Chapter 8 - The gas was designed to incapacitate.I knew that because my father had once taught me what it smelled like.
Sweet.
Chemical.
Almost pleasant.
We ran.
Caleb found an emergency valve.
Marco smashed a control panel.
Elena pulled Sophie toward the stairwell.
I carried Theo.
But Miles and Nora were gone.
Evelyn had taken them.
The laboratory doors sealed behind us.
We couldn't reach Lucia.
We couldn't reach Adrian.
And the gas continued spreading.
Then Sophie stopped.
“There's another way.”
She pointed toward the wall.
“There.”
I saw nothing.
She pressed her doll against the wall.
A hidden panel opened.
Inside was a small ventilation shaft.
We crawled through.
For ten minutes, nobody spoke.
Then we emerged inside an observation room.
There was a single bed.
A monitor.
And photographs.
Hundreds of photographs of children.
Seven children.
All connected to Project Mercy.
At the bottom of the wall was a list.
A-01.
A-02.
A-03.
A-04.
A-05.
A-06.
A-07.
Next to A-05 was a green check mark.
Next to A-06 was a green check mark.
Next to A-07 was nothing.
I looked at Caleb.
“Who was A-07?”
He stared at me.
“You know.”
I didn't.
Then I noticed the photograph.
A baby girl.
Dark hair.
Same blue eyes as Lucia.
Under the image:
A-07.
CARRIER.
“Carrier of what?”
Caleb swallowed.
“The original genetic sequence.”
I understood nothing.
He continued.
“Your father wasn't trying to create powerful children.”
“What was he trying to create?”
“A bloodline that could survive indefinitely.”
“That isn't possible.”
“Your father believed it was.”
“And the triplets?”
“They carry fragments.”
“Fragments of what?”
Caleb looked away.
“The original subject.”
My brother.
Adrian.
I suddenly remembered something.
A childhood memory.
I was seven years old.
My father had taken me into the basement.
There was another boy behind glass.
He looked exactly like me.
I had thought it was a mirror.
My father told me:
“Never ask about him.”
I had forgotten the memory until now.
The trauma had buried it.
My brother wasn't created after me.
He existed before me.
I was the replacement.
A normal child designed to make the experiment look like a family.
The triplets had been selected because they were genetically compatible.
But Lucia had tried to stop it.
She had discovered the project.
She had learned what our children really were.
Then she had disappeared.
I looked at the monitor.
Lucia's feed was still live.
I touched the screen.
“Can she hear me?”
Evelyn answered.
“Yes.”
“Let her go.”
“She won't go.”
“Why?”
“Because she agreed to participate.”
I froze.
Lucia looked at the camera.
Her lips moved.
I couldn't hear her.
Then I understood.
She mouthed:
“I am sorry.”
I stepped back.
“No.”
Caleb moved closer.
“She was protecting them.”
“By lying to me?”
“Yes.”
“By faking her death?”
“Yes.”
“By letting me raise three children without knowing?”
“Yes.”
I turned toward him.
“How long?”
“Eight months.”
“Eight months?”
Caleb looked at me.
“She was in this laboratory during your wife's funeral.”
I nearly hit him.
“You knew?”
“I was protecting her.”
“And she let me mourn her.”
“She believed you would be killed if you knew.”
I stared at the screen.
Lucia suddenly spoke.
“Adrien.”
The speaker activated.
Her voice was weak.
“I'm sorry.”
“Where are the babies?”
She closed her eyes.
“They took Miles and Nora.”
“Where?”
She whispered:
“The first nursery.”
My blood ran cold.
“Where is it?”
She looked toward Adrian.
He smiled.
Then he leaned toward the camera.
“The place you were born.”
The screen went black.
A door behind us opened.
A man entered.
He wore a black suit.
Gray hair.
A face I had not seen since childhood.
My father's former lawyer.
Victor Moretti.
He smiled.
“Hello, Adrien.”
I raised my gun.
Victor didn't move.
“Your father would be disappointed.”
“He's dead.”
Victor smiled.
“So is Lucia.”
I frowned.
“What?”
Victor's smile grew.
“The woman speaking to you isn't your wife.”
He pointed at the monitor.
Then at himself.
“You've been watching a recording.”
I turned toward Caleb.
He looked shocked.
Victor laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
He pressed a button.
The room lights came on.
A glass chamber stood behind him.
Inside were Miles and Nora.
Sleeping.
And beside them was a third person.
Adrian.
My brother.
He placed one hand on the glass.
May you like
Then looked at me.
“Welcome home.”
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