Chapter 26 #2
“Know what?” Brad asked with a hard edge to his tone.
She looked at him, then back at Alex. “That he wasn’t going to let his son die in that place. That, whatever the project was—whatever the black site did to Elias—Ward knew what they were trying to build. And he beat them to it.”
Brad stepped forward. “What do you mean?”
“Elias,” she said. “Rook. Gideon trained him before they would get their hands on him. The same traits they wanted—obedience, endurance, tactical brilliance—Gideon taught him. Except he also taught him how to think for himself.”
Alex leaned in, eyebrows raised. “You’re saying Ward wanted to sabotage the project?”
She nodded. “He said Elias was smarter than all of them. That they wouldn’t see it coming.”
“Ward spent the last thirty years here,” Alex said, brow furrowed. “How old is Rook?”
Dr. Fields froze. Just for a second. Not enough for someone untrained to catch—but Brad saw it. That pause. That breath.
She shrugged, casual on the surface. “I don’t know. Gideon never said.”
But Brad had already stepped in front of Alex, tone sharpening like a blade. “Dr. Fields,” he said, eyes locked on hers. “How old is Rook?”
She didn’t answer.
Brad tilted his head, reading her face. “Mid- to late twenties. Quiet kid. Brilliant. Too brilliant to belong to just a test tube and a lab schedule.”
Her hands shifted in her lap. Subtle. Defensive.
Alex started to say something, but Brad raised a hand. “You’re Rook’s mother, aren’t you?”
Silence.
The air went cold.
Fields didn’t speak. Didn’t move. But her eyes said everything. The way they brimmed, the way she stared at the floor instead of denying it—that was the tell.
Brad stepped in. “You didn’t just treat Gideon Ward. You loved him.”
Her lip trembled. Just once.
“You were here when they brought him in,” Brad said, voice precise, eyes drilling into her. “Brought in bleeding—what was it? A fall? A shiv? Didn’t matter. He played it cool. Calm. Charming.”
Fields didn’t deny it. Her silence was confirmation.
“You were a young doctor. Lonely. Isolated,” he went on. “He saw it. Used it. Pulled you in.”
Her lips parted, but still no words.
“You slept with him,” Brad said flatly. “And you got pregnant.”
Alex’s voice was softer but just as pointed. “It wasn’t just manipulation, was it? You cared about him. Loved him?”
Her eyes flicked to him. There was pain there. Regret. But not denial.
“It was okay… until you told…” Alex guessed. “You told someone else?”
She exhaled, a shaky breath like breaking glass. “A friend. I thought I could trust her.”
Brad nodded slowly. “And she betrayed you.”
Her voice cracked. “I didn’t know what they were planning. I just—he had a right to know. That’s all I wanted.”
“And when they found out about the child…”
She swallowed hard, eyes distant. “I helped them speak with Gideon regularly. He knew something was off. He wanted to know what the facility was really doing, what they were hiding beneath the research and reports. So he told them about Elias—offered him up, but not blindly. Not as a pawn.”
Her voice dropped lower. “At sixteen, Elias became his eyes inside. Gideon thought he could protect him… thought he could use the connection to uncover the truth. But whatever he suspected—it was worse. Much worse. They tried to turn him into a blueprint,” she whispered.
“They made Elias the project. Tried to erase everything else—his past, his family, even his name. They never realized Gideon was still in control. Elias played along.”
Alex leaned forward, voice like a thread. “And you stayed. You didn’t run.”
She looked up, eyes wet. “I thought if I stayed, I could protect him. Watch him mature. But they turned him into a mission.”
Brad didn’t blink. “So now your son’s out there. Not a boy. Not a man. A weapon.”
Dr. Fields spoke distantly. “In chess, the rook is a powerful piece—strong, straight-moving, capable of major impact—but only when directed. It doesn’t lead.
It follows orders. It’s not the queen, not the king.
It’s a weapon.” She teared up. “For Elias, it was a double-edged title—proof he mattered, but only because of what he could do, not who he was. And that’s what Gideon missed until it was too late. ”
She shook her head, the weight of it collapsing her shoulders. “Gideon counter-trained him to finish what he started… on his terms.” She swiped away her tears. “It was only in the last year, when his body was failing, did he realize he loved Elias.”
Brad leaned in, voice low. “Where is he, Dr. Fields?”
Another tear slid down her cheek, and she didn’t bother to wipe it. “I don’t know,” she whispered.
Brad didn’t blink. “But you think he’s alive.”
She nodded.
Alex knelt in front of her, gentler. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
Her voice cracked. “Because if Elias is out there… he doesn’t trust anyone. And if he thinks I’m leading someone to him—he won’t run. He’ll vanish. Or worse.”
Killian’s tone turned ice-cold. “Worse?”
She looked up at him, hollow-eyed. “He’ll finish what they started… and burn it all to the ground.”
Brad’s voice was dark. “Where is the site?”
“He never said,” she replied. “Only that it’s somewhere no one will admit exists. A place meant for erasing people.”
Alex’s tone softened, but the heaviness was there. “Did he say who runs it?”
“He calls them ‘the handlers.’ They aren’t military. Not officially. He said they take orders from somewhere above clearance levels.”
Brad muttered under his breath, “Off-the-books ops. No oversight.”
Alex exchanged a glance with Brad. “You think Gideon’s operation is back?”
Brad’s face was unreadable. “I think we’re already too late.”
Dr. Fields’s voice broke the silence, quiet but heavy with emotion. Her gaze dropped for a moment, then lifted, resigned and sad. “He’s alive,” she said softly. “I’m sure of it. I brought him here the morning his father passed away.”
She exhaled slowly, the weight of it settling in her shoulders.
“I hid him when Charlotte Everhart came.” Her eyes flicked toward the window, distant.
“He’s twenty-five now. A young man. One who’s been living in the margins since he was eighteen.
He’s still out there…” She looked back at them, voice low, certain.
“You won’t find him unless he wants to be found. ”
Silence fell between them, then Brad straightened, stepping back. “Get the night nurse and the cellmate. Now.”
Fields nodded, eyes lowered.
Alex glanced at him. “You think the kid’s really out there?”
Brad’s face was stone. “I think we just found out who’s been stalking Charlotte. And I think we’ve only scratched the surface.”