Chapter 15 - The countdown began.TEN.
Adrian stood frozen.
NINE.
Emma cried in Clara's arms.
EIGHT.
Olivia searched desperately for another way.
SEVEN.
Daniel tried to break the control panel.
SIX.
Gabriel looked at Adrian.
"I'm sorry."
FIVE.
Adrian stared at the machine.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
The gas stopped.
Everyone collapsed against the walls, coughing.
Adrian looked around.
"What happened?"
Gabriel smiled weakly.
"The system needed a complete DNA match."
Daniel looked at Emma.
"She activated it."
Adrian stared at his daughter.
Emma was still crying.
But something had changed.
The monitors around the room came alive.
Thousands of files opened automatically.
Every secret.
Every experiment.
Every murder.
Every payment.
Every name.
Adrian walked toward the central screen.
A list appeared.
At the top:
PROJECT MERCER.
Then:
DIRECTOR: ELIAS MERCER.
FINANCIAL BACKERS.
Adrian's eyes widened.
Several names belonged to people he knew.
Business leaders.
Government officials.
Doctors.
Even two judges.
Olivia stared.
"They're finished."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
He pointed to the final line.
"Look."
Adrian read it.
PROJECT PURPOSE:
NOT REGENERATION.
NOT IMMORTALITY.
POPULATION CONTROL.
Silence.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
"That's what your grandfather wanted."
Adrian looked at him.
"Why?"
"He believed humanity was too unstable."
"He wanted to control aging."
"No."
Gabriel shook his head.
"He wanted to control who lived."
Adrian's stomach turned.
"The treatment could be used to kill."
"Yes."
"And Olivia?"
"She could trigger it."
"Emma?"
"She could reverse it."
Clara looked at the screen.
"And me?"
Gabriel stared at her.
"You carry the knowledge."
Clara whispered:
"So all of us were weapons."
Gabriel nodded.
"Until now."
The vault doors suddenly exploded.
Victor rushed inside.
Daniel fired.
Victor fell.
Elias stepped through the smoke.
He raised a gun.
"Enough."
Adrian stood between him and Emma.
Elias looked disappointed.
"You still don't understand."
Adrian answered:
"I understand everything."
"No."
Elias pointed at Olivia.
"You think you're protecting your family."
Then at Clara.
"She remembers."
Then Emma.
"She heals."
Finally Adrian.
"And you."
Adrian stared.
"What about me?"
Elias smiled.
"You're the key."
Adrian felt a chill.
"To what?"
"To controlling all three."
Daniel's face changed.
"He's lying."
Elias laughed.
"No."
He lifted a small device.
A light flashed.
Adrian collapsed.
Clara screamed.
"Adrian!"
His body hit the floor.
Olivia rushed toward him.
Elias smiled.
"Your father built a failsafe."
Daniel stared.
"What did you activate?"
Elias answered:
"His mutation."
Adrian's vision blurred.
His heart began beating violently.
Clara knelt beside him.
"Stay with me."
He tried to speak.
"Emma."
"I'm here."
"Take her."
Clara grabbed Emma.
Elias pointed the device.
"Bring them to me."
Olivia stood.
"No."
Elias looked at her.
"You don't understand what you can do."
Olivia's eyes hardened.
"Maybe I don't need to."
She reached toward him.
Elias's expression changed.
His hand began shaking.
His face suddenly aged.
Wrinkles spread across his skin.
His hair turned white.
He dropped to his knees.
The room went silent.
Olivia stared at her hands.
"I didn't..."
Daniel whispered:
"You did."
Elias gasped.
"No."
Olivia stepped backward.
"I didn't mean to."
Adrian forced himself upright.
"That's enough."
Olivia looked at him.
"How do I stop?"
Daniel answered:
"Think about the person you don't want to hurt."
Olivia closed her eyes.
The effect stopped.
Elias collapsed.
Police sirens sounded outside.
The vault doors opened.
Armed officers rushed in.
Behind them were federal investigators.
Victor was dead.
Elias was arrested.
The archive was secured.
For the first time in years, the Mercer family was safe.
Or so Adrian thought.
Three months later, the mansion was quiet.
Emma was sleeping.
Clara sat beside the crib.
Olivia was downstairs.
Adrian stood at the window.
He watched the sunset.
For the first time, he allowed himself to breathe.
Then Clara entered.
"Adrian."
He turned.
"What?"
She held an envelope.
"It came today."
"From who?"
She handed it to him.
There was no return address.
Only one sentence.
YOU FOUND THE ARCHIVE.
Adrian opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Sixteen children.
All alive.
Standing together in a facility Adrian had never seen.
On the back:
SUBJECTS E-01 THROUGH E-16 ARE NOT DEAD.
Adrian stared.
Clara whispered:
"That's impossible."
He turned the photograph over again.
There was one final message.
THEY'RE COMING FOR EMMA.
Adrian's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Silence.
Then a little girl's voice.
"Mr. Mercer?"
Adrian froze.
"Who is this?"
The girl whispered:
"My name is Eva."
Adrian looked toward Clara.
Eva had been in the laboratory.
The call continued.
"We escaped."
"Where are you?"
The girl began crying.
"We're in your city."
Adrian's blood ran cold.
"How many of you?"
A pause.
"Sixteen."
Then the voice became barely audible.
"But we're not the ones you should be afraid of."
Adrian tightened his grip on the phone.
"Who should I be afraid of?"
The girl whispered:
"Subject E-19."
The line went dead.
Adrian stared at the phone.
Clara walked closer.
"What happened?"
He looked toward Emma's nursery.
"Someone is coming."
Suddenly the baby monitor crackled.
Emma began crying.
Then another voice came through the speaker.
A woman's voice.
Soft.
Calm.
Familiar.
"Adrian."
He froze.
It was Vanessa.
His wife.
The woman who had disappeared three months earlier.
Her voice whispered:
"You should never have trusted Clara."
Adrian looked at the nursery.
The door slowly opened.
And standing in the darkness behind Emma's crib...
Was Vanessa.
May you like
Alive.
And smiling.
