Chapter 6 - Nobody moved.The voice came again.
"Jonathan."
His heart hammered against his ribs.
Daniel raised his weapon.
"Who is that?"
Jonathan whispered:
"My wife."
Michael tightened his grip around Lily.
Emma began crying.
The lights suddenly returned.
Nothing was there.
Jonathan searched the mansion.
Every room.
Every hallway.
Every hidden chamber.
No one.
Then he found a speaker behind the library wall.
A tiny red light blinked.
A recording.
Someone had hacked the mansion.
Jonathan stared at the speaker.
"Show yourself."
The recording played again.
"Jonathan, if you're hearing this, then Lily has found you."
His knees weakened.
Evelyn's voice continued.
"I knew this day would come."
Jonathan pressed his palm against the wall.
"Where are you?"
Silence.
Then:
"Don't trust Kane."
The message cut out.
Jonathan looked at Daniel.
"Find the source."
Ten minutes later, they traced the signal.
It came from an abandoned warehouse thirty miles away.
Jonathan wanted to go immediately.
Samuel stopped him.
"You can't."
"I have to."
"Your body isn't stable."
"My wife is alive."
"You don't know that."
Jonathan looked at him.
"I heard her voice."
"That could be a recording."
Jonathan didn't answer.
Because Samuel was right.
But something inside him knew.
Evelyn was alive.
Michael listened quietly.
Then he spoke.
"I know that place."
Jonathan turned.
"You've been there?"
Michael nodded.
"They took us there before the laboratory."
"Who?"
"The people with the silver mark."
Jonathan stared.
"The silver crescent?"
Michael nodded.
"They have it on their necks."
Jonathan asked:
"What happened there?"
Michael lowered his eyes.
"They made us choose."
"Choose what?"
"Who would be punished."
Jonathan's expression hardened.
"For what?"
"For running away."
Emma began crying.
Michael put an arm around her.
"No more."
Jonathan knelt.
For the first time in fourteen years, he knelt on his own strength.
He looked into Michael's eyes.
"Nobody will hurt you again."
Michael almost believed him.
Almost.
That night, Jonathan took a small private team to the warehouse.
Michael stayed behind with Samuel.
At the warehouse, everything was empty.
Dust.
Broken machinery.
Old crates.
Jonathan moved through the darkness.
Then he found a steel door.
On it was the silver crescent.
He opened it.
A staircase descended into darkness.
At the bottom was a room filled with monitors.
Every monitor showed the same image.
Lily.
Sleeping.
Walking.
Crying.
Healing.
Hundreds of recordings.
Jonathan stared.
"They've been watching her."
A computer screen suddenly turned on.
A message appeared.
WELCOME BACK, JONATHAN.
Then another.
YOU WERE NEVER THE SUBJECT.
Jonathan's eyes narrowed.
"What does that mean?"
The screen changed.
An old video began playing.
Evelyn stood in the laboratory.
Her hair was messy.
She looked terrified.
"I made a mistake," she said.
"I thought Project Echo could save people."
The camera shook.
"But it wasn't designed to save people."
She looked directly into the lens.
"It was designed to replace them."
Jonathan stared.
Evelyn continued.
"The children aren't merely healing organisms."
She lifted Lily.
"They're compatible hosts."
Jonathan froze.
A second screen displayed images of several adults.
Executives.
Scientists.
Politicians.
Each had a medical file.
Next to each name was the same word.
CANDIDATE.
Evelyn whispered:
"They want to transplant the regenerative response into powerful people."
A gunshot sounded behind her.
Evelyn turned.
Someone entered the laboratory.
The video ended.
Jonathan stared at the black screen.
Then he heard footsteps behind him.
He turned.
A man stood in the doorway.
Older.
Gray hair.
Black coat.
Jonathan raised his weapon.
"Adrian Kane."
Kane smiled.
"Hello, Jonathan."
Jonathan aimed at his chest.
"You were declared dead."
"So were you."
"What did you do to my wife?"
Kane's smile disappeared.
"I didn't do anything."
"Liar."
Kane stepped forward.
"Your wife chose to disappear."
"Why?"
"Because she discovered what Lily really was."
Jonathan tightened his grip.
"She's my daughter."
Kane nodded.
"No."
Jonathan froze.
Kane's voice became quiet.
"She's the reason you were chosen."
"Chosen for what?"
Kane smiled again.
"For the experiment that failed fourteen years ago."
Suddenly, somewhere deep inside the warehouse, a baby began crying.
Jonathan turned.
Kane whispered:
"She's here."
And for the first time, Jonathan realized something terrifying.
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They hadn't been searching for Lily.
Lily had been brought to them.
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