Chapter 13 - Everything changed after that.Mom spent hours examining the photograph.
Her mother.
Six years old.
Standing inside the same room as Daniel, Claire, and Vincent's father.
“How is that possible?”
Vincent shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Then he noticed something.
A symbol on the girl's wrist.
The same crescent mark.
The same mark I had.
Mom looked at mine.
Then hers.
Then the photograph.
“It's genetic.”
Vincent nodded.
“Which means your family has been tied to this longer than anyone thought.”
The letter continued.
Daniel explained that Project Ascension wasn't about money.
The seventy-seven million dollars were only one part of a much larger system.
The real project was designed to identify children born with a specific genetic sequence.
Children who could access protected financial networks.
Children who could survive a procedure that would erase memories.
Children who could become invisible to surveillance.
Rory was one of them.
And Mom's family had been part of the project for three generations.
Mom began crying.
“I thought my life was normal.”
Vincent looked at her.
“It was never allowed to be.”
Then they found Daniel's final note.
WHEN THE SEVENTY-SEVENTH DAY IS REACHED, THEY WILL COME FOR RORY.
Vincent checked the date.
Tomorrow.
“Tomorrow,” he said.
Mom stared.
“What happens tomorrow?”
“They take her.”
“No.”
Vincent looked at her.
“Then we make sure they fail.”
They prepared the mansion.
Extra guards.
Security cameras.
Escape routes.
Medical team.
Everything.
But Vincent knew something.
The enemy knew his security better than he did.
Because they had helped build it.
At midnight, the power went out.
Again.
This time, Vincent was ready.
Emergency generators kicked in.
His guards moved into formation.
A shot rang out from outside.
Then another.
Then silence.
Vincent looked at the security monitor.
No movement.
“No one is there.”
Mom stood beside me.
“Then why did they shoot?”
Vincent stared.
“Diversion.”
A second alarm went off.
The front gate had been breached.
Guards rushed toward it.
Vincent turned.
“Stay here.”
Then the lights flickered.
The bedroom door opened.
A woman stepped inside.
Claire.
Mom froze.
“What are you doing here?”
Claire looked at me.
“Taking her.”
Vincent appeared behind her with his gun raised.
Claire smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
Vincent said:
“Don't move.”
Claire shook her head.
“The enemy isn't outside.”
She pointed at herself.
“It's inside.”
Mom looked confused.
Vincent slowly turned.
One of his guards raised a gun.
Not at Claire.
At Vincent.
Another guard did the same.
Then another.
Vincent's face hardened.
“Who recruited you?”
The guard smiled.
“Your father.”
Vincent's expression went blank.
Claire looked at me.
“Rory, come here.”
I didn't move.
She sighed.
“Your father trusted me.”
“My dad?”
“Yes.”
She reached into her coat.
Mom stepped in front of me.
Claire pulled out a photograph.
Daniel.
Standing beside her.
On the back:
TRUST CLAIRE.
Mom hesitated.
Vincent said:
“Don't.”
Claire looked at him.
“If you want Rory alive tomorrow, she has to come with me tonight.”
The guards around Vincent raised their weapons.
Vincent lowered his.
Slowly.
Mom stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
He whispered:
“Buying us three seconds.”
He looked directly at Claire.
“Take her.”
Mom gasped.
“Vincent!”
Claire grabbed me.
We ran through the side corridor.
As the doors closed behind us, I heard gunfire.
Then I heard Vincent shout:
“GO!”
Claire pulled me into an underground tunnel.
Mom was behind us.
But she was crying.
“What about Vincent?”
Claire didn't look back.
“He'll survive.”
“You don't know that.”
Claire finally stopped.
She looked at me.
Then at Mom.
“I know because your husband built the tunnel.”
Mom froze.
At the end of the tunnel stood a man.
Daniel.
May you like
Alive.
Waiting for us.
