Chapter 12 - The SisterThe church sat beneath a mountain ridge, abandoned for decades.
We reached it before sunrise.
My mother stayed behind with Jake.
Mara guarded the entrance.
Christine and Lucas came with me.
We found the hidden stairway beneath the altar.
The key opened a steel door.
Inside was an archive.
Boxes.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
Names.
Birth certificates.
Every secret my family had buried.
Lucas found a file labeled with my mother's name.
Christine found one with hers.
I opened the largest box.
Inside was a single tape.
I played it.
My father's voice filled the room.
"If you're hearing this, Ethan, then Harrow survived."
I stared at the recorder.
"You were never meant to know the truth."
My father's voice continued.
"You were not the first subject."
I froze.
"Your mother was."
Christine covered her mouth.
My father explained everything.
The genetic sequence had first been discovered in my mother's family.
Walter wanted it commercialized.
My father wanted to study it.
I had been born as the second generation.
My brother Lucas had inherited the strongest expression.
That was why Walter took him.
But there was another child.
Christine's sister.
The girl everyone believed had died in infancy.
She had the sequence too.
Her name was Evelyn.
I stopped the tape.
"Christine."
She couldn't speak.
Lucas stared at the floor.
"Evelyn was the one who escaped."
"And came back."
Christine nodded slowly.
"But why is she working with Walter?"
"We don't know."
Then a voice came from the darkness.
"I can tell you."
We spun around.
Evelyn stood in the doorway.
She looked almost exactly like Christine.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
Same expression.
But colder.
"You."
Christine stepped back.
"You died."
Evelyn smiled.
"They wanted you to think that."
I raised my weapon.
"Where's Jake?"
"Safe."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only answer you'll get."
She looked at me.
"You think Walter is the villain."
"Isn't he?"
"He is."
"Then why work for him?"
"I don't."
Silence.
Evelyn removed a small device from her pocket.
"I've been using him."
"For what?"
"To reach you."
I lowered my weapon slightly.
"Why?"
"Because you're the only one who can shut Harrow down permanently."
I stared.
"I already destroyed it."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You destroyed the program."
She pointed to the archive.
"But you didn't destroy the source."
My blood ran cold.
"Where is it?"
She answered:
"In your son."
Christine whispered, "What?"
Evelyn looked at her.
"Jake's blood isn't merely an inheritance."
She looked at me.
"It's a biological key."
I felt sick.
"What does it unlock?"
Evelyn's expression changed.
"A global database."
I stared.
"How many people?"
"Twenty-three thousand."
Lucas whispered, "Jesus."
Evelyn nodded.
"Every child. Every family. Every genetic marker."
"And Walter wants control."
"No."
She stepped closer.
"Walter wants to erase it."
I frowned.
"Why?"
"Because someone else has already taken control."
The room went silent.
"Who?"
Evelyn looked at Christine.
"Your husband."
Christine froze.
I stared at her.
"What?"
Evelyn smiled.
"Christine didn't marry you to spy on you."
She pointed at me.
"She married you because she needed your help."
"Help for what?"
Evelyn's smile disappeared.
"To kill Victor Kane."
A voice came from the recorder.
My father's.
"If Victor is alive..."
The tape crackled.
"...then the man claiming to be him isn't Victor."
May you like
Evelyn whispered:
"Your entire life has been built around the wrong man."
