CHAPTER 6 – The Recording Hidden Inside Shadow's Collar
The DNA results arrived before sunrise.
The laboratory technician walked into the hospital with trembling hands.
"There is a 99.999% probability..."
She paused.
"...Michael Reed is Emma's biological father."
Silence.
Claire collapsed into a chair.
Emma burst into tears and hugged Michael tighter than ever.
"I knew you weren't dead," she whispered.
"I prayed every birthday that you'd come home."
Even the veteran firefighters struggled to hide their emotions.
But Michael wasn't smiling.
He turned to Shadow.
"You've been trying to tell them all along... haven't you?"
Captain Ryan suddenly remembered something.
When Shadow retired from military service five years earlier, Michael had secretly sewn a tiny waterproof capsule into the dog's collar.
No one had ever opened it.
Ryan carefully removed the old collar.
Inside the capsule...
was a tiny memory card.
Everyone crowded around as Detective Harris inserted it into a laptop.
A video appeared.
The recording showed Michael standing inside the same warehouse five years earlier.
"If you're watching this..."
His voice was calm.
"...they finally found Shadow."
The camera suddenly shook.
Richard Vaughn appeared on screen.
Claire was standing beside him.
Michael looked directly into the camera.
"If anything happens to me..."
He took a deep breath.
"...my own wife helped them."
The room exploded with disbelief.
Claire covered her mouth in horror.
Richard spun toward the exit.
But before he could run...
More than twenty armed federal agents stormed into the hospital.
"Richard Vaughn!"
One agent shouted.
"You're under arrest for attempted murder, conspiracy, and falsifying the death of Michael Reed."
Richard slowly raised his hands.
Then...
He smiled.
"You arrested the wrong brother."
At that exact moment, every light inside the hospital went black.
Emergency alarms screamed through the building.
And when the backup generators came on...
May you like
Michael Reed's hospital bed...
was empty.
