Chapter 13 - The Person We TrustedWe drove for forty minutes.
No one spoke.
Linda was bleeding.
I kept checking the mirror.
No headlights behind us.
Still, I couldn't shake her final words.
The person you trust most.
Who?
Emily?
My best friend Marcus?
My boss?
Someone in my family?
We stopped at an emergency clinic.
Linda refused treatment.
“Not here.”
“You'll die.”
“Maybe.”
She looked at me.
“But if they find me, you'll die too.”
Emily sat beside her.
“You said someone was in our house.”
Linda nodded.
“Who?”
She looked at me.
“You'll know when you see the nursery.”
We returned home at dawn.
Every light was off.
No cars.
The police had arrived earlier, searched the house, and left.
Nothing had been stolen.
Nothing appeared damaged.
Except the nursery.
The crib was empty.
I stopped breathing.
Then I heard crying.
Not from the room.
From the closet.
I opened it.
Our son was there.
Alive.
Wrapped in a blanket.
Emily screamed with relief.
But there was someone else.
A man.
He stepped from behind the closet door.
I recognized him immediately.
Marcus.
My best friend.
My oldest friend.
The man who had stood beside me at my wedding.
The man who had held Ethan the night we brought him home.
He raised both hands.
“Daniel.”
I couldn't speak.
“What are you doing here?”
Marcus looked at Emily.
Then at Linda.
“Your mother knows.”
Linda lifted her gun.
“You.”
Marcus sighed.
“She was always going to find out.”
“You work for them.”
“Yes.”
Emily backed away.
“For how long?”
“Seven years.”
I felt sick.
Every memory.
Every conversation.
Every time Marcus had come over.
Every time he held our baby.
“You touched my son.”
Marcus's face hardened.
“I protected him.”
“From what?”
“From the people who wanted him dead.”
Linda laughed bitterly.
“You expect him to believe that?”
Marcus ignored her.
He looked at me.
“Daniel, you have no idea what your father created.”
“Then tell me.”
“Your father's research can be used to rewrite emotional responses.”
“What does that mean?”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Fear can be removed.”
“Memories can be altered.”
“Children can be conditioned.”
I felt sick.
“What does Ethan have to do with this?”
Marcus's voice dropped.
“He's the first child born naturally with the complete sequence.”
I looked at my son.
“Complete what?”
Marcus looked at Emily.
“The mother carries one half.”
Then me.
“The father carries the other.”
He looked at Ethan.
“The child combines both.”
Silence.
May you like
Then Marcus said:
“And Victor Hale has been waiting twenty years for him.”
