CHAPTER 3 Subject Seven
The words echoed through the shattered hall.
"We finally found Subject Seven."
For a heartbeat, nobody moved.
Even Victor Blackwood's smile disappeared.
The armed man remained on one knee, his rifle lowered, his head bowed toward Lily.
He wasn't showing respect.
He was following protocol.
Daniel noticed it immediately.
"That's military."
The man didn't answer.
His eyes never left the little girl.
Lily clutched Ethan's hand so tightly her tiny fingers turned white.
"Daddy..."
"I don't know what he's talking about."
Ethan knelt in front of her.
"You don't have to."
"You are Lily Blackwood."
"My daughter."
"Nothing else."
She nodded, though fear still clouded her eyes.
Victor sighed.
"It seems we've skipped several chapters."
He glanced at the kneeling operative.
"Stand up."
The man obeyed instantly.
"You've compromised the mission."
"My apologies, sir."
Victor's expression hardened.
"From this moment, no one uses that designation again."
"Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir."
Ethan caught every word.
Designation.
Not nickname.
Not codename.
Designation.
It sounded like something given to an experiment.
Not a child.
Samuel stepped forward.
"I've heard enough."
He pointed toward Victor.
"You started the fire."
"You kidnapped Amelia."
"You stole Lily."
"And now you're calling her a subject?"
Victor looked almost disappointed.
"Samuel."
"You've always been emotional."
"I preferred your father."
Samuel's jaw tightened.
"You knew my father?"
Victor chuckled.
"He worked for me."
Samuel felt the floor vanish beneath him.
"My father died fifteen years ago."
Victor nodded.
"He died protecting the research."
Silence.
Samuel slowly shook his head.
"You're lying."
Victor reached inside his jacket.
Daniel immediately aimed his pistol.
"Don't."
Victor ignored him.
Instead of a weapon, he produced a worn employee identification card.
Samuel's hands trembled.
The badge belonged to Dr. Richard Hayes.
His father.
Below the photograph were six words.
Senior Genetic Research Director.
Samuel stared in disbelief.
"No..."
"My father was a pediatrician."
"He worked at Saint Gabriel Hospital."
Victor smiled faintly.
"That's what we told everyone."
Samuel felt sick.
Every memory of his father suddenly seemed uncertain.
Every late-night phone call.
Every unexplained absence.
Every locked briefcase.
Had his entire childhood been a lie?
A loud boom shook the west wing again.
Daniel spoke into his radio.
"Status!"
Static.
Then a panicked voice.
"They're inside the tunnels!"
Daniel cursed.
"They know about the escape routes."
Victor folded his hands behind his back.
"Of course they do."
"I designed them."
Ethan no longer cared about the mansion.
Or the board meeting.
Or the inheritance.
Only one question mattered.
"Where is Amelia?"
Victor looked directly at him.
"Alive."
"For now."
"I want proof."
"You already have proof."
"I want to see her."
Victor smiled.
"Earn it."
Without warning, Victor tossed a small black device onto the floor.
It landed between Ethan and Lily.
Daniel lunged forward.
"It's a bomb!"
But it wasn't.
A holographic projector activated.
A three-dimensional blueprint floated above it.
An enormous underground complex.
Multiple floors.
Laboratories.
Operating theaters.
Holding cells.
Research wings.
Samuel whispered,
"My God..."
"This isn't a hospital."
Victor nodded proudly.
"It never was."
At the very center of the blueprint, one room flashed red.
ROOM A-17
Victor pointed toward it.
"Your wife is there."
Ethan memorized the location instantly.
Then Victor pressed another button.
The blueprint expanded.
Dozens of smaller rooms appeared.
Each labeled with a number.
A-03.
B-11.
C-22.
D-09.
Every room carried a single word.
SUBJECT
Samuel counted silently.
Thirty-eight rooms.
Thirty-eight subjects.
His stomach turned.
"Were they children?"
Victor didn't answer.
His silence was answer enough.
Lily suddenly gasped.
She stepped closer to the hologram.
"I've been there."
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed toward Corridor C.
"That's where they made us sleep."
Ethan froze.
"Us?"
Lily nodded slowly.
"There were other children."
"Lots of them."
"Some cried all night."
"Some disappeared."
Samuel knelt beside her.
"Did you know their names?"
She frowned.
"We weren't allowed names."
"They gave us numbers."
Ethan felt rage unlike anything he'd ever known.
"What number did they give you?"
Lily closed her eyes.
As though trying desperately to forget.
Finally she whispered,
"Seven."
Nobody breathed.
Subject Seven.
Victor quietly closed his eyes.
"So."
"She remembers."
Daniel immediately grabbed Victor by the collar.
"You kidnapped children!"
Victor calmly removed Daniel's hand.
"You misunderstand."
"I saved them."
"From what?"
Victor's answer came without hesitation.
"The future."
Ethan struck him.
The punch echoed through the ruined hall.
Victor stumbled backward, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
His bodyguards instantly raised their weapons.
Victor lifted one hand.
"No."
He wiped away the blood.
Then smiled.
"That's the first honest thing you've done all evening."
Suddenly every phone inside the mansion vibrated.
Daniel looked down.
An unknown caller.
So did Ethan.
Samuel.
Every security officer.
The same message.
A live video.
Ethan opened it.
His blood ran cold.
Amelia.
She was awake.
Weak.
Confused.
Restrained to a hospital bed.
A masked woman stood beside her.
Holding a gun.
Then the camera turned.
Victor, still standing in the mansion, smiled.
"Clever technology."
"Live delay."
The masked woman spoke into the camera.
"Awaiting instructions."
Victor looked directly at Ethan.
"You have exactly one hour."
"What do you want?"
Victor answered softly.
"Come alone."
"If anyone follows..."
"...Amelia dies."
Ethan's fists clenched.
"And Lily?"
Victor's eyes shifted toward the child.
"She comes too."
"No."
Victor's voice became ice.
"Then neither of you will ever see Amelia again."
The video ended.
Before anyone could react, Nora screamed.
Everyone turned.
She was staring at the hologram.
At one specific room.
Her entire body shook uncontrollably.
"No..."
"No..."
"That room..."
Samuel followed her gaze.
Room D-14.
"What about it?"
Tears streamed down Nora's face.
"My son..."
"They told me he died."
Victor looked almost amused.
"He didn't."
Nora collapsed.
Victor spoke calmly.
"He's been alive for twelve years."
"You've simply never been allowed to meet him."
The room fell silent.
Victor turned toward the broken front doors.
His convoy was already withdrawing.
No one fired.
No one moved.
Because everyone understood.
The mansion had never been tonight's battlefield.
It had only been an invitation.
Victor paused at the doorway without looking back.
"You have one hour, Ethan."
"Bring Lily."
"Come alone."
"Or bury your wife for the second time."
He stepped outside.
The rain swallowed him.
His convoy vanished into the darkness.
Only after the last SUV disappeared did Daniel speak.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"Boss..."
"I don't think he's trying to escape."
Ethan stared into the storm.
"No."
Daniel swallowed.
"I think..."
May you like
"...he wants us to find him."
END OF CHAPTER 3
