Chapter 11 - Shepherd
Elena wasn't Shepherd.
Not originally.
That distinction mattered.
The first Shepherd had created the escape network with my father and Evelyn.
A secret guardian who remained anonymous even to most members.
When Victor corrupted the network, Shepherd began fighting him from inside.
Years later, the title transferred.
To Elena.
“Why her?”
I asked.
Marcus answered:
“Because she was already inside your family.”
I looked at my wife.
“You married me for this?”
“I don't know.”
Pain crossed her face.
“I remember loving you.”
That wasn't an answer.
Marcus had recordings proving Elena issued orders under the Shepherd identity.
Protect Sophie.
Recruit Grace.
Watch Julian.
Gather evidence against Victor.
But then something happened eighteen months earlier.
Elena ordered an investigation into Shepherd itself.
She suspected someone else had been issuing commands in her name.
Two Shepherds.
One real.
One counterfeit.
Then she disappeared again.
Memory damage followed.
“Who could impersonate her?”
“Someone with access to the voice system.”
Marcus looked at Daniel.
Daniel immediately shook his head.
“Not me.”
Victor said:
“Evelyn.”
Grace stiffened.
“My mother?”
“She built the original communication architecture.”
That made sense.
Too much sense.
We returned to St. Gabriel's.
Evelyn was gone.
Sophie remained safe.
She ran to Elena.
That reunion broke something in me.
Elena dropped to her knees.
Sophie collided with her.
They both cried.
I stood several feet away.
Then Sophie reached one hand toward me.
I took it.
For ten seconds, the three of us existed again.
Not healed.
Not forgiven.
Just together.
Then Sophie looked at Elena.
“Mommy, Grandma Evelyn said we have to leave before the bad Shepherd comes.”
Elena froze.
“Bad Shepherd?”
Sophie nodded.
“There are two.”
Marcus and I exchanged looks.
“What does the bad one look like?”
Sophie shrugged.
“He wears a bird ring.”
Victor's face changed.
“What?”
“A bird.”
She traced wings with her fingers.
Alexander sat down.
I had seen that ring.
My grandfather wore it.
Hale family crest.
But he was dead.
Supposedly.
I almost laughed.
“Don't tell me.”
Alexander whispered:
“My father had two rings.”
One passed to Alexander.
The other disappeared after his death.
“Who received it?”
Nobody knew.
Then Grace found something inside Evelyn's abandoned room.
A photograph.
My grandfather.
Evelyn as a young woman.
Alexander.
Victor.
And another boy.
Same age as Victor.
Same face.
Twins.
Victor stared.
“No.”
Alexander whispered:
“Vincent.”
Victor's twin brother.
The family records said Vincent died at birth.
Of course they did.
Another dead Hale child who apparently hadn't died.
Marcus immediately understood.
“Vincent is Shepherd.”
Victor shook his head.
“Vincent died.”
Alexander looked at him.
“That's what Father told us.”
Then every screen in the facility activated.
An elderly man appeared.
He looked exactly like Victor.
Except for a scar across his cheek.
On his finger:
A black bird ring.
“Good evening, family.”
Nobody spoke.
Vincent smiled.
“Julian, I apologize for the complicated introduction.”
I stared.
“You're Shepherd?”
“One version.”
“Where is Evelyn?”
“Safe.”
There was that word again.
I hated it.
Vincent continued.
“You have spent two days uncovering thirty years of lies.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed to know whether you were ready.”
“For what?”
He smiled.
“To inherit the part of the Hale empire nobody told you existed.”
Then another camera feed appeared.
Hundreds of shipping containers.
A private port.
Armed men.
And people being led out of containers.
But they weren't prisoners.
Families were being rescued.
Children carried toward ambulances.
Vincent said:
“Victor sold people.”
Victor went white.
“I saved them.”
Then he looked at Elena.
“And your wife helped me.”
Elena stared.
Vincent's smile disappeared.
“But someone has been murdering the people we rescue.”
He held up a photograph.
Cole.
Then another.
Daniel.
Then Marcus.
All connected.
Finally he displayed one face.
Grace screamed.
Her mother.
Evelyn.
Vincent whispered:
“She isn't my prisoner.”
May you like
He paused.
“She is the person we're trying to stop.”
