Chapter 9: The Man Erased From Every Record
The gunshot shattered the darkness.
Ethan heard Vanessa scream.
Then Sophie cried out.
“Daddy!”
Ethan lunged toward the sound.
“SOphie!”
Something struck his shoulder.
He stumbled.
A second gunshot exploded.
Then the emergency lights flickered back on.
Ethan looked around.
Sophie was gone.
Emily was gone.
Michael was gone.
Thomas was gone.
Only Vanessa and Victor remained.
And blood was dripping from Victor's hand.
“Where are they?”
Ethan grabbed him.
“WHERE ARE THEY?”
Victor pointed toward the corridor.
“They used the service tunnel.”
Ethan ran.
Vanessa followed.
“Ethan, wait!”
He didn't listen.
They reached a metal door.
Locked.
Victor caught up.
“There!”
He pointed to a keypad.
Ethan slammed his fist against it.
“Open!”
Victor examined the controls.
“It's voice activated.”
“Then open it!”
“I don't know the password.”
Vanessa suddenly stepped forward.
“I do.”
Victor looked at her.
“How?”
“Because my father told me.”
She leaned toward the microphone.
“Black Meridian.”
The keypad flashed red.
Incorrect.
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Then whispered another phrase.
“Project Eden.”
The door unlocked.
Ethan stared at her.
“What is Project Eden?”
Vanessa looked frightened.
“The reason you were hidden.”
They entered the tunnel.
It was much older than the previous one.
The walls were covered with photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Ethan slowed.
Most showed his family.
Michael.
His mother.
Thomas.
Vanessa.
Victor.
But then he saw something different.
A photograph of a young man.
Dark hair.
Sharp eyes.
Standing beside Ethan's mother.
Ethan stared.
“Who is that?”
Vanessa didn't answer.
He turned.
“Who?”
Her face had gone pale.
“Your biological father.”
Ethan's heart stopped.
He looked at the photograph again.
“What's his name?”
Vanessa whispered,
“Alexander Reed.”
Victor suddenly stopped walking.
“No.”
Ethan turned.
“What?”
Victor stared at the photograph.
“He was supposed to be dead.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You knew him?”
Victor nodded.
“He was the only man Michael ever feared.”
“Why?”
Victor pointed toward the photograph.
“Because Alexander discovered what Project Eden really was.”
Ethan's stomach tightened.
“What was it?”
Vanessa answered.
“A program.”
“For what?”
“To create successors.”
Ethan frowned.
“Successors to what?”
“Black Meridian.”
Victor shook his head.
“Not just Black Meridian.”
He pointed at Ethan.
“To Michael.”
Ethan stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Victor's voice became quiet.
“Michael didn't want children.”
“He wanted an heir.”
“Yes.”
“But why me?”
“Because Alexander was the only person whose intelligence Michael couldn't control.”
Ethan looked at the photograph.
“You're saying my father was some kind of genius?”
“Yes.”
“And Michael took me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vanessa answered.
“Because Michael believed your bloodline could make you the perfect successor.”
Ethan's face hardened.
“I was a child.”
“I know.”
“You all experimented on me?”
“No.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Your mother stopped them.”
“Then why did she disappear?”
“Because she ran.”
“With me?”
“No.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
Vanessa's voice trembled.
“She escaped with Emily.”
Ethan stared at her.
“Then how did I end up with Michael?”
Vanessa looked down.
“Because your mother was forced to choose.”
“Choose what?”
“You or Emily.”
Ethan's face went blank.
“No.”
“She couldn't save both of you.”
“She chose Emily.”
“Yes.”
Ethan stepped backward.
For the first time that night, his anger disappeared.
Only pain remained.
“My mother abandoned me.”
“No.”
Vanessa's voice broke.
“She thought she was saving you.”
“By leaving me with Michael?”
“She believed he wouldn't kill you.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“He ruined my entire life.”
“He thought he was protecting his investment.”
Victor suddenly spoke.
“Enough.”
They both looked at him.
“We're wasting time.”
He pointed down the tunnel.
“They've taken Sophie and Emily to the old laboratory.”
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
“Laboratory?”
Victor nodded.
“Project Eden was built beneath the Bennett estate.”
Ethan stopped.
“Under my house?”
“Yes.”
“Then that's where they're going.”
Victor nodded.
“Exactly.”
They rushed toward the end of the tunnel.
A steel elevator waited there.
Victor pressed the button.
Nothing.
Vanessa looked at the control panel.
“There should be a key.”
Ethan remembered.
The metal key.
He pulled it from his pocket.
He inserted it.
The elevator doors opened.
They descended.
One floor.
Two.
Three.
Four.
The numbers continued.
Ethan stared.
“How deep does this go?”
Victor didn't answer.
The elevator stopped at B7.
The doors opened.
A cold laboratory stretched before them.
Glass chambers.
Computers.
Old medical equipment.
Documents.
And dozens of photographs.
Ethan slowly walked forward.
One photograph caught his attention.
It showed him as a baby.
Beside him was a woman.
Not his mother.
Vanessa.
But she looked much younger.
She was holding him.
Ethan turned toward her.
“You knew me before I was married.”
Vanessa nodded.
“I was there when you were born.”
“You held me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Your mother asked me to.”
Ethan's voice softened.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Michael would have killed you.”
A sound came from the end of the laboratory.
Sophie.
“Daddy!”
Ethan ran.
He reached a glass room.
Sophie was inside.
Alone.
He slammed his hands against the glass.
“Sophie!”
She ran toward him.
“Daddy!”
Ethan looked for a door.
“Hold on!”
Victor found a control panel.
“I can open it.”
“Do it!”
Victor pressed several buttons.
The glass door unlocked.
Ethan pulled Sophie into his arms.
She buried her face against his chest.
“I knew you'd come.”
Ethan held her tightly.
“I'll always come.”
Then he noticed something.
A small cut on Sophie's wrist.
“What happened?”
Sophie looked frightened.
“Uncle Thomas wanted me to tell him where the key was.”
Ethan's expression darkened.
“Did you?”
Sophie shook her head.
“No.”
“Good.”
She looked behind him.
“Daddy?”
“What?”
“Where's Emily?”
Ethan froze.
“Didn't you see her?”
Sophie shook her head.
“Before I came here, she was with me.”
“Where did she go?”
Sophie pointed toward another room.
“She told me to hide.”
Ethan ran.
He reached the second chamber.
Empty.
A chair was overturned.
A broken glass panel covered the floor.
On the wall, someone had written in blood:
HE IS HERE.
Ethan stopped.
“Who?”
Vanessa stared at the words.
Then her eyes widened.
“Alexander.”
Victor shook his head.
“That's impossible.”
A voice came from behind them.
“Nothing is impossible.”
Everyone turned.
A man stood at the laboratory entrance.
Older.
Tall.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
His face was calm.
Ethan stared at him.
The man looked back.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then the stranger said,
“You have your mother's eyes.”
Ethan's breath caught.
“Alexander?”
The man nodded.
“I've been looking for you for twenty-five years.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“You're my father.”
“Yes.”
“Where were you?”
“Running.”
“From Michael?”
“From everyone.”
“Why?”
Alexander looked toward Sophie.
“Because they wanted to use you.”
Ethan's voice hardened.
“And my mother?”
Alexander's expression changed.
“She never abandoned you.”
“Then why didn't she come back?”
“She tried.”
“Where is she?”
Alexander looked at Vanessa.
Then Victor.
Then Sophie.
Finally, he looked at Ethan.
“Your mother is alive.”
Ethan's heart stopped.
“What?”
“She has been alive all these years.”
Vanessa began crying.
Victor looked away.
Ethan couldn't breathe.
“Where?”
Alexander didn't answer.
“Where is my mother?”
“Not here.”
“Where?”
Alexander stepped closer.
“She is the only person who knows how to destroy Black Meridian.”
Ethan's voice cracked.
“Then take me to her.”
Alexander shook his head.
“You're not ready.”
“I don't care.”
“You should.”
“She's my mother.”
“And you're her son.”
Alexander looked toward the dark corridor.
“Which means Michael will use you to find her.”
A metallic sound echoed through the laboratory.
Everyone froze.
The lights began shutting off one by one.
Victor whispered,
“Someone's coming.”
Alexander reached inside his coat.
Ethan stepped in front of Sophie.
Then a familiar voice echoed through the laboratory.
“Hello, Alexander.”
Michael.
He walked into the light.
Thomas stood behind him.
And between them was Emily.
Her hands were tied.
Michael smiled.
“You've finally brought my grandson back to me.”
Ethan stared at him.
“Grandson?”
Michael's eyes moved toward Sophie.
“Yes.”
Then he smiled.
“Your daughter isn't just your daughter.”
Ethan tightened his grip around Sophie.
“What are you talking about?”
Michael's smile widened.
“She is the last piece of Project Eden.”
Alexander stepped forward.
“Don't.”
Michael laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
He looked at Ethan.
“Sophie wasn't born by accident.”
Ethan's face went pale.
Michael continued.
“She was designed.”
Vanessa screamed,
“Liar!”
Michael smiled.
“Ask her mother.”
Ethan slowly turned toward Vanessa.
Her face was destroyed by fear.
“You knew?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
Michael stepped closer.
“You knew exactly what she was.”
Ethan looked at Sophie.
The little girl clung to his jacket.
“Daddy?”
Ethan held her tighter.
Michael's voice became cold.
“She is the reason your mother has been hiding for twenty-five years.”
Ethan's eyes widened.
“My mother?”
Michael smiled.
“She knows what Sophie is capable of.”
Then the laboratory doors slammed shut.
The lights went completely dark.
And in the darkness, a woman's voice came through the speakers.
A voice Ethan had not heard since childhood.
His mother's voice.
“Ethan...”
He froze.
Then she whispered:
“Don't trust Alexander.”
A gunshot followed.
May you like
And when the lights returned...
Alexander was gone.
