Chapter 11 - Ryan sat in the hospital waiting room while Emily was examined by doctors.Detective Cole sat across from him.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Finally, Cole opened a folder.
“We reviewed the medical records.”
Ryan looked up.
“Tell me.”
Cole hesitated.
“There was one birth.”
Ryan nodded.
“Lily.”
“Yes.”
“No Grace.”
“Correct.”
“Then why are there records for Grace?”
“Because someone created them.”
Ryan felt a headache forming.
“Victor?”
“Likely.”
“What about the photographs?”
“Manipulated.”
“The hospital records?”
“Falsified.”
“The DNA?”
“We confirmed it.”
Ryan stared.
“So the girl beneath the floor…”
“Is biologically Lily.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
“But she believes she's Grace too.”
Cole nodded.
“That's the strange part.”
Ryan remembered the recordings.
Memory transfer.
Identity reconstruction.
Project Mirror.
Suddenly Emily entered the room.
She looked pale.
Ryan stood.
“What did the doctor say?”
She didn't answer.
Cole looked at her.
“Mrs. Mercer, we need the truth.”
Emily sat.
“I'll tell you.”
She looked directly at Ryan.
“When Lily was six months old, Victor took her.”
Ryan clenched his jaw.
“He brought her back three weeks later.”
“Why?”
“She was different.”
“How?”
“She remembered things.”
Ryan frowned.
“She was an infant.”
“I know.”
“She remembered sounds. Faces. The layout of rooms.”
Emily shook her head.
“She remembered things that happened before she was born.”
Ryan went silent.
Emily continued.
“Victor had developed a neurological technique. He called it Mirror Memory.”
“He copied memory patterns.”
“Yes.”
“From who?”
“From other children.”
Ryan stared.
“Then Lily wasn't remembering Grace.”
“No.”
“She was remembering other subjects.”
Emily nodded.
“How many?”
Emily looked away.
“Seven.”
Ryan felt sick.
“Seven children?”
“Yes.”
“Where are they now?”
Emily whispered:
“Dead.”
Silence.
Ryan turned toward Cole.
“We need to find Victor.”
Cole nodded.
“We already issued a warrant.”
Ryan looked at Emily.
“What happened to Daniel?”
Emily shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Then the hospital lights flickered.
Ryan looked toward the hallway.
A nurse walked past.
Then stopped.
She looked at him.
“Mr. Mercer?”
“Yes?”
She handed him a sealed envelope.
“This was left for you.”
Ryan opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
A teenage boy.
He recognized the face immediately.
Daniel.
But the photograph was dated fifteen years ago.
Daniel stood beside Victor.
And beside them was Ryan's mother.
Alive.
On the back was a handwritten sentence:
YOUR MOTHER CHOSE THIS.
Ryan stared.
Emily whispered:
“What is it?”
Ryan showed her.
Her face changed.
“I didn't know.”
Ryan looked at her.
“Was my mother involved?”
Emily shook her head.
“Not willingly.”
The nurse suddenly stepped back.
Ryan noticed she was crying.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
Then whispered:
“I remember you.”
Ryan froze.
“Do I know you?”
She stared at him.
“No.”
Then she touched her temple.
“But I remember being under your house.”
Ryan's blood ran cold.
Cole stood immediately.
“What did you say?”
The nurse looked terrified.
“I don't know.”
Then she suddenly collapsed.
Doctors rushed over.
Ryan stepped back.
The nurse convulsed.
Her eyes opened.
For one second, they looked like Lily's.
She whispered:
“Daddy.”
Then she stopped breathing.
Doctors pushed Ryan away.
The monitor flatlined.
Cole stared at Ryan.
“That was not normal.”
Ryan didn't answer.
He was staring at the nurse's wrist.
There was a faded tattoo.
A number.
SUBJECT 08.
Ryan looked at Emily.
“How many children did Victor experiment on?”
Emily's face was empty.
“I don't know.”
Then Ryan heard a voice behind him.
A child's voice.
“Eight.”
He turned.
Noah stood at the end of the hallway.
Ryan ran to him.
“Noah!”
The boy hugged him tightly.
Ryan held him.
“Where were you?”
Noah whispered:
“Dad.”
“What?”
Noah pulled back.
His eyes were strangely calm.
“He's bringing everyone home.”
Ryan looked down the hallway.
“Who?”
Noah pointed toward the hospital doors.
“Grandpa.”
The doors opened.
Victor stood outside.
And beside him was Lily.
But Ryan immediately knew something was wrong.
The girl looked at him.
Then smiled.
“Daddy.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“Lily?”
She nodded.
May you like
But Noah grabbed his hand.
“That's not Lily.”
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