Chapter 14: The Room Beneath the Room
I hit the floor hard.
Pain shot through my shoulder.
For a second, I couldn't breathe.
Then I heard Lily screaming somewhere beneath me.
“Daddy!”
I pushed myself up.
“Lily!”
No answer.
Only the echo of machinery.
The floor beneath the laboratory had opened into a vertical shaft.
A metal ladder disappeared into darkness.
I grabbed it and climbed down.
“Daniel!”
Anna's voice came from above.
“Don't!”
I kept going.
“Daniel, wait!”
I didn't stop.
Lily was down there.
That was all that mattered.
Twenty feet.
Thirty.
The air became colder.
The walls were covered with wires.
Small cameras followed my movements.
Then I reached the bottom.
A narrow corridor stretched ahead.
Red lights blinked along the ceiling.
At the end was a steel door.
And behind it, Lily was crying.
“Daddy!”
I ran.
The door wouldn't open.
I slammed my shoulder against it.
“Lily!”
“I'm here!”
“Step away from the door!”
She obeyed.
I backed up.
Then charged.
The door shook.
Again.
Again.
Finally, the lock broke.
I fell inside.
Lily was sitting on the floor.
Her wrists were tied with plastic restraints.
I rushed toward her.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
I cut the restraints with a piece of broken metal.
“Daddy…”
“I've got you.”
She wrapped her arms around me.
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
A monitor above us suddenly turned on.
Thomas appeared.
“You should have stayed upstairs.”
I stared at the screen.
“Where is my family?”
Thomas smiled.
“Which family?”
“Anna. Emily. Elias.”
“They're alive.”
“Bring them here.”
“You still think you can negotiate.”
“I don't.”
I looked directly into the camera.
“I think I'm going to destroy everything you've built.”
Thomas laughed.
“You have no idea what you've inherited.”
“I don't want your money.”
“This isn't about money.”
“Then what?”
Thomas leaned closer to the camera.
“It's about ownership.”
“Of what?”
“People.”
I felt sick.
“People aren't property.”
“They are when governments, corporations, courts and families all agree otherwise.”
Lily held my hand.
Thomas continued.
“Your wife discovered that.”
“What did she discover?”
“That the Carter Trust wasn't designed to protect children.”
“What was it designed for?”
“Control.”
The monitor changed.
A document appeared.
Hundreds of names.
Bank accounts.
Property titles.
Political donations.
Hospital foundations.
Private companies.
And at the top:
CARTER FAMILY TRUST
Then I saw something that made my blood freeze.
The beneficiaries weren't corporations.
They were people.
Thousands of them.
Children.
Adults.
Judges.
Doctors.
Police officers.
Politicians.
“What is this?”
“The network.”
“What network?”
“The Black Compass.”
I stared at the screen.
“Why are there so many names?”
“Because everyone has a price.”
Thomas smiled.
“Some people accept money.”
“Others accept fear.”
“And some accept children.”
I felt my stomach turn.
“You used children.”
“We used identities.”
“You kidnapped them.”
“We reassigned them.”
“That's kidnapping.”
“Call it whatever makes you sleep at night.”
I stepped closer to the monitor.
“You killed my father.”
Thomas's smile disappeared.
“No.”
“Emily said you did.”
“Emily knows nothing.”
“She knows enough.”
Thomas looked away.
“Your father betrayed us.”
“So you killed him.”
“No.”
He paused.
“Your mother did.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She pulled the trigger.”
My heart stopped.
“Liar.”
“Ask Collins.”
I stared at the screen.
“You said she was my mother.”
“She is.”
“And she killed my father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he tried to kill you.”
The room became silent.
I remembered the red door.
The gunshot.
The boy.
My mother's voice.
A memory surfaced.
She was holding a gun.
My father was standing across from her.
I was behind the red door.
Elias was beside me.
My mother screamed:
“Run!”
Then the gun fired.
I stumbled backward.
The memory vanished.
I touched my forehead.
Thomas watched me.
“You're remembering.”
“What happened that night?”
“Ask your mother.”
“Where is she?”
Thomas smiled.
“Right behind you.”
I turned.
Anna stood in the doorway.
Her hands were free.
She looked exhausted.
But alive.
“Anna?”
She ran toward us.
I pulled Lily behind me.
Anna stopped.
“Daniel.”
“Did you kill my father?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
The answer destroyed me.
“Why?”
“He was going to kill you.”
“Why was I there?”
“Because he discovered what you were.”
“What am I?”
Anna looked at Lily.
Then at me.
“You're the first key.”
I shook my head.
“I don't understand.”
“Your bloodline carries the original genetic authorization.”
“For the trust?”
“Yes.”
“Then why do the girls matter?”
“Because the trust was divided.”
“Between them?”
“Between three generations.”
I stared at her.
“My father.”
“Your grandfather.”
“Me?”
Anna nodded.
“Your grandfather created the trust.”
“Why?”
“To protect the family from the Black Compass.”
“But then how did they take control?”
“Your father betrayed him.”
“And you?”
“I married your father to investigate him.”
My stomach twisted.
“You married me because of him?”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“I married you because I fell in love with you.”
I wanted to believe her.
But there were too many lies.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every time I tried, someone disappeared.”
“Who?”
“Elias.”
“Emily.”
“Your father.”
“Your mother.”
I looked at her.
“You said my mother killed my father.”
“She did.”
“Then why did she disappear?”
“Because Thomas wanted her dead.”
I stared at the monitor.
Thomas was gone.
The screen showed only static.
Anna suddenly looked frightened.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Where is Emily?”
I froze.
“She was upstairs.”
Anna's face went pale.
“No.”
“What?”
“She was never upstairs.”
“What are you saying?”
Anna grabbed my arm.
“The girl who called you Dad wasn't Emily.”
I stared at her.
“Then who was she?”
Anna whispered:
“Subject 18.”
“But Emily is Subject 18.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Emily is Subject 19.”
My blood ran cold.
“How many subjects are there?”
Anna looked at Lily.
“Twenty.”
I couldn't speak.
“What happened to the others?”
“Some died.”
“Some?”
“Some disappeared.”
“And the remaining?”
Anna hesitated.
“Some are still alive.”
“Where?”
She pointed toward the wall.
“Under us.”
I stared at the floor.
“There's another level.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the Black Compass never stopped.”
I heard a metallic sound.
A door opening somewhere below.
Anna grabbed Lily.
“Run.”
We rushed into the corridor.
Behind us, the laboratory doors slammed shut.
A voice came over the speakers.
Thomas.
“Subject 17 has been recovered.”
Anna stopped.
“No.”
Another voice followed.
“Subject 18 is secured.”
Anna looked at me.
Her face was white.
Then a third voice spoke.
“Subject 19 has escaped.”
I stared at her.
“Who is Subject 19?”
Anna didn't answer.
The speakers crackled again.
A child's voice came through.
“Daddy?”
I froze.
It sounded exactly like Lily.
But Lily was standing beside me.
The voice continued.
“Daddy, please help me.”
Lily squeezed my hand.
“That's not me.”
I stared at the speaker.
The voice cried again.
“Daddy…”
Anna whispered:
“That's your real daughter.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“The real Lily.”
I looked at the darkness ahead.
“You said she was missing.”
“She was.”
“For eight years.”
“Yes.”
“Then where has she been?”
Anna's eyes filled with tears.
“She has been beneath this building.”
A door opened at the end of the corridor.
A little girl stepped into the red light.
She looked about eight years old.
Dark hair.
Anna's eyes.
My face.
She stared directly at me.
“Daddy?”
I couldn't move.
Lily beside me started crying.
The little girl looked at her.
Then whispered:
“That's my sister.”
I stared at both children.
Two identical faces.
Two identical voices.
Two girls.
One truth.
And then the little girl lifted her hand.
There was a small birthmark behind her ear.
The same mark I'd seen on Lily.
My heart broke.
She whispered:
“My name is Lily.”
Then the lights went out.
When they came back on, Anna was gone.
So was the little girl.
Only one thing remained on the floor.
A blood-stained envelope.
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph of twenty children.
Every face had been crossed out except two.
Lily.
And Emily.
Underneath, someone had written:
THE EXPERIMENT ENDS TONIGHT.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
You have ten minutes to choose which daughter lives.
Another message followed.
Choose wrong, and both die.
I stared at the screen.
Then a final message appeared.
May you like
And Daniel...
You have already made this choice once.
