Chapter 14 - Jonathan felt as if the floor had vanished.Replace him.
Noah had been created from his DNA.
The children around him had not simply been kidnapped.
They were connected to him.
Made from him.
Altered by his family.
Project Echo wasn't an experiment anymore.
It was a legacy.
A horrifying legacy.
Marcus grabbed Jonathan.
"We don't have time."
They rushed through the facility searching for Noah.
Jonathan's father had taken him into a restricted medical wing.
They broke through three security doors.
The final room was filled with machinery.
Noah lay inside a glass chamber.
Medical tubes ran into his arms.
His body was trembling.
Jonathan attacked the control panel.
"Open it!"
Evelyn screamed:
"Don't!"
Jonathan stopped.
"Why?"
"He's connected to the system."
"I don't care."
"If you release him incorrectly, his cells may collapse."
Jonathan stared at the boy.
Noah looked terrified.
"Dad?"
Jonathan froze.
Noah had never called him that.
"Who told you to call me that?"
Noah's eyes filled with tears.
"The memory."
Michael stood beside him.
"I can hear him."
Jonathan looked at Michael.
"What does he remember?"
Michael closed his eyes.
"He remembers being created."
Jonathan's chest tightened.
"Why?"
Michael whispered:
"Because they wanted a copy of you."
Jonathan stared at Noah.
A child built from his DNA.
A child designed to become compatible with Lily.
A bridge.
A replacement.
Then Jonathan's father entered.
"You finally understand."
Jonathan turned.
"You created him."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Lily needed someone like her."
Jonathan pointed at Michael.
"Then why him?"
His father smiled.
"Michael was the accident."
"And Emma?"
"Useful."
Jonathan clenched his fists.
"They're children."
"They're assets."
That word changed everything.
Jonathan stepped forward.
"They're not yours."
His father laughed.
"They belong to history."
"No."
Jonathan looked at the children.
"They belong to themselves."
Kane appeared behind his father.
"You still think morality matters."
Jonathan looked at him.
"It matters to me."
Kane raised a gun.
Then another gunshot sounded.
Kane dropped.
Daniel stood behind him.
Jonathan stared.
"Daniel?"
The assistant smiled.
"I've been waiting fourteen years to do that."
Kane wasn't dead.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
He crawled backward.
Daniel aimed again.
Kane laughed.
"You don't know what you're doing."
Daniel said:
"I know exactly what I'm doing."
He fired.
Kane collapsed.
Jonathan turned toward his father.
The old man reached for a control.
The facility shook.
Emergency sirens screamed.
"What did you activate?"
His father smiled.
"Self-destruct."
Jonathan's eyes widened.
"You're insane."
"If I cannot control the project, nobody will."
The walls began shaking.
Doors locked automatically.
They had minutes.
Jonathan ran to Noah.
Evelyn shouted instructions.
"Disconnect the blue cable first!"
Jonathan tore open the panel.
Blue cable.
Then red.
Then white.
Noah screamed.
Jonathan pulled him from the chamber.
The boy collapsed into his arms.
"Dad."
Jonathan held him.
"I'm here."
Noah smiled weakly.
"You came."
Jonathan's eyes filled with tears.
"Of course I came."
Behind them, Michael shouted.
"Lily!"
The baby had disappeared.
Jonathan spun.
His father stood near a hidden elevator.
Lily was in his arms.
"No!"
Jonathan ran after him.
The elevator doors closed.
He reached them one second too late.
He slammed his fists against the metal.
"My daughter!"
His father looked at him through the narrowing gap.
"For the first time, Jonathan, you are exactly what I wanted you to be."
Jonathan stared.
"What?"
His father smiled.
"Angry."
The doors closed.
Jonathan looked at the countdown.
01:47
One minute forty-seven seconds.
Marcus grabbed him.
"We need to go."
Jonathan shook his head.
"I'm not leaving without her."
Evelyn stepped forward.
"Then don't."
She pointed toward the floor.
A hidden hatch had opened.
Beneath it was another tunnel.
"The elevator is connected to the original laboratory."
Jonathan stared.
"Can we reach her?"
Evelyn nodded.
"Yes."
"But the building is going to explode."
She looked at him.
"Then we have forty seconds."
They ran.
The tunnel collapsed behind them.
Jonathan carried Noah.
Marcus carried Emma.
Michael followed Evelyn.
They reached an underground chamber.
The door opened.
Jonathan stopped.
Hundreds of glass tanks filled the room.
Every tank contained a child.
Not six.
Not seven.
Hundreds.
Jonathan whispered:
"How many?"
Evelyn shook her head.
"I don't know."
A voice came from the darkness.
"Three hundred and twelve."
Jonathan slowly turned.
A young woman stepped forward.
She was holding Lily.
Jonathan stared.
The woman smiled.
"Hello, Dad."
He couldn't breathe.
Because she had Evelyn's eyes.
But she looked exactly twenty years old.
And Jonathan knew immediately who she was.
May you like
The daughter he had been told was dead.
Lily's older sister.
