Chapter 13 - The Man Wearing Blake's Face
Hospital security detained an intruder in a service corridor.
He wore a dark suit, carried a replica access badge, and had altered his hair to resemble Blake from a distance.
He refused to identify his employer.
Investigators recovered a small electronic device and a printed floor plan.
The man had not reached Abigail.
But the deception was sophisticated enough to terrify Blake.
He changed the protection plan with the hospital's approval, reducing access privileges and placing an independent observer at the unit entrance.
Darlene offered to relocate Abigail to a private estate.
Blake refused to move a sick child merely because the enemy wanted her frightened.
“We follow her doctors,” he said.
“And we make this hospital safe.”
The detective questioned the intruder while Naomi reviewed his belongings.
A receipt showed a payment from a courier service linked to Halcyon.
The device contained no medicine or weapon.
It was a wireless recorder designed to capture conversations and nearby network transmissions.
“They wanted access to the records,” Lena concluded.
“Or they wanted someone to believe they did,” Blake replied.
He had begun to distrust every apparent clue that conveniently pointed toward the same villain.
That afternoon Darlene appeared before a press conference and acknowledged the historical failings uncovered at Northstar.
She announced an independent patient-support fund and committed to cooperate with investigators.
Reporters shouted questions about Blake's parentage.
Darlene declined to discuss his private life.
A journalist asked whether the company had paid him to fabricate accusations against Julian.
“No,” Darlene said.
“A man working a night shift protected someone in pain when he could have looked away.
The rest is a matter for investigators and courts.”
Her composure broke only when a reporter held up a photograph of Thomas.
“Is your husband alive?”
Darlene looked directly into the camera.
“I don't know where Thomas Stanley is.”
“Do you believe he deceived you?”
“I believe the evidence should answer that question.”
That evening, the captive intruder finally spoke.
He said he had accepted the job because a woman promised to forgive an old debt.
He knew her only as Mrs. Reed.
Sarah Reed.
Blake felt the room tilt.
A still frame from the intruder's phone showed the masked woman from the bank.
This time her face was visible.
She looked so much like Sarah that he could barely breathe.
Then Naomi enlarged the image and pointed to her eyes.
“Blake,” she said.
“Your wife's eyes were brown.”
May you like
The woman in the photograph had blue eyes.
