Chapter 15 The Island of Eleven
The chamber remained silent.
No one spoke for nearly a full minute.
Eleven.
The number echoed in everyone's mind.
Ross finally broke the silence.
"Project Heir created one hundred and twelve children."
Gabriel nodded.
"Yes."
"And only eleven are still alive?"
Gabriel's expression darkened.
"As far as we know."
Marcus slowly lowered his tablet.
"What happened to the others?"
No one answered.
Arthur looked away.
Amelia closed her eyes.
Even Gabriel seemed unwilling to say the words.
Lily quietly whispered,
"Did they die?"
Gabriel finally nodded.
"Some did."
"Some disappeared."
"And some..."
He hesitated.
"...became the very people hunting us."
The room turned cold.
Ross looked directly at Gabriel.
"Start from the beginning."
"No more secrets."
Gabriel exhaled slowly.
"Project Heir wasn't designed to create assassins."
"It was designed to create leaders."
"Children with exceptional intelligence."
"Exceptional memory."
"Exceptional emotional control."
Arthur interrupted.
"It became something else."
Gabriel nodded.
"When governments discovered it..."
"They wanted weapons instead."
Evelyn stared at Lily.
"My daughter isn't an experiment."
"No."
Gabriel replied.
"She's the last natural heir."
"The others were selected."
"Lily was born."
Arthur quietly added,
"That's why Vivian wants her alive."
A low vibration interrupted them.
Marcus checked the communications console.
"Detective..."
"We've got a secure satellite transmission."
Ross frowned.
"From whom?"
Marcus stared at the screen.
"It says..."
"...FBI Director."
Ross answered immediately.
The face of Director Helen Brooks appeared.
Her expression was grim.
"Daniel."
"I need your status."
"We found the Archive."
"And?"
Ross glanced around the chamber.
"You wouldn't believe me."
Helen didn't smile.
"Try me."
Ross took a breath.
"We've identified the surviving leader of the Order."
"Vivian Ashcroft."
There was complete silence.
Then...
Helen slowly removed her glasses.
"I was afraid you'd say that."
Ross frowned.
"You know her?"
Helen nodded.
"I've been hunting Vivian for twenty-eight years."
Gabriel looked sharply toward the screen.
"You survived Geneva."
Helen looked directly at him.
"So did you."
Arthur whispered,
"You two know each other?"
Helen answered calmly.
"We all know each other."
She looked at Arthur.
"It's been a long time."
Arthur gave a tired smile.
"Too long."
Ross looked between them.
"Would someone please explain why everyone seems to have met everyone else thirty years ago?"
Helen answered with a sentence that changed everything.
"Because thirty years ago..."
"...we all worked for the same organization."
The room froze.
Ross stared.
"You?"
Helen nodded.
"I was intelligence."
"Arthur handled operations."
"Gabriel handled logistics."
"Emma handled research."
"Vivian handled finance."
Amelia whispered,
"And then everything fell apart."
Helen's expression became solemn.
"No."
"It didn't fall apart."
"It was dismantled."
"By Emma."
Arthur smiled faintly.
"She always was the smartest one."
Helen leaned closer to the camera.
"Listen carefully."
"Vivian isn't traveling to Eden."
Ross frowned.
"How do you know?"
"Because..."
Helen paused.
"...she's already there."
Marcus quickly pulled up satellite imagery.
The island appeared on the screen.
Dense jungle.
Private docks.
A small airfield.
Then...
A new thermal scan finished processing.
Marcus whispered,
"Oh my God..."
Ross looked over his shoulder.
"What is it?"
Marcus enlarged the image.
"There aren't eleven people on the island."
Gabriel frowned.
"There should be."
Marcus shook his head.
"No."
"There are..."
He zoomed in again.
"...twelve."
Silence.
Arthur slowly counted under his breath.
"Eleven survivors..."
"...plus Vivian."
Marcus shook his head again.
"No."
"Vivian's heat signature is already identified."
Ross felt a chill crawl down his spine.
"Then who's the twelfth?"
No one had an answer.
Suddenly...
Lily walked toward the monitor.
She stared at one tiny red dot near the northern cliffs.
For several seconds she said nothing.
Then...
She smiled.
"I know who that is."
Every adult turned toward her.
Evelyn knelt beside her.
"Sweetheart..."
"How could you possibly know?"
Lily pointed at the screen.
"Because..."
"...she sings the lullaby."
The room became perfectly still.
Arthur's breathing stopped.
Amelia's eyes widened.
Gabriel whispered,
"No..."
Ross looked confused.
"What lullaby?"
Lily softly hummed the same melody she had sung beneath the Archive.
The sound echoed gently through the chamber.
Arthur's eyes filled with tears.
"I haven't heard that song..."
"...since Emma."
Lily shook her head.
"It isn't Grandma."
"It's the other lady."
"What other lady?"
"The one who visits my dreams."
Evelyn felt her heart pound.
"What does she look like?"
Lily answered without hesitation.
"She has your eyes."
"And..."
"...she calls me 'Little Star.'"
Arthur staggered backward.
Only one person had ever used that nickname.
Emma.
Except...
There had been one other.
Someone everyone believed had died before Evelyn was even born.
Arthur whispered a name so quietly that only Amelia heard it.
"Catherine..."
Amelia looked at him in disbelief.
"You don't think..."
Arthur nodded slowly.
"If Catherine is alive..."
"...then Emma never hid one child."
"She hid two."
Ross looked around the room.
"We leave for Eden immediately."
Helen nodded from the screen.
"A carrier aircraft is already waiting."
"Coordinates have been uploaded."
The transmission ended.
Arthur looked at Evelyn.
"For twenty years..."
"I thought I was trying to save our family."
He looked toward Lily.
"I was wrong."
"We're about to find it."
Far above them, dawn finally broke over Haven House.
For the first time in decades...
The hunt was no longer about surviving.
It was about uncovering the final truth.
And somewhere beyond the ocean...
On an island erased from every official map...
Someone had already begun singing an old lullaby while watching the sunrise.
She smiled as a small wooden music box played beside her.
"They're coming..."
she whispered.
"I've waited long enough."
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End of Book One
To Be Continued in Book Two: The Eden Files
