CHAPTER 10: THE FOURTH BIRTH
The hospital doors slammed shut.
I couldn't move.
My eyes were locked on the baby in my grandfather's arms.
The newborn looked exactly like Emily.
Same tiny face.
Same dark hair.
Same delicate fingers.
Same crescent-shaped mark beneath the left ear.
For one impossible second, I wondered if I was looking at a reflection.
Then Emily began crying.
The baby in my grandfather's arms cried too.
Two identical cries.
Two identical babies.
My grandfather smiled.
“Now you understand.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
He stepped forward.
“You still don't understand.”
I held Emily closer.
“Put that baby down.”
“This one?”
He looked at the newborn.
“This is the fourth.”
Dr. Hayes whispered,
“No…”
My grandfather looked at her.
“You knew this day would come.”
“I thought you destroyed the embryos.”
“I destroyed the records.”
He smiled.
“Not the children.”
My father stepped forward.
“You've gone too far.”
My grandfather laughed.
“You're only realizing that now?”
Adrian raised his gun.
“Put the baby down.”
My grandfather didn't even look at him.
“You won't shoot.”
“I already did.”
“You shot a remote.”
Adrian's face tightened.
“Next time I won't miss.”
My grandfather finally looked at him.
“Then shoot.”
Adrian froze.
My grandfather turned toward me.
“Your husband doesn't understand.”
He lifted the newborn slightly.
“This child isn't a duplicate.”
He looked at Emily.
“She's the missing sequence.”
I felt sick.
“What does that mean?”
“Your three daughters represent three stages.”
He pointed toward Claire.
“Natural.”
Then Emily.
“Modified.”
Then the baby in his arms.
“Perfected.”
I shook my head.
“They're children.”
“They're genetic assets.”
“They're my daughters.”
“Only because I allowed you to carry them.”
My stomach turned.
Dr. Hayes stepped forward.
“You're lying.”
My grandfather smiled.
“Am I?”
He looked at her.
“You were the one who signed the first transfer.”
Dr. Hayes went pale.
I stared at her.
“What is he talking about?”
She shook her head.
“I didn't know.”
My grandfather laughed.
“You always say that.”
I looked at Dr. Hayes.
“Did you transfer one of my babies?”
She looked at me.
“I thought I was transferring an embryo.”
My heart sank.
“To where?”
“The laboratory beneath St. Victoria.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
I looked at Claire.
The girl stared at me.
Her face was confused.
I knelt beside her.
“Claire.”
“Yes, Mommy?”
“Do you remember being in this hospital?”
She shook her head.
“Grandma said I was born here.”
“Do you remember another room?”
“No.”
Dr. Hayes stepped closer.
“That's because she wasn't born here.”
I looked at her.
“Then where?”
She hesitated.
“Three floors below.”
My grandfather interrupted.
“Enough.”
I turned toward him.
“No.”
I stood.
“I'm done listening to everyone else.”
I pointed at Claire.
“She deserves the truth.”
Then Emily.
“So does she.”
Then the baby in his arms.
“And so does that child.”
My grandfather stared at me.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
He smiled.
“You couldn't handle everything.”
“Try me.”
Silence.
Then he said,
“Your pregnancy six years ago was monitored from the beginning.”
I felt sick.
“By whom?”
“The Whitmores.”
“Why?”
“Because your blood was compatible with the original genetic template.”
“Subject 00.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the baby.
“The one you said was created.”
He nodded.
“She wasn't created.”
“Then what?”
“She was born.”
“When?”
“Eighteen years ago.”
I stared.
“That's impossible.”
“Not if you understand the project.”
He stepped closer.
“Subject 00 was a child born from the first successful genetic experiment.”
My father whispered,
“She was your age.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
My grandfather continued.
“Subject 00 was a woman.”
I stared at the newborn.
“That baby isn't her.”
“No.”
“Then where is she?”
My grandfather smiled.
“You've met her.”
A chill ran through me.
“Who?”
He pointed toward Dr. Hayes.
I froze.
Dr. Hayes's face went white.
“No.”
My grandfather nodded.
“She is Subject 00.”
I stared at Dr. Hayes.
“That's impossible.”
She closed her eyes.
“I didn't want you to know.”
“You're the original?”
“Yes.”
My mind raced.
The baby.
The DNA.
The genetic marker.
Everything.
“You're the template.”
Dr. Hayes nodded.
“My DNA was used to create the children.”
I looked at Emily.
“And Claire?”
“Your daughter inherited my marker naturally.”
“Then why did they need the third baby?”
“Because they wanted to recreate me.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because my body is aging.”
My grandfather interrupted.
“And because the project needed a permanent source.”
I felt disgust.
“You wanted to replace her.”
“Not replace.”
“Then what?”
“Replicate.”
Dr. Hayes looked at me.
“They wanted a child with my genetics and your maternal compatibility.”
I stared.
“And the fourth?”
My grandfather smiled.
“The fourth is the final combination.”
I looked at the baby in his arms.
“Whose DNA?”
He didn't answer.
My father did.
“Yours.”
My stomach dropped.
“Mine?”
“And Dr. Hayes's.”
I stared at the baby.
“She has both.”
“No.”
I looked at my grandfather.
“That's not possible.”
“It is.”
“How?”
“Artificial gestation.”
Dr. Hayes suddenly stepped forward.
“Give me the baby.”
My grandfather shook his head.
“No.”
“She isn't stable.”
“That is why we need the mother.”
My blood ran cold.
“What does that mean?”
My grandfather looked at me.
“The fourth child was designed to activate the inheritance.”
“Activate?”
“The trust remains dormant until the final genetic combination is present.”
I stared at him.
“You need me.”
“Yes.”
“You need my daughters.”
“Yes.”
“And the fourth baby.”
“Yes.”
“What happens after that?”
My grandfather smiled.
“You become the legal mother of the Whitmore empire.”
I shook my head.
“I don't want your money.”
“You don't understand.”
He pointed toward the hospital.
“If you refuse, every record proving your daughters exist will be destroyed.”
I froze.
“You'd erase them.”
“Yes.”
“You'd make them disappear.”
“They already disappeared once.”
I looked at Claire.
She had begun crying.
I walked toward her.
“I'm sorry.”
She looked up.
“For what?”
“For everything.”
She hugged my waist.
“You found me.”
“Yes.”
“Then don't let them take me again.”
I closed my eyes.
“I won't.”
My grandfather suddenly pressed something on his wrist.
The hospital lights flickered.
A giant screen appeared above the emergency room.
A countdown.
21:00.
I looked at it.
“What is that?”
“The final transfer.”
“What transfer?”
He pointed toward the operating theater.
“The fourth child has to be connected to the genetic system before midnight.”
“No.”
“You have twenty-one minutes.”
“I'm not doing it.”
“Then the hospital dies.”
I looked at the building.
Patients.
Doctors.
Families.
Hundreds of innocent people.
He had planned this.
He knew I couldn't sacrifice them.
“You're a monster.”
He smiled.
“Maybe.”
Then the hospital lights suddenly turned red.
ALARMS screamed.
Doors opened.
Doctors began running.
People shouted.
My father grabbed my shoulder.
“We need to move.”
“Where?”
“Operating theater.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because if we don't reach the control room, we can't stop the countdown.”
Adrian nodded.
“I know the way.”
My grandfather laughed.
“You won't get there.”
Adrian turned.
“Watch me.”
He grabbed my hand.
“Come on.”
We ran.
Claire followed.
Daniel carried two babies.
Dr. Hayes stayed behind.
I looked back.
“What are you doing?”
She stared at my grandfather.
“Ending this.”
My grandfather smiled.
“You can't.”
She pulled a small syringe from her pocket.
“Maybe not.”
She raised it.
“But I can take myself out of the equation.”
My grandfather's smile disappeared.
“Don't.”
Dr. Hayes pressed the syringe against her arm.
My heart stopped.
“Dr. Hayes!”
She looked at me.
“Run.”
Then she injected herself.
Her body went limp.
My grandfather screamed.
“NO!”
The lights exploded.
The hospital shook.
A deep mechanical sound came from beneath the floor.
The countdown changed.
20:00.
19:59.
19:58.
Then every screen in the hospital displayed one message.
SUBJECT 00 TERMINATED.
GENETIC SYSTEM UNSTABLE.
My grandfather stared at the screen.
For the first time...
he looked afraid.
Then the baby in his arms opened her eyes.
They were completely black.
She looked directly at me.
And whispered:
“Mommy.”
I froze.
The baby was speaking.
A newborn.
Speaking.
My grandfather slowly smiled.
“Now you understand.”
He looked at me.
“She isn't the fourth child.”
He glanced at the baby.
“She is the first.”
May you like
Then the hospital lights went completely dark.
And every door in the building locked at once.
