective Keller leaned forward.
"Did you see his face?"
"I only caught a glimpse."
"Can you describe him?"
"He was tall."
"Dark hair."
"A scar beneath his right eye."
Ethan immediately looked at Keller.
The description matched one person in the old FBI files.
Victor Sloan.
Eleanor continued.
"By the time we realized the baby was missing..."
"...every security tape had disappeared."
Emily frowned.
"Just like the footage from the balcony."
Keller nodded.
"Same pattern."
"Someone erased the evidence."
The old nurse sighed.
"The hospital ordered everyone to remain silent."
"They told us the child had been transferred to another facility."
"But I knew they were lying."
"How?"
"Because I found this."
She slowly opened a small wooden box beside her chair.
Inside rested a faded blue knit cap.
Tiny.
Handmade.
Embroidered with two words.
Baby B.
"I kept it all these years."
Back at FBI headquarters, Agent Bennett gathered her task force.
A map of the city covered the conference room wall.
Photographs of Charles, Margaret, Richard, Victor, and Daniel were pinned to it.
A new photo joined them.
Eleanor Graves.
Bennett addressed the room.
"We're no longer investigating only attempted murder."
"We're investigating a child kidnapping that may be connected to organized financial crime."
One young analyst raised a hand.
"We searched every adoption record."
"And?"
"No match."
"The second twin disappeared completely."
Another analyst looked up from her computer.
"Not completely."
Everyone turned toward her.
"I found something."
She projected an old newspaper clipping onto the screen.
LOCAL BUSINESSMAN ADOPTS ORPHANED INFANT
The article was dated just three weeks after the kidnapping.
The adoptive father's name had been blacked out.
But one detail remained visible.
The adoption had been approved through...
Hawthorne Children's Foundation.
Richard Hawthorne's charity.
Meanwhile, Margaret sat alone in her office, staring out at the city skyline.
A knock came at the door.
"Come in."
Her longtime assistant entered nervously.
"Ma'am..."
"What is it?"
"We found the driver."
Margaret turned sharply.
"What driver?"
"The man who worked for the hospital twenty-six years ago."
Her expression hardened.
"I thought he was dead."
"So did everyone else."
"Where is he?"
The assistant swallowed.
"Federal agents reached him first."
Margaret closed her eyes.
"We're running out of time."
At the federal courthouse, the former hospital driver waited inside a witness protection interview room.
His name was Leonard Price.
Seventy-one years old.
His hands shook as Keller switched on the recorder.
"You understand why you're here?"
Leonard nodded.
"I've been waiting for this day."
"What happened to Baby B?"
Leonard stared at the table.
"I drove him away."
Silence.
"But I didn't know he was being kidnapped."
"You didn't?"
"I was told it was a legal transfer."
"Who told you?"
Leonard hesitated.
Then quietly answered.
"Victor Sloan."
Ethan asked the next question.
"Where did you take the baby?"
Leonard's breathing became uneven.
"To a farmhouse."
"Outside the city."
"There were three people waiting."
"Victor."
"A woman."
"And..."
He stopped speaking.
"And who?"
Leonard looked directly at Keller.
"I never learned his name."
"But everyone called him..."
The Chairman.
Before anyone could ask another question—
The lights inside the building suddenly went out.
Emergency alarms blared through the courthouse.
"What the—"
Gunshots echoed in the hallway.
"Federal agents!" someone shouted.
"Protect the witness!"
Chaos erupted.
Masked gunmen stormed the building.
Bullets shattered glass.
Officers returned fire.
Ethan instinctively pulled Emily behind a concrete pillar.
Daniel shielded Eleanor with his own body.
Keller drew his weapon.
"Move! Move!"
One of the attackers threw a smoke grenade.
The hallway disappeared beneath thick gray smoke.
Through the haze, a masked figure charged toward Leonard Price.
"No!" Keller shouted.
The gunman fired once.
Leonard collapsed.
The attacker reached for a folder lying on the interview table.
But before he could grab it—
A second shot rang out.
The masked gunman stumbled backward, clutching his shoulder.
Another shooter?
Everyone looked around in confusion.
The mysterious second bullet had come from somewhere outside the courthouse.
The injured attacker fled through a broken window, disappearing into the smoke.
Within minutes, the building was secured.
The assault was over.
Paramedics surrounded Leonard Price.
Emily knelt beside him.
"Stay with us."
Leonard smiled weakly.
"I've... carried this too long."
Blood spread across his shirt.
Keller leaned closer.
"Who is the Chairman?"
Leonard struggled to breathe.
"He..."
His voice cracked.
"...raised the boy..."
Daniel's eyes widened.
"My brother?"
Leonard nodded faintly.
"He never knew..."
"...who he really was."
Emily held Leonard's trembling hand.
"Where is he now?"
With the last of his strength, Leonard whispered one name.
"Michael..."
His eyes slowly closed.
The heart monitor emitted one long, continuous tone.
Leonard Price was gone.
Hours later, Agent Bennett examined the folder the attackers had tried to steal.
Inside were only three documents.
A payment ledger.
An old photograph.
And a birth certificate.
The certificate had no last name.
Only one line had been highlighted.
Given Name: Michael.
No surname.
No adoptive parents.
No address.
Nothing.
Just one name.
As Bennett closed the folder, Ethan quietly spoke from behind her.
"If Michael is Daniel's twin..."
"...he has no idea that an entire empire has been built on the day he disappeared."
Outside the courthouse, hidden among the crowd of reporters, a man in his mid-twenties watched the federal agents through dark sunglasses.
A faint scar ran beneath his right eye.
He looked down at a worn blue knit cap hidden inside his jacket pocket.
The same one embroidered with two tiny words.
Baby B.
May you like
He whispered to himself without understanding why.
"Why does this feel... familiar?"
