The Three Knocks Beneath the Floor

The monitor screamed into the darkness.

David lunged toward Leo's bed, but a nurse caught his shoulder and shoved him back.

“Sir, move away from the patient!””

“That's my son!””

“Get out of the way!””

Emergency lights flickered on, painting the room in a sickly red glow. A second nurse rushed inside with a portable monitor while someone shouted for the crash cart.

Leo lay motionless beneath the white blanket.

David could barely see his face.

“Leo!”” he screamed.

“Buddy, open your eyes!””

A doctor entered at a run.

“What's his last recorded rhythm?””

“Normal until the power interruption,” the nurse answered.

“Then the monitor went into alarm.””

The doctor pressed two fingers against Leo's neck.

“Pulse present. Get oxygen on him. Now.””

David stood frozen as the staff surrounded his son.

A nurse guided him toward the doorway.

“Sir, please.””

David stumbled into the corridor.

Through the open door, he watched the doctor lift Leo's eyelids and examine his pupils. Someone attached a portable oxygen mask. Another nurse checked the intravenous line.

Then the doctor looked up.

“His pulse is stabilizing.””

David's knees nearly gave way.

He gripped the wall, struggling to breathe.

For fourteen months, he had searched for Leo.

Now that he had found him, someone was trying to take him again.

Detective Harris appeared at the far end of the corridor, his hand resting on his radio.

“What happened?””

“The power went out,” David said.

“Someone threatened my son, and now his heart monitor is screaming.””

Harris glanced toward the ceiling.

“The hospital has backup generators.””

“Then why did the lights go out?””

“I don't know.””

A security guard hurried toward them.

“Detective, we've got a problem. Someone entered the maternity wing using a staff access card. He's heading toward the east stairwell.””

Harris drew his weapon.

“Lock down the exits. Nobody leaves.””

David grabbed his arm.

“Nathan?””

“We don't know yet.””

“Then find out!””

Harris pulled free and ran toward the stairwell.

David tried to follow, but the nurse blocked his path.

“You cannot go anywhere near that corridor until the doctor clears your son.””

David stared at her.

“Please. Just tell me if he's going to be okay.””

She softened.

“The doctor is working on him. I'll come get you as soon as I know more.””

David sank into a chair.

On the wall opposite him, a clock ticked toward six in the morning. A cleaning cart stood abandoned beside the elevator. Somewhere behind the closed doors, a baby cried.

He looked down at the photograph he'd received.

Two newborn boys.

One was Leo.

The other was the child Nathan had apparently been protecting.

David turned the photograph over again.

One boy was never meant to survive.

Who had written those words?

And which boy were they talking about?

His phone vibrated.

An incoming call.

Elena.

David answered.

“What?””

His sister was crying so hard that her words came out broken.

“David, listen to me. Nathan is at the hospital.””

“I know.””

“No, you don't understand. He's not there for Leo.””

David stood.

“Then why is he there?””

“Because of the other baby.””

“What other baby?””

Elena went silent.

David gripped the phone.

“Tell me!””

“I saw the records,” she whispered.

“Years ago, when Sarah gave birth, there were two babies. Not one.””

David stared at the photograph.

“Twins?””

“Yes.””

He felt something inside him collapse.

“Where is the other child?””

“I don't know. The clinic told Sarah that one baby had died shortly after birth. But the paperwork was changed.””

“Changed by whom?””

Elena began sobbing again.

“Nathan.””

David pressed the phone against his ear.

“Why?””

“Because he couldn't have children with his wife. He wanted an heir. When the clinic discovered the mistake, he paid the director to hide the second baby.””

David struggled to make sense of the words.

“Are you telling me Leo has a twin brother?””

“Yes.””

“And Nathan knew?””

“He knew both boys existed. He wanted one to be raised by you and Sarah, and the other to be raised by him. When the clinic threatened to expose the fraud, he decided both children had to disappear.””

David looked toward Leo's room.

“Why didn't you tell me this before?””

“Because he threatened me. He said if I talked, he'd destroy everyone I loved.””

“So you locked my son underground?””

“I thought I was buying time!””

“You let him suffer!””

“I know!””

Her sobs echoed through the phone.

David closed his eyes.

“Where is the twin now?””

“I don't know. But Nathan has been looking for him. The baby was taken from the clinic by a nurse named Rachel Morgan.””

David turned toward the room where Rachel had been rescued.

“Rachel?””

“She was supposed to deliver the baby to Nathan. Instead, she discovered what he planned to do. She hid the child and tried to expose him.””

David remembered Rachel's bruised face, her bound wrists, and the fear in her eyes.

“Where did she hide him?””

“I don't know,” Elena whispered.

“But she kept something. A photograph, maybe. She said it was the only proof that could save both boys.””

The call ended abruptly.

David stared at the phone.

Then a doctor emerged from Leo's room.

“Mr. Vance?””

David rushed toward him.

“Is he okay?””

“The immediate crisis has passed. His heart rhythm is normal, and his oxygen levels are improving. We're keeping him under close observation.””

David released a breath that seemed to have been trapped in his chest for years.

“Can I see him?””

“For a few minutes.””

David entered the room.

Leo looked small beneath the hospital blanket. The oxygen tube rested beneath his nose, and his eyes followed David as he approached.

“Dad?””

David sat beside him.

“I'm here.””

“Did he come?””

“No, buddy.””

Leo swallowed.

“He said he would.””

“Who?””

“The man who came downstairs.””

David's hands tightened around the bed rail.

“Did he tell you his name?””

Leo nodded.

“Nathan.””

David went still.

“What did he say to you?””

Leo looked toward the closed door.

“He said I wasn't supposed to be alive. He said he wanted my brother, but Aunt Elena gave him the wrong boy.””

David felt the room tilt.

“Your brother?””

Leo nodded weakly.

“He showed me a picture. There was another baby in the photograph. He said that baby belonged to him.””

David leaned closer.

“Leo, do you remember anything else?””

The boy frowned, searching his memory.

“He said his name was Daniel.””

David froze.

Daniel.

The name was written on the back of the hospital photograph, beneath the date of birth.

He looked down at the two newborns.

One had a tiny crescent-shaped birthmark near his left ear.

The other had the same mark.

David stared at Leo's ear.

There it was.

A faint crescent beneath the hairline.

He had kissed that mark countless times when Leo was a baby.

Now he understood.

The photograph wasn't showing two unrelated children.

It was showing identical twins.

And someone had spent eight years making sure one of them never knew the other existed.

A knock sounded at the door.

Detective Harris stepped inside, his expression grim.

“Mr. Vance, we caught the man who entered the maternity wing.””

David stood.

“Was it Nathan?””

Harris shook his head.

“No. It was a hospital employee working for him.””

“Where is Nathan?””

“Gone.””

David looked at the photograph again.

Harris placed a second document on the bedside table.

“We found this in the employee's locker. It's a transfer authorization for a child named Daniel Cole.””

David read the destination.

A private pediatric facility outside Phoenix.

The transfer date was today.

In less than three hours.

He looked up.

“Then we go to Phoenix.””

Harris shook his head.

“You're not going anywhere until we establish what's happening.””

David pointed at the document.

“Someone is moving a child who may be my son's twin brother. Nathan has already tried to kill Leo. How much more evidence do you need?””

Harris hesitated.

Then his radio crackled.

“Detective, we've got a confirmed sighting. Nathan Cole just entered the pediatric facility outside Phoenix.””

David snatched his jacket from the chair.

Harris looked at him.

“Mr. Vance, if we do this, you follow my instructions.””

David glanced at Leo.

His son reached for his hand.

“Bring my brother home,” he whispered.

David bent and kissed his forehead.

“I will.””

Then he followed the detective into the corridor, carrying the photograph of two newborn boys who had been separated by a secret powerful people were willing to kill to protect.

But as the elevator doors closed, David noticed something he'd missed.