Chapter 14 - The Man in Tomorrow's PhotographThe photograph should not have existed.
Tomorrow had not happened yet.
Yet there it was.
Me.
Seven months pregnant.
Standing outside a hotel.
A strange man beside me.
The date printed below was one day in the future.
Kara stared at it.
“This is not a prediction.”
“What?”
“It's staged.”
She pointed to the reflections in the glass.
“The hotel sign is from a building that was demolished last year.”
Isabella stepped closer.
“They created the image.”
“To frame me,” I whispered.
“Exactly.”
But there was something else.
The man in the photograph.
I knew his face.
Not from real life.
From my grandfather's notebook.
He was one of the original researchers.
Dr. Samuel Reed.
Except Samuel Reed had supposedly died twenty years ago.
We found an address in the old files.
An underground laboratory beneath a church.
Marcus was still in custody.
We had to move fast.
Kara, Isabella, Daniel and I entered the facility.
Inside were servers.
Medical files.
Photographs.
And a wall covered with family trees.
At the center was my name.
Under it were eight circles.
Seven crossed out.
One glowing.
My unborn child.
Then we heard a voice.
“Beautiful, isn't it?”
Samuel Reed stepped into the room.
Alive.
Old.
Smiling.
“You were the final result.”
I stepped back.
“You created this.”
“I created the framework.”
“Why?”
“To preserve human genetic lines that would otherwise disappear.”
I almost laughed.
“You kidnapped children.”
“They were protected.”
“From their parents?”
“From extinction.”
Kara shouted,
“You tortured me!”
Samuel looked at her.
“You survived.”
She moved toward him.
I grabbed her.
“Don't.”
Samuel smiled.
“You still think this is about the babies.”
“Then what is it about?”
He looked at me.
“You.”
He explained that my grandfather's research required a natural carrier who could activate a dormant genetic sequence.
My mother had carried me.
But the sequence remained hidden.
My pregnancy activated it.
The unborn child was the first naturally activated case.
That was why they needed me alive.
Not the baby alone.
Me.
Samuel leaned closer.
“Your blood can reverse the genetic damage affecting thousands of people.”
Marcus's voice suddenly came from the doorway.
“I don't care.”
Everyone turned.
He had escaped custody.
He was holding the evidence folder.
“I care about my wife.”
Samuel smiled.
“You escaped exactly as predicted.”
Marcus stopped.
“What?”
Samuel looked at me.
Then at him.
“Every step you've taken tonight was planned.”
My heart sank.
The hospital.
The footage.
The arrest.
The escape.
All of it.
Marcus slowly looked at me.
“Then what did they want us to do?”
Samuel answered,
“Come here.”
The lights turned red.
Doors slammed shut.
Samuel stepped away from the control panel.
“I needed you both in one room.”
“Why?”
“Because the procedure requires the father.”
Marcus raised his gun.
“You're not touching her.”
Samuel smiled.
“We aren't going to touch her.”
He pressed a button.
My stomach monitor came alive.
A scan appeared.
The baby's heartbeat was displayed.
But beneath it was another signal.
A second heartbeat.
Marcus stared.
“What is that?”
Samuel looked at me.
“There are two babies.”
My legs weakened.
“What?”
He pointed at the screen.
“One heartbeat is your child.”
He pointed again.
“The second belongs to the child they thought had died.”
Kara's face went pale.
May you like
Samuel whispered,
“Your pregnancy has activated the missing twin embryo.”
