Chapter 10: The Bullet That Wasn't Meant for Me
The gunshot exploded through the living room.
I didn't feel the bullet.
I heard the scream.
My mother.
She collapsed against the staircase, clutching her shoulder.
Adrian lowered the gun.
For one frozen second, nobody moved.
Then Nathan shouted,
“GET DOWN!”
Another gunshot shattered the window.
The men behind Marcus opened fire.
I dove behind the sofa.
Adrian pulled my mother behind the staircase.
Nathan returned fire.
The room erupted into chaos.
Glass rained across the floor.
Furniture splintered.
Someone screamed.
I crawled toward my mother.
“Mom!”
She was bleeding heavily.
“I’m okay.”
“You're not okay.”
Adrian grabbed her arm.
“We need to get out.”
Marcus remained standing in the doorway.
Calm.
Almost amused.
“You're still protecting him.”
My mother looked at him.
“Leave my son alone.”
Marcus smiled.
“Which son?”
Her face went pale.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Daniel?”
Then he pointed toward Adrian.
“Or him?”
Adrian fired.
Marcus ducked.
The bullet struck the wall.
Nathan grabbed me.
“Kitchen!”
We ran.
Behind us, more gunshots erupted.
We reached the kitchen.
Nathan slammed the door.
“There's a back exit.”
I looked at him.
“What about Mom?”
“Adrian has her.”
“What about Claire?”
“She’s at the hospital.”
“We have to go back.”
“No.”
Nathan grabbed my shoulders.
“You're the target.”
“I don't care.”
“You should.”
He pointed toward the hallway.
“Marcus came here for you.”
I looked back.
“Why?”
Nathan hesitated.
“Because he thinks you're the key to Project Echo.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Nathan's face tightened.
“Your memory.”
“My memory?”
“Your father believed you had retained something from the experiments.”
“What?”
“The location.”
“What location?”
“The original Project Echo facility.”
I shook my head.
“I don't know where it is.”
Nathan stared at me.
“You don't consciously know.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your father erased the memory.”
My stomach dropped.
“But Marcus believes it can be recovered.”
“How?”
Nathan looked toward the living room.
“Through you.”
A loud crash came from the hallway.
“They're coming.”
Nathan pulled me toward the back door.
We escaped into the rain.
Adrian was already outside.
My mother was with him.
Her shoulder was bleeding, but she was walking.
We ran toward the car.
Then a gunshot.
Adrian stumbled.
I caught him.
“Adrian!”
Blood spread across his shirt.
“I'm fine.”
“You've been shot.”
“It's a graze.”
Nathan opened the car door.
“Get in!”
We piled inside.
Adrian drove.
My mother sat in the back, pressing a towel against her wound.
I looked at her.
“Where is Claire?”
“At the hospital.”
“Is she safe?”
My mother hesitated.
“I don't know.”
“What?”
She closed her eyes.
“Marcus has people everywhere.”
I grabbed my phone.
No signal.
Then it returned.
Dozens of notifications appeared.
Missed calls.
Messages.
One voicemail.
From the hospital.
I played it.
A nurse's frightened voice came through.
“Mr. Parker, you need to call us immediately.”
Then screaming.
The message ended.
I called the hospital.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
I looked at Nathan.
“We're going back.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“Claire is there.”
“That's why you can't go.”
“She's my wife.”
“And that's exactly why Marcus will expect you.”
I stared at him.
“Then what do we do?”
My mother finally spoke.
“We find Lucas.”
I turned toward her.
“He's with Marcus.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Marcus took him, but he doesn't have him anymore.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Someone else took him.”
“Who?”
She looked at Adrian.
“His biological father.”
Nathan's face changed.
“But Marcus is—”
“No.”
My mother looked at me.
“Marcus isn't Lucas's father.”
I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
“Then who is?”
She whispered,
“Daniel.”
I stared at her.
“You just said Marcus isn't his father.”
“I said Marcus isn't the biological father.”
“Then I am.”
She nodded.
“But that's not the whole truth.”
I felt exhausted.
“Just tell me.”
My mother took a breath.
“Lucas was created from your DNA.”
I frowned.
“Created?”
“Your father used your genetic material.”
“For what?”
“To create a biological copy.”
Silence.
I couldn't process it.
“Lucas isn't naturally my son.”
“No.”
“He's a clone?”
My mother nodded.
The word hit me like a physical blow.
I looked at Adrian.
He didn't deny it.
“That's impossible.”
My mother shook her head.
“Your father spent years trying to make it possible.”
I stared at my hands.
“So Lucas is...”
“Your genetic child.”
“Even though Claire carried him?”
“Yes.”
My stomach twisted.
“Why would Dad do that?”
“Because he believed you were the perfect subject.”
“What subject?”
“The first successful Echo.”
I felt the room spinning.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“And Lucas was created from me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To prove that the traits could be inherited.”
I stared at her.
“What traits?”
My mother looked away.
“Memory.”
I suddenly remembered the boy's voice.
Lucas knew things he couldn't possibly know.
The clinic.
The night I was born.
My father's experiments.
Because they were inside him.
My memories.
Or fragments of them.
I whispered,
“He's carrying my memories.”
My mother nodded.
“Some of them.”
A terrible thought occurred to me.
“Then Marcus doesn't want Lucas.”
My mother looked at me.
“He wants what's inside him.”
I felt sick.
“The memories.”
“Yes.”
“That's why he took him.”
“Yes.”
Nathan suddenly pointed toward the road.
“Stop.”
Adrian slammed the brakes.
A black car had appeared behind us.
Then another.
They were surrounding us.
Adrian turned sharply.
The SUV crashed through a fence.
We flew onto a dirt road.
One of the black cars followed.
Nathan looked behind us.
“They're coming.”
Adrian accelerated.
The road narrowed.
Trees scraped against the sides of the vehicle.
Then we saw lights ahead.
An abandoned warehouse.
Adrian stopped.
“This is where we're going.”
I stared at the building.
“Why?”
“Because your father hid something here.”
“What?”
Adrian looked at me.
“The machine.”
“What machine?”
“The one that can recover your memories.”
My stomach dropped.
“You want to use it on me?”
“Not me.”
He looked toward my mother.
“She does.”
I turned.
My mother was crying.
“I never wanted this.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You let Dad do it.”
“I tried to stop him.”
“When?”
“The night you were born.”
I stared at her.
“What happened?”
She closed her eyes.
“You were dying.”
“What?”
“Your heart stopped.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Dad said you wouldn't survive.”
“What about Adrian?”
“He was healthy.”
“Then why did you choose me?”
“Because Marcus wanted Adrian.”
She looked at me.
“And I couldn't give him both of my children.”
I swallowed.
“So you gave him Adrian.”
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“I gave him the wrong child.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
She whispered:
“Marcus thought he took Adrian.”
“But he actually took me?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“He took neither of you.”
I froze.
“Then who did he take?”
My mother stared at Adrian.
“He took a third child.”
Silence.
Nathan whispered,
“That's impossible.”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“Your father had another baby in the clinic.”
I felt my blood turn cold.
“A third baby?”
“Yes.”
“Whose?”
My mother couldn't answer.
I looked at Adrian.
He suddenly understood.
His face went pale.
“Mom...”
She whispered:
“Marcus took the child because he believed it was Daniel.”
Adrian stepped backward.
“Who was the child?”
My mother began crying.
“The child was Claire's.”
I felt the world stop.
“Claire had another baby?”
“Eight years ago.”
“But Lucas—”
“He isn't the first child.”
My heart hammered.
“Then where is Claire's first child?”
My mother looked toward the warehouse.
“Inside.”
I stared at the building.
“Alive?”
She nodded.
“Alive.”
Then she whispered:
“And he's been waiting for you.”
A child's voice suddenly came from inside the warehouse.
“Dad?”
I stopped breathing.
It was Lucas.
But then another child's voice answered from deeper inside.
“Dad...”
My blood froze.
Two children.
Two voices.
Both calling me Dad.
Adrian slowly raised his gun.
Nathan whispered:
“There are two of them.”
The warehouse doors opened by themselves.
Inside the darkness stood two identical eight-year-old boys.
One was Lucas.
The other had my face.
And behind them stood Marcus Vale.
Smiling.
“Welcome home, Daniel.”
May you like
Then he said the words that shattered everything I thought I knew.
“Now choose which son gets to live.”
