CHAPTER 9: THE FOUNDER OF HELIX
CHAPTER 9: THE FOUNDER OF HELIX
The hospital hallway became completely silent.
Not quiet.
Silent.
The kind of silence that appears when people realize they are standing in front of something they cannot understand.
Dr. Adrian Cole stared at the woman standing in front of Elena.
The white doctor’s coat.
The calm expression.
The silver hair.
The eyes that showed no emotion.
It was impossible.
But impossible had become the only thing Adrian could trust anymore.
“Dr. Sophia Ashford…”
The woman smiled.
“So you remember me.”
Adrian felt a cold sensation move through his body.
Everyone knew the name.
Sophia Ashford.
A legendary genetic researcher.
A woman whose discoveries had changed modern medicine.
Her studies on cellular regeneration had saved thousands of lives.
But twelve years ago, she disappeared.
After a mysterious laboratory accident.
Official records stated she died.
Yet here she was.
Standing in the middle of the hospital.
Alive.
And looking directly at Elena.
“You founded Helix.”
Sophia did not deny it.
“Yes.”
The police officer beside Adrian raised his weapon.
“Step away from her.”
Sophia looked at the gun.
Then laughed softly.
“You still believe weapons create control.”
She looked around.
“At this moment, there are twenty-seven Helix personnel inside this building.”
Everyone froze.
The officer checked his radio.
Nothing.
No response.
Sophia continued.
“Six are doctors.”
A pause.
“Four are security.”
Another pause.
“Three are patients.”
The color drained from several faces in the hallway.
Because nobody knew who to trust.
Sophia smiled.
“That is the beauty of a system.”
She looked at Adrian.
“You don’t need to control every person.”
A pause.
“You only need to make everyone question everyone else.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“You experimented on people.”
Sophia looked at him.
“No.”
A calm answer.
“I studied humanity.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Using prisoners. Innocent people. Children.”
Sophia tilted her head.
“You still think morality and science exist separately.”
“They do.”
“Do they?”
Sophia walked slowly through the hallway.
“Every medicine you use today was once an experiment.”
Adrian looked disgusted.
“You’re comparing saving lives to what you did?”
“No.”
Sophia stopped.
“I’m explaining why people like you always lose.”
The words struck him.
“People like me?”
“Yes.”
She looked at Elena.
“People who believe protecting one person matters more than advancing millions.”
Elena stepped backward.
“I’m not a project.”
Sophia looked at her.
“No.”
A faint smile appeared.
“You are much more important.”
She looked toward Elena’s stomach.
“You are proof.”
Adrian immediately moved between them.
“You’re not getting near her.”
Sophia did not react.
“Doctor Cole.”
She spoke his name gently.
“You still don’t understand your role.”
“My role?”
“Yes.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Tell him.”
Everyone turned.
Daniel remained silent.
Adrian looked at him.
“You knew?”
Daniel looked away.
Sophia answered for him.
“Daniel was not just a researcher.”
A pause.
“He was the architect.”
Adrian’s eyes widened.
“No.”
Daniel finally spoke.
“I designed the first Phoenix protocols.”
The confession hit harder than any weapon.
Adrian stared at his old friend.
“You helped them.”
Daniel’s voice was quiet.
“I thought I was saving people.”
Sophia smiled.
“Everyone says that in the beginning.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You changed the purpose.”
Sophia’s expression remained calm.
“No.”
She looked toward Matthew’s medical data displayed on a nearby screen.
“I completed it.”
Adrian looked at the screen.
“Matthew.”
Sophia nodded.
“The first successful integration.”
Elena’s face changed.
“Integration?”
Sophia turned toward her.
“Your child is not simply Matthew’s child.”
Elena’s breathing stopped.
“What are you saying?”
Sophia walked closer.
Adrian blocked her.
But Sophia continued speaking.
“Matthew’s genetic modifications changed his entire biological structure.”
She pointed toward the DNA report.
“The child inherited those changes.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Sophia’s voice remained calm.
“That is why Thomas wanted the child.”
A pause.
“And that is why I need the child.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“You said need.”
Sophia smiled.
“Yes.”
The word carried a terrifying certainty.
“Not want.”
A silence.
“Need.”
Suddenly, the hospital speakers activated.
A weak voice came through.
“Elena…”
Everyone froze.
Matthew.
Alive.
The voice was faint.
But real.
Elena rushed toward the speaker.
“Matthew!”
“Listen to me.”
His breathing sounded painful.
“Don’t trust her.”
Sophia looked upward.
Her expression finally changed.
Annoyance.
“Matthew.”
His voice continued.
“She’s lying.”
Sophia stepped toward the control panel.
“Disconnect him.”
A technician moved.
Adrian stopped him.
“No.”
Matthew continued.
“Elena…”
His voice became weaker.
“My father didn’t create Phoenix.”
Everyone listened.
“He stole it.”
Sophia looked up.
For the first time, anger appeared.
“Matthew.”
He continued.
“The original research…”
Static.
“The original subject…”
Static.
“Wasn’t me.”
Adrian looked confused.
“What is he saying?”
Sophia became still.
Matthew’s voice returned.
“It was Adrian.”
The hallway froze.
Adrian felt like the air disappeared.
“What?”
Sophia looked at him.
Not surprised.
Almost disappointed.
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Now you remember.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
But memories began forcing their way through.
A laboratory.
A child.
Machines.
A voice saying:
“Subject zero is stable.”
His hands began trembling.
“I was…”
He could barely speak.
Sophia answered.
“You were the first.”
The hallway exploded with whispers.
Dr. Adrian Cole.
The respected emergency physician.
The man who spent his life saving others.
Was the original subject of Project Phoenix.
Sophia continued.
“Twenty years ago, we discovered something extraordinary.”
She looked at Adrian.
“Your body could repair itself faster than any human we had ever studied.”
Adrian stepped backward.
“That’s impossible.”
Sophia smiled.
“There is your favorite word again.”
Daniel looked at him sadly.
“You survived the first procedure.”
Adrian touched his arm.
The same arm that had healed unusually fast after injuries.
The strange medical results he never understood.
The gaps in his memories.
All connected.
Sophia looked at Elena.
“And now the cycle is complete.”
She walked toward the center of the hallway.
“The first subject.”
She pointed toward Matthew’s location.
“The successful subject.”
Then toward Elena.
“The next generation.”
Nobody spoke.
Because everyone understood.
The baby was not just evidence.
The baby was the final stage of a plan twenty years in the making.
Suddenly, a loud explosion shook the building.
The floor trembled.
Lights flickered.
Smoke began entering from the lower levels.
The hidden laboratory had been breached.
The police officer shouted:
“Everyone move!”
But Sophia remained calm.
Because she knew something nobody else knew.
The explosion was not an attack.
It was a signal.
A signal that the final phase had started.
She looked at Elena.
“Midnight is approaching.”
A pause.
“And when the clock reaches twelve…”
Sophia smiled.
“Your child will change the world.”
Then the hospital doors opened.
A group of people entered.
Not soldiers.
Not police.
Scientists.
Hundreds of them.
All wearing the black triangle symbol.
And leading them was a man Elena had never seen before.
A man carrying an old photograph.
He looked at Adrian.
Then smiled.
“Hello, son.”
Adrian froze.
Because the man standing there…
was his father.
May you like
The man who had been dead for twenty years.
TO BE CONTINUED...
