Chapter 14 - Subject 001The final files were opened under federal supervision.
I sat in a conference room surrounded by documents that could rewrite my entire life.
Subject 001.
That was me.
The original genetic protocol had been performed before I was born.
My mother had volunteered me.
The treatment that supposedly saved me had altered my immune and genetic responses.
Emily inherited the result.
And Daniel's genes had created the mutation.
The company had spent fifteen years waiting for that combination.
I looked at my daughter.
She sat beside me, wrapped in a blanket.
“Are they going to hurt me?”
“No.”
I didn't know if I could promise that.
But I did.
“No one will hurt you.”
The door opened.
A detective entered.
“We found the person who accessed your medical records.”
“Who?”
He put a photograph on the table.
I stared.
My former family doctor.
The man who had treated Emily since she was a baby.
I felt sick.
“He worked for the company?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Fifteen years.”
I closed my eyes.
Every routine appointment.
Every blood test.
Every vaccine.
Every question about Emily's health.
It had all been monitored.
The detective continued:
“But he isn't the person controlling the project.”
“Who is?”
“We're still investigating.”
Then a phone rang.
Not mine.
Daniel's.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked at me.
“They found a second facility.”
“Where?”
He gave an address.
My mother's childhood home.
The same house she'd supposedly sold before her death.
The police searched it.
In the basement, they found boxes.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Tapes.
And one video.
My mother appeared on the screen.
Young.
Alive.
Terrified.
She was speaking directly to the camera.
“If Rachel ever sees this, she needs to know the truth.”
I held my breath.
“My daughter was never supposed to be part of the program.”
I looked at the date.
It was recorded shortly before my birth.
“My husband was.”
I froze.
My father.
Not just my mother.
He had been involved too.
She continued:
“Richard Vance convinced him.”
Dr. Vance's family.
Again.
“They believed the genetic treatment could make our family wealthy.”
My mother wiped her eyes.
“Then we realized what they wanted.”
She leaned closer to the camera.
“They don't just want to cure genetic disease.”
“What do they want?” I whispered.
Her answer came through the speakers.
“Control.”
Silence.
“They believe genetic information will become the most valuable commodity in human history.”
She named corporations.
Politicians.
Researchers.
Banks.
People I had never heard of.
Then she said the final words:
“Rachel was never the experiment.”
I leaned closer.
“She was the blueprint.”
The video ended.
No one spoke.
I looked at Emily.
Then at Daniel.
Then at the detective.
“Blueprint for what?”
The detective didn't answer.
His phone rang.
He listened.
Then his face went pale.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“They hacked the federal evidence server.”
“What did they take?”
He looked at me.
“Everything.”
The screen in the conference room flickered.
A message appeared.
SUBJECT 001 HAS BEEN RECOVERED.
Then another:
SUBJECT 002 IS NEXT.
Emily screamed.
May you like
The lights went out.
And somewhere in the darkness, a door opened.
