Chapter 11 - Three Days to Stop the WorldWe had seventy-one hours.
My Army training took over.
We secured the facility.
We collected evidence.
My father explained the release mechanism.
Project Helix wasn't a weapon in the traditional sense.
It was worse.
It was a biological chain reaction.
The treatment would activate latent genetic responses in millions of people.
Some would become sick.
Others would develop mutations.
People carrying the Parker genetic marker would die rapidly.
The world would blame a natural outbreak.
By the time anyone understood what happened, it would be too late.
“Who controls the release?” I asked.
My father pointed at the screen.
“One person.”
“Who?”
He hesitated.
“Richard Hale.”
I frowned.
“He was shot.”
“He survived.”
I looked at Sophie.
“You knew.”
She nodded.
“He recruited me.”
“To stop Helix.”
“Yes.”
“And you trusted him?”
“No.”
“Then why work with him?”
“Because sometimes the enemy of your enemy is still useful.”
I almost laughed.
Then I noticed something strange.
The countdown wasn't moving.
It had stopped.
Sophie looked at the screen.
“That's impossible.”
“What?”
“The timer is linked to an external server.”
“So?”
“So someone paused it.”
“Who?”
A voice came from the speakers.
“Me.”
Richard.
My father reached for his weapon.
Richard appeared on the screen.
Behind him stood dozens of armed men.
And Sophie suddenly looked sick.
“What is it?”
She whispered:
“He has Anna's older sister.”
I stared at her.
“My daughter has a sister?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“The first baby.”
My heart stopped.
“You said she died.”
Richard spoke through the speakers.
“She didn't.”
I stepped toward the screen.
“Show me.”
A video appeared.
A girl.
Seven or eight years old.
Dark hair.
Brown eyes.
Alive.
My daughter.
My first daughter.
I couldn't speak.
She sat in a room beside another child.
Then Richard smiled.
“You wanted answers.”
My father looked horrified.
“You promised me she was dead.”
Richard laughed.
“Your father lies almost as well as you do.”
I stared at my father.
He wouldn't meet my eyes.
“How long?”
He whispered:
“Seven years.”
My knees nearly gave way.
Seven years.
My daughter had been alive.
Somewhere.
And I'd spent seven years believing she was gone.
I looked at Sophie.
Her face was soaked in tears.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every time I tried, they moved her.”
“Where is she now?”
Richard appeared on screen again.
“She is here.”
I stared.
“Bring her to me.”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
“One thing.”
“What?”
“Anna.”
Silence.
Richard smiled.
“Bring me the younger daughter, and I'll return the older one.”
Sophie stepped forward.
“No.”
Richard looked at her.
“You knew this day would come.”
She shook her head.
“I won't trade one child for another.”
“You already did.”
The screen went black.
Then the timer restarted.
69:58:41.
I looked at my daughters' photographs on the screen.
Two girls.
Two lives.
Two secrets.
And suddenly I understood the true purpose of Project Helix.
It wasn't about creating a cure.
It was about controlling a bloodline.
Our bloodline.
And somehow, Sophie had known all along that the final battle would come down to one impossible choice.
May you like
Save one daughter.
Or save them both.
