CHAPTER 12 — THE DNA THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST
Ryan stared at the screen.
OLIVER WHITMORE — 99.98% MATCH TO SUBJECT NOAH.
His eyes moved to the next line.
MATERNAL GENETIC PROFILE: CLAIRE WHITMORE.
His stomach twisted.
“No.”
Daniel said nothing.
Ryan turned toward him.
“You said Claire was dead.”
“She is.”
“Then how does Oliver have her DNA?”
Daniel looked at the screen.
“That is the question I've spent twenty-two years trying to answer.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“You knew this could happen?”
“I suspected.”
“You suspected?”
Daniel's voice cracked.
“I didn't know Oliver would inherit the marker.”
Ryan stared at him.
“What marker?”
Daniel hesitated.
“The one that made Noah valuable to the Foundation.”
Michael slammed his hand against the desk.
“Stop talking in riddles.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You don't understand what they built.”
“Then explain it.”
Daniel pointed toward the screen.
“Noah wasn't just a child they studied.”
Ryan looked at the DNA report.
“He was a genetic match?”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“He was the original carrier.”
Ryan frowned.
“Carrier of what?”
Daniel's eyes moved toward Oliver's hospital file.
“A hereditary mutation.”
Ryan's chest tightened.
“What does it do?”
“We don't know.”
“You spent twenty years researching it and don't know?”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“We know what it can affect.”
“What?”
“Respiratory function. Neurological development. Cellular repair.”
Ryan stared at him.
“Then Oliver could be sick.”
“Yes.”
Maya's voice suddenly came through the laboratory speaker.
“Ryan.”
Everyone froze.
Ryan looked at the security monitor.
Maya was standing in a corridor.
She was alone.
Her face was pale.
“Ryan, listen to me.”
Ryan stepped toward the screen.
“Maya!”
She looked directly at the camera.
“I need you to believe me.”
“I do.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You don't.”
Ryan felt his heart tighten.
“What happened?”
Maya looked around.
“They took Oliver.”
“I know.”
“They said they were going to run a genetic test.”
“I know.”
“Then they told me something.”
Ryan waited.
Maya's eyes filled with tears.
“They said Oliver isn't your biological son.”
Ryan froze.
“What?”
Maya swallowed.
“They said his father is Noah.”
Ryan looked at Daniel.
Daniel's face went pale.
Ryan turned back to the screen.
“What are you saying?”
Maya shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You're his mother.”
“I know.”
“You were there when he was born.”
“Yes.”
“Then how could he be Noah's son?”
“I don't know!”
Her voice broke.
Ryan stared at her.
Something about her expression felt different.
Not deceptive.
Terrified.
Genuinely terrified.
Maya continued.
“Ryan, there is something I never told you.”
His heart sank.
“What?”
“When Oliver was born…”
She stopped.
“When Oliver was born, the doctor told me he had a rare blood type.”
Ryan frowned.
“So?”
“It didn't match mine.”
Ryan's face went blank.
“What?”
“I thought it was a mistake.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because they told me your blood type matched his.”
Ryan slowly turned toward Daniel.
Daniel looked away.
Maya continued:
“But yesterday, I found the original birth documents.”
Ryan's voice dropped.
“What did they say?”
Maya closed her eyes.
“They said Oliver was conceived using an embryo that wasn't ours.”
Silence.
Ryan felt as if the air had disappeared.
“What?”
“They used an embryo.”
“Whose?”
Maya's voice became barely audible.
“Claire's.”
Ryan looked at Daniel.
“You knew.”
Daniel nodded.
“I suspected.”
Ryan stepped toward him.
“You knew my son wasn't ours?”
“He is yours.”
“That isn't what I asked!”
Daniel didn't answer.
Ryan grabbed him.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you let me raise him without telling me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Ryan shoved him away.
“Everyone keeps saying that!”
Michael suddenly interrupted.
“Ryan.”
Ryan turned.
Michael was staring at the computer.
“There's another result.”
“What?”
Michael opened a hidden file.
The screen displayed a genetic comparison.
SUBJECT NOAH.
OLIVER WHITMORE.
MATCH: 99.98%.
Michael's face went pale.
“That doesn't mean Oliver is Noah's son.”
Ryan stared.
“Then what does it mean?”
Michael zoomed in.
A second line appeared.
MATERNAL LINE: IDENTICAL.
Michael whispered:
“Oliver and Noah share the same mother.”
Ryan's heart pounded.
“But Claire is dead.”
Michael shook his head.
“Exactly.”
Ryan looked at Daniel.
“Tell me the truth.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Claire didn't die.”
Ryan froze.
“What?”
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“Three days after you were born.”
Ryan's voice trembled.
“Where did she go?”
Daniel looked at the laboratory floor.
“The Foundation took her.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew what they had done.”
Ryan's anger surged.
“Where is she?”
Daniel didn't answer.
“WHERE IS SHE?”
Daniel finally whispered:
“She was kept here.”
Ryan looked around the laboratory.
“Here?”
“For years.”
Michael stepped backward.
“No.”
Daniel nodded.
“She survived.”
Ryan's heart hammered.
“Where?”
Daniel pointed toward a sealed door at the far end of the laboratory.
Ryan stared.
The door was covered in old security locks.
A red warning light blinked above it.
BIOLOGICAL HAZARD.
Ryan slowly approached.
“What is behind that door?”
Daniel said nothing.
Ryan looked at him.
“What is behind it?”
Daniel whispered:
“Claire.”
Ryan's blood froze.
“You're telling me my father's first wife has been alive underneath this hospital?”
“She was.”
Ryan turned.
“Was?”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“She died six months ago.”
Ryan stopped.
“Six months.”
Daniel nodded.
“That's when I started sending you the videos.”
Ryan suddenly remembered.
The first video.
His father's warning.
The message about the plan.
Six months ago.
Ryan looked at the sealed door.
“If Claire died six months ago…”
Daniel nodded.
“…then who is taking Oliver?”
Nobody answered.
The laboratory lights flickered.
Then the security monitor changed.
A live feed appeared.
The mysterious woman stood beside Oliver.
Ryan stared at her face.
Then he noticed something.
The silver pendant.
The woman's fingers touched it.
She turned toward the camera.
For the first time, Ryan saw her face clearly.
His blood ran cold.
She looked exactly like Maya.
But not quite.
Older.
Sharper.
The same eyes.
The same scar beneath the eyebrow.
The same tiny mark near her chin.
Ryan whispered:
“Maya?”
The woman smiled.
Then she removed a pair of gloves.
Underneath one glove was a wedding ring.
Ryan recognized it immediately.
His ring.
The matching wedding band Maya had worn since their wedding.
Ryan stepped backward.
“That isn't possible.”
Michael stared at the screen.
“She has Maya's DNA.”
Ryan looked at him.
“How?”
Michael didn't answer.
Then the woman on the screen spoke.
“Ryan.”
Her voice was Maya's.
Perfectly.
“I know you're watching.”
Ryan couldn't move.
She continued:
“You've spent your entire life believing people were protecting you.”
She smiled.
“They weren't.”
Ryan stepped toward the monitor.
“Where is my son?”
“He's safe.”
“Give him back.”
“You don't understand.”
“I don't care.”
She looked toward Oliver.
“He has what I need.”
“What?”
“Your memories.”
Ryan's face went cold.
“What?”
The woman smiled.
“Your father told you about the genetic marker.”
Ryan stared.
“But he didn't tell you the most important part.”
She leaned closer to the camera.
“The mutation doesn't just affect the body.”
Ryan's breathing stopped.
“It affects memory.”
Daniel whispered:
“No.”
The woman continued.
“And Ryan…”
She paused.
“That's why your childhood was erased.”
Ryan stared at the screen.
“What did you do to me?”
The woman smiled.
“We didn't do anything to you.”
She touched the side of her head.
“You did it to yourself.”
Ryan's heart pounded.
“What does that mean?”
The woman answered:
“You asked us to erase your memories.”
Ryan looked at Daniel.
His father was crying.
Ryan shook his head.
“No.”
Daniel whispered:
“You were nine years old.”
Ryan felt dizzy.
“What happened when I was nine?”
Daniel looked at the sealed door.
“You remembered Noah.”
Ryan's blood ran cold.
“I remembered my brother?”
Daniel nodded.
“And when you remembered him…”
He stopped.
“What?”
Daniel looked at his son.
“You remembered who you really were.”
The monitor suddenly went black.
A second later, one final message appeared:
COME TO ROOM 17. ALONE.
Ryan looked at the hallway.
“Where is Room 17?”
Daniel's expression changed.
“Under the hospital.”
Michael shook his head.
“That's where the Foundation keeps its patients.”
Ryan stared at him.
“Patients?”
Michael nodded.
“People who were never supposed to leave.”
Ryan grabbed the key.
“Then that's where we're going.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“You can't.”
Ryan looked at him.
“My son is there.”
“I know.”
“My mother is there.”
“I know.”
“And if Maya is involved…”
Ryan's voice became cold.
“…then I'm going to find out exactly who she is.”
They opened the laboratory door.
A narrow corridor stretched into darkness.
At the far end was a metal sign.
ROOM 17.
Ryan walked toward it.
But before he reached the door, he heard a child's voice from inside.
“Daddy?”
Ryan froze.
It was Oliver.
“Daddy, help me.”
Ryan grabbed the handle.
Daniel shouted:
“WAIT!”
Too late.
Ryan opened the door.
Inside was a small room.
A chair.
A table.
A hospital bed.
And Oliver.
Ryan rushed toward him.
But then he stopped.
Oliver was smiling.
Too calmly.
His eyes were open.
He looked directly at Ryan.
“Daddy.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“Oliver?”
The boy smiled again.
Then he said something that made Ryan's blood turn to ice.
“Grandma told me you're not really my daddy.”
Ryan froze.
Oliver pointed behind him.
“And she said…”
A woman's shadow appeared on the wall.
May you like
Oliver whispered:
“...you're going to remember everything tonight.”
