CHAPTER 9: THE BROTHER WHO CAME BACK
I couldn't move.
The man standing beneath the broken Blackridge sign looked at me as if he had been waiting his entire life for this exact moment.
His face was older.
Sharper.
Scarred.
But there was something in his eyes that I recognized immediately.
Something I had seen every morning in the mirror.
He looked like me.
Not exactly.
But enough.
Enough to make every lie my family had ever told me collapse at once.
He took one step forward.
“Daniel,” I whispered.
The man's expression changed.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
“You remember?”
I shook my head.
“I don't.”
He smiled sadly.
“That's what they wanted.”
Sarah stepped out of the car.
“Daniel.”
He looked at her.
“You came back.”
“I had to.”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“You came back because they took Emily.”
Sarah stopped.
Daniel's eyes moved to Victor.
“Did you tell him everything?”
Victor smiled.
“Not yet.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Then we don't have much time.”
I stepped toward him.
“You're really my brother?”
He nodded.
“Older by three years.”
I stared at him.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where have you been?”
“Here.”
I looked at the research center.
“No.”
“Not always here.”
“Then where?”
Daniel looked at Victor.
“Wherever they needed me.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel pulled down the sleeve of his shirt.
There were scars along his forearm.
Small circular marks.
Dozens of them.
I felt sick.
“What did they do to you?”
He looked at the scars.
“They took samples.”
“Blood?”
“Blood. Tissue. Bone marrow.”
My fists tightened.
“Why?”
“Because I was Subject Zero.”
I looked at Sarah.
She nodded.
“Daniel was the first.”
I turned back toward him.
“You were sick.”
“I was.”
“Then they treated you.”
“They experimented on me.”
“Did it work?”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Depends on what you call working.”
“What happened?”
“My disease disappeared.”
I stared at him.
“So they cured you?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“They changed me.”
A chill ran down my spine.
“What does that mean?”
“My body learned to repair itself.”
I remembered Victor's words.
Emily's blood.
The treatment.
The first successful subject.
Daniel continued.
“They used my cells to create the treatment.”
“For Emily?”
“For sixteen children before her.”
“What happened to them?”
Daniel's face became expressionless.
“They died.”
My stomach twisted.
“And Emily survived.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she inherited something from you.”
I frowned.
“Me?”
Daniel nodded.
“You carry the missing genetic sequence.”
Sarah spoke quietly.
“That's why they need both of you.”
I looked at Victor.
“You knew.”
He smiled.
“We've known for years.”
“Then why didn't you take me?”
“Because your father protected you.”
I froze.
“My father?”
Daniel nodded.
“Your father knew exactly what they were doing.”
“But he signed the documents.”
“He did.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked away.
“Because he believed the treatment could save you.”
My chest tightened.
“Save me from what?”
Daniel stared at me.
“From the same disease that killed him.”
Silence.
My father's death had always been explained as a heart attack.
But apparently that was another lie.
“What disease?”
Daniel's voice dropped.
“The Carter Syndrome.”
I almost laughed.
“That doesn't exist.”
“It didn't.”
He looked at me.
“Until your father funded the research.”
I stared at him.
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Because your mother made a deal.”
I looked toward the road.
My mother.
Again.
“What deal?”
Daniel's expression darkened.
“She agreed to give them me.”
“And later?”
“Later, she agreed to give them Emily.”
My blood boiled.
“You're lying.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Ask her.”
I looked at my phone.
My mother had called earlier.
I dialed her.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
I felt panic rising.
Then a message appeared.
From my mother.
I'm sorry.
I stared at the words.
Another message.
I tried to stop them.
Then:
I couldn't.
Daniel saw the screen.
“She knows.”
“Knows what?”
“She knows where Emily is.”
I looked at Victor.
“You have my daughter.”
Victor smiled.
“Yes.”
“Take me to her.”
“Gladly.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“No.”
Victor looked at him.
“You're in no position to negotiate.”
Daniel laughed.
“You're still afraid of me.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
“Don't.”
“You know what happens if you inject me.”
Victor's face hardened.
“You won't survive another procedure.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“I survived twenty-seven years.”
“You won't survive another twenty-seven minutes.”
I looked between them.
“What procedure?”
Neither answered.
Daniel finally looked at me.
“They want to combine our blood.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“Your blood and mine.”
“For what?”
“To complete the treatment.”
Sarah stepped forward.
“And Emily is the final test.”
I stared at her.
“They're going to use my daughter as an experiment.”
“Yes.”
“Not if I can stop them.”
Daniel looked at me.
“That is why you're here.”
“What do you mean?”
He pointed toward the research center.
“Because the archive isn't just records.”
“Then what is it?”
“A laboratory.”
My heart sank.
“Still operational?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Underground.”
Victor interrupted.
“We've wasted enough time.”
He pointed toward the building.
“Inside.”
I refused to move.
“Where is Emily?”
Victor lifted his phone.
A live video appeared.
Emily was sitting in a white room.
Her hands were tied to a chair.
She was crying.
“Daddy!”
I stepped forward.
Victor immediately ended the video.
“Inside.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Can you get her out?”
He nodded.
“But you need to trust me.”
I almost laughed.
“That's becoming difficult.”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“You don't have to trust me.”
He pointed at the building.
“Just trust that I want my niece alive.”
The word hit me.
Niece.
I looked at him.
He smiled faintly.
“I've imagined meeting you for twenty-seven years.”
I swallowed.
“What did you imagine?”
“That you'd remember me.”
“I don't.”
“I know.”
He reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a small wooden toy.
A carved airplane.
He handed it to me.
I stared at it.
Something flashed in my mind.
A backyard.
Summer.
A boy older than me.
A wooden airplane.
His hand in mine.
A voice.
Don't tell Mom.
I stumbled backward.
Daniel caught me.
“You remember.”
I touched the toy.
“I…”
My vision blurred.
Another memory surfaced.
My mother screaming.
A car.
Daniel being pulled away.
Me crying.
Someone telling me:
“Your brother is going to heaven.”
I looked at Daniel.
“You didn't die.”
“No.”
“They made me forget.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you tried to stop them.”
My heart pounded.
“I was three.”
“You were three.”
“How could I?”
Daniel looked at me.
“You bit Victor.”
I stared.
“What?”
He smiled.
“You wouldn't let go of my hand.”
The memory returned.
Victor's face.
My brother crying.
My mother holding me.
A black car.
A needle.
Then darkness.
I looked at Victor.
“You did this.”
He smiled.
“You were always difficult.”
Rage exploded inside me.
I lunged.
Daniel grabbed me.
“Not here.”
Victor stepped back.
“Bring him.”
We entered the building.
The interior looked abandoned.
Broken equipment.
Dust.
Dead lights.
But beneath the floor, something hummed.
Daniel walked toward a wall.
He pressed his hand against it.
A hidden panel opened.
A staircase descended into darkness.
I stared.
“How deep?”
“Three levels.”
“And the lab?”
“Level three.”
We descended.
The temperature dropped.
The walls changed.
Concrete became steel.
Security cameras followed us.
Doors opened automatically as Victor approached.
We reached a corridor.
At the end was a glass room.
Emily.
She was sitting inside.
Her face was wet with tears.
“Daddy!”
I ran toward the glass.
“Emily!”
She pressed both hands against it.
“I knew you'd come.”
“I'll get you out.”
Daniel looked at the control panel.
“Stay back.”
He entered a code.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Victor smiled.
“You don't have clearance.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Give me the code.”
“No.”
“Then I'll take it.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Try.”
Daniel suddenly grabbed Victor.
They crashed against the wall.
I rushed toward the door.
Sarah shouted:
“Wait!”
I stopped.
“Why?”
She pointed at the floor.
A red line had appeared beneath my feet.
A scanner.
My blood.
The system was reading me.
A screen beside the door lit up.
GENETIC MATCH CONFIRMED.
Then another message appeared.
SUBJECT 17 AUTHORIZED.
The door opened.
Emily ran into my arms.
I held her tightly.
“I've got you.”
She buried her face against my chest.
Then she whispered:
“Daddy, there's another girl.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
Emily pointed toward another room.
Behind the glass was a little girl.
Maybe six years old.
She was sitting alone.
She looked exactly like Emily.
Same dark eyes.
Same hair.
Same silver bracelet.
I stared.
“How many children are here?”
Emily whispered:
“She said she's my sister.”
My blood turned to ice.
Daniel stopped fighting.
Victor froze.
Sarah covered her mouth.
Then the laboratory lights turned red.
An alarm began screaming.
A computerized voice echoed through the corridor.
SUBJECT 18 HAS AWAKENED.
Daniel looked at me.
“That's impossible.”
“What?”
He stared through the glass.
“Subject 18 died three years ago.”
The little girl slowly lifted her head.
She looked directly at me.
Then she smiled.
And spoke into the microphone.
“Daddy?”
May you like
My entire world stopped.
Because her voice sounded exactly like Emily's.
