Chapter 9 - The Real EnemyMy father stood at the end of the hallway.
Alive.
Unhurt.
And smiling.
Not the broken smile I'd seen at graduation.
Not the frightened expression from the storage facility.
This smile was calm.
Controlled.
Familiar.
My stomach dropped.
“Dad?”
He stepped forward.
Mr. Black moved aside.
Professor Lennox remained behind him.
I looked between them.
“What's going on?”
My father sighed.
“You weren't supposed to find out this way.”
I laughed.
“You've said that before.”
He stopped.
“I protected you.”
“No.”
I raised the file.
“You controlled me.”
“That isn't true.”
“You knew about Meridian.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Stephanie was involved.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Lennox was my biological father.”
“Yes.”
“Then what exactly did you protect me from?”
His expression hardened.
“Yourself.”
Silence.
I stared.
He continued.
“When you were born, they believed your genetic profile could destabilize the entire program.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother was exposed to experimental treatment.”
“What treatment?”
He looked at Lennox.
Lennox lowered his head.
“Gene therapy.”
My blood went cold.
“My mother was a test subject.”
“Yes.”
“And I inherited the effects.”
“Not exactly.”
I looked at Lennox.
“Then what?”
He finally spoke.
“You inherited resistance.”
“To what?”
“Behavioral manipulation.”
The puzzle clicked into place.
My research instincts.
My pattern recognition.
My refusal to accept convenient explanations.
The reason algorithms never seemed to influence me the way they influenced others.
The reason I noticed inconsistencies.
I wasn't superhuman.
I had simply become extremely difficult to manipulate.
That was enough to make me dangerous.
My father stepped closer.
“Meridian needed you controlled.”
“So you joined them.”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“To keep me alive.”
“Yes.”
“By turning my sister against me?”
“I didn't.”
“Then who did?”
He looked at Mr. Black.
Mr. Black smiled.
“Me.”
I felt rage rise through me.
“You destroyed my family.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Your family destroyed itself.”
Then Stephanie appeared.
Bruised.
Weak.
Alive.
Two security guards brought her into the hall.
My heart broke.
“Stephanie.”
She looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
Mr. Black raised a hand.
“Enough sentiment.”
He pointed at the file.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Then your father dies.”
A gun appeared.
Everything stopped.
My father looked at me.
“Emily, don't.”
I understood.
He wasn't afraid for himself.
He was warning me.
The real plan wasn't the birth records.
It was the data stored inside them.
I looked at Lennox.
“You said you weren't my father.”
He nodded.
“You aren't.”
“Then why did they say you were?”
“To make me useful.”
I looked at Stephanie.
She whispered:
“Don't give him the file.”
Mr. Black turned.
“Shoot her.”
The guard raised his weapon.
I threw the file.
Not toward him.
Toward Lennox.
He caught it.
Mr. Black shouted.
“What are you doing?”
Lennox opened the folder.
His face changed.
“What is this?”
I smiled.
“You wanted me to bring the original records.”
“Yes.”
“So I did.”
He flipped through the pages.
Then froze.
“It's encrypted.”
Mr. Black's expression changed.
I continued.
“You thought the records were the evidence.”
I pulled out my phone.
“They aren't.”
The phone displayed a live connection.
Dean Harrow.
University security.
Federal investigators.
And hundreds of journalists.
Mr. Black stared at the screen.
“What did you do?”
“I uploaded everything.”
His face went blank.
“The USB drive.”
“The archive server.”
“The financial records.”
“Every file.”
“Everything.”
I looked at my father.
“Even your confession.”
He closed his eyes.
Mr. Black stepped forward.
“You won't survive this.”
“I already survived you.”
Then sirens sounded outside.
The building filled with flashing lights.
Police stormed the hallway.
Mr. Black reached for his weapon.
Stephanie tackled him.
The shot went into the ceiling.
Security officers restrained him.
Professor Lennox dropped the file.
My father simply stood there.
As police approached him, he looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
“But I still hate you.”
He accepted that.
Then Dean Harrow entered.
He held his phone.
“Emily.”
“Yes?”
“There's a problem.”
“What?”
“The files you uploaded are real.”
My stomach tightened.
“But they're incomplete.”
“What?”
He showed me the screen.
“One encrypted folder didn't upload.”
“Which one?”
He turned the phone toward me.
The file name appeared.
PROJECT ORIGIN.
Under it was one note.
DO NOT OPEN.
My blood ran cold.
“Where is it?”
Dean looked at Lennox.
Lennox whispered:
“Your grandmother took it.”
“She’s dead.”
“I know.”
“Then where is it?”
Lennox stared at me.
“Your grandmother didn't die when they told you she did.”
Everything stopped.
“What?”
He looked terrified.
“She disappeared.”
“For fourteen years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He swallowed.
“Because she was hiding the original experiment.”
I stared at him.
“What experiment?”
He looked toward Stephanie.
Then toward my father.
Finally, he said:
“Your family wasn't chosen by Meridian.”
May you like
“They were created by it.”
And suddenly, the entire story changed.
