Chapter 13 - The CageWe escaped through a drainage tunnel.
Daniel knew the underground system like he had memorized every inch.
Which, I realized, he probably had.
We reached an abandoned warehouse before dawn.
Evan wasn't with us.
Claire was still missing.
And Meridian had declared war.
I turned on Daniel.
"You said the key opens the cage."
He nodded.
"What cage?"
"Subject Zero's cage."
My father's cage.
"I thought he was dead."
"So did I."
"He's alive?"
Daniel stared at the floor.
"He's been alive for twenty years."
I felt the walls closing in.
"Where?"
"Blackwater."
"Why keep him alive?"
"Because he knows how the system works."
"And he controls it?"
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"Then who does?"
Daniel looked at me.
"Your father never did."
I waited.
"Meridian outgrew him."
"Then who runs it?"
Daniel's answer came quietly.
"Mom."
I stared.
"What?"
"Our mother."
I felt dizzy.
"She's dead."
"She is."
"Then what are you saying?"
Daniel reached into the box he had carried from the forest.
Inside was a tape recorder.
He pressed play.
My mother's voice filled the warehouse.
"Daniel, if Jack finds this, tell him I'm sorry."
I sat down.
She continued.
"I thought I could control them."
A long pause.
"I was wrong."
Another voice appeared.
A man's.
My father's.
Then my mother's again.
"I chose Jack."
The recording stopped.
I looked at Daniel.
"Chose me for what?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he showed me a photograph.
A hospital nursery.
Two newborns.
One tagged Evan.
The other tagged Lena.
Both connected to monitoring wires.
On the wall behind them was a familiar symbol.
A circle divided into three sections.
Meridian's insignia.
Under it:
FAMILY MODEL.
"Why two?"
Daniel spoke softly.
"Because the program needed a control group."
"Meaning?"
"One child raised outside."
"Evan?"
"No."
"Lena?"
"No."
I stared at him.
"Then who?"
Daniel looked directly into my eyes.
"You."
I shook my head.
"That doesn't make sense."
"You were the first."
"First what?"
"First child they raised outside the facility while secretly monitoring the results."
I couldn't breathe.
"All my childhood..."
"Was an experiment."
"Mom?"
"Part of it."
"School?"
"Controlled."
"My police career?"
"Phase two."
I stood.
"This is insane."
Daniel's voice broke.
"Jack."
"Don't."
"Listen."
"No."
"You wanted the truth."
"I wanted my brother."
He fell silent.
Then we heard a noise.
A small knock.
Three times.
From behind the warehouse wall.
Daniel froze.
"You heard that?"
I nodded.
Three knocks.
Again.
Daniel's face turned white.
"No."
"What?"
He backed away.
"That code."
"What code?"
"Daniel."
He whispered:
"Only one person knew it."
I moved toward the wall.
There was a metal panel.
I opened it.
A narrow tunnel.
And inside stood a woman.
Older.
Pale.
Holding a gun.
My mother's eyes.
I stumbled backward.
She pointed at Daniel.
Then at me.
"Neither of you should have come."
I couldn't speak.
Daniel whispered:
"Mom."
The woman smiled.
Not warmly.
May you like
Sadly.
"I've been waiting for you, Jack."
