CHAPTER 9 The Operating Room
For a heartbeat, no one moved.
The image on the monitor felt unreal.
Lucas.
Alive.
Bound to a hospital bed.
Being wheeled toward an operating room by two masked men.
Dr. Benjamin Carter, the man they now knew was Adrian Mercer, looked into the camera with unsettling calm.
Then...
He smiled.
Not the smile of a cornered criminal.
The smile of a man whose plan was unfolding exactly as intended.
The video feed abruptly went black.
Across the screen appeared a single line of text.
YOU ARE ALREADY TOO LATE.
Twenty Minutes
Detective Brooks slammed his fist onto the desk.
"Track that signal!"
The technician's fingers flew across the keyboard.
"They're still connected."
"Location?"
The man's expression changed.
"They're not in the public hospital."
"What?"
"They're inside the Sterling Medical Research Center."
William frowned.
"My company shut that building down eight years ago."
Brooks looked at him sharply.
"Are you certain?"
William nodded.
"It was too expensive to maintain."
The technician slowly turned his monitor toward them.
"It was never shut down."
Satellite images filled the screen.
The public-facing buildings were abandoned.
But underground...
Heat signatures.
Power consumption.
Internet activity.
Dozens of occupied rooms.
Someone had been operating a secret facility beneath William's own property.
For years.
Isabella's Confession
William looked at Isabella.
"You knew."
She lowered her eyes.
"I knew there was another facility."
"You let this happen?"
"I never saw inside."
William laughed bitterly.
"You expect me to believe that?"
She looked up.
For the first time...
There was no arrogance left.
Only exhaustion.
"I thought they were conducting pharmaceutical research."
Brooks narrowed his eyes.
"And when children started disappearing?"
Her face turned white.
"I didn't know about the children."
William's voice hardened.
"You knew enough to imprison Ethan."
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I believed hiding him..."
"...was the only way to keep him away from Mercer."
The room fell silent.
William stared at her.
"What?"
She nodded.
"I thought if Mercer couldn't find Ethan..."
"...he'd survive."
William shook his head.
"You locked our son inside a concrete wall."
"I chose the place no one else knew."
"But Mercer knew."
Her voice broke.
"He always knows."
Lucas's Last Message
The underground speakers crackled again.
Lucas's voice returned, weaker than before.
"They've moved me."
William stepped toward the microphone.
"Lucas!"
"I don't have much time."
"Where are you?"
"Level Four."
Brooks quickly asked,
"How many people are there?"
"Around twenty."
"Armed?"
"Yes."
"Mercer?"
A pause.
"He's preparing the operating room."
William's chest tightened.
"For what?"
Silence.
Then...
Lucas answered.
"For Ethan."
Every muscle in William's body tensed.
"What?"
"They failed with me."
"They failed with Lily."
"They need Ethan."
Brooks frowned.
"Need him for what?"
Lucas whispered,
"The inheritance."
Project Heir
The technicians searched the recovered files from the underground office.
One hidden folder caught their attention.
PROJECT HEIR
Encrypted.
Within seconds, the password was cracked.
The first page appeared.
A confidential medical report.
Its title chilled the room.
Genetic Continuity Program
Brooks skimmed the document.
Then stopped.
His face lost all color.
William grabbed the report.
"What is it?"
Brooks answered quietly.
"The Sterling fortune..."
"...was never the real objective."
William looked down at the page.
It described decades of illegal genetic research.
DNA collection.
Embryo manipulation.
Identity replacement.
Children selected not by birth...
But by compatibility.
Mercer hadn't been preserving an inheritance.
He'd been building a bloodline.
The report ended with one horrifying sentence.
Final compatible subject: Ethan Sterling.
The Escape
A tactical convoy roared out of the Sterling estate.
Police vehicles.
Armored units.
Ambulances.
William sat in the lead SUV beside Brooks.
No one spoke.
The rain had begun to fall.
Lightning split the sky.
The abandoned research center loomed ahead like a forgotten fortress.
Its upper floors were dark.
Broken windows.
Overgrown vines.
Rotting concrete.
It looked dead.
Brooks knew better.
"Thermal imaging."
An officer handed him a tablet.
The underground levels glowed bright red.
More than thirty heat signatures.
"Thirty?"
Brooks frowned.
Lucas had said twenty.
Someone else had arrived.
The Elevator
The tactical team breached the main entrance.
Dust filled the air.
Everything above ground was abandoned exactly as William remembered.
Old desks.
Broken hospital beds.
Empty laboratories.
Then they found it.
An elevator.
Hidden behind a movable wall.
Still running.
Its display read:
B4
Someone had recently gone down.
Brooks raised his hand.
"Stack up."
Weapons lifted.
The elevator doors opened.
No one inside.
Only a faint smell of antiseptic.
And blood.
Fresh blood.
William stepped inside.
The elevator descended.
B1.
B2.
B3.
Then...
The lights flickered.
The elevator stopped.
Not at B4.
The display changed.
SUBLEVEL X
Brooks frowned.
"There wasn't a Sublevel X."
"There is now."
A calm voice echoed through the elevator speakers.
Mercer.
"I've been waiting for you."
The doors slid open.
A pristine white corridor stretched before them.
Nothing like the abandoned building above.
Bright lights.
Clean floors.
Modern equipment.
As though time had never touched this place.
At the far end stood Adrian Mercer.
No disguise.
No glasses.
No mask.
An elderly man in a white coat.
Calm.
Composed.
His hands folded behind his back.
He smiled warmly.
"Welcome home..."
He looked directly at William.
"...Daniel."
William froze.
"My name is William."
Mercer slowly shook his head.
"No."
He opened a thin medical file.
Read the first line.
Then looked back up.
"Your name..."
"...is Daniel Hayes."
The world seemed to stop.
Mercer closed the file.
"And your mother has been looking for you..."
May you like
"...for twenty-eight years."
END OF CHAPTER 9
