CHAPTER 10 The List
For several seconds, I couldn't hear anything.
Not Rebecca.
Not Mason.
Not the agents rushing through the hallway.
All I could see was the laptop screen.
PROJECT BELL DATABASE
Subject ID: 2146
Name: Emily Carter
Status: ACTIVE
Priority: RECOVER
Scheduled Transfer: January 17
"That's impossible," I whispered.
"I've never been part of..."
Rebecca interrupted.
"You are now."
She turned the laptop toward the forensic analyst.
"When was this record created?"
The analyst's fingers flew across the keyboard.
"Seven days ago."
"The day after Walter accused Louisa of stealing the bracelet."
Rebecca nodded slowly.
"So the bracelet was never the objective."
Mason folded his arms.
"They wanted Emily."
A Hidden Camera
The FBI cyber team continued digging through Victor's encrypted files.
Folders after folders appeared.
Financial Records.
Passports.
Project Bell.
Then one folder caught Rebecca's attention.
Family Surveillance.
Inside were dozens of video files.
Each labeled with a family name.
BROOKS.
HERNANDEZ.
MILLS.
CARTER.
Rebecca opened the Carter folder.
The first video appeared.
I stopped breathing.
It wasn't from my hidden bookshelf camera.
This angle came from...
Our bedroom.
A tiny pinhole camera hidden inside the smoke detector.
Date: Eight months earlier.
Walter had been watching us.
Not for days.
For months.
Maybe years.
The footage showed an ordinary evening.
Louisa was coloring on the floor while Elmer helped her build a toy castle.
I was cooking dinner.
Nothing unusual.
Then Walter's voice crackled through the hidden microphone.
Not inside the room.
Inside another location.
Someone was watching the live feed.
Walter laughed quietly.
"She's exactly like the first one."
Another voice answered.
Victor.
"The mother?"
"No."
"The child."
Victor paused.
"You think she inherited it?"
Walter nodded.
"Watch."
He pressed a remote control.
A phone rang inside our kitchen.
Mine.
I answered.
While speaking, I absentmindedly glanced at a grocery receipt lying on the counter.
Forty seconds later, I hung up.
Walter spoke again.
"Now ask her."
Five minutes later, Elmer smiled at me.
"Emily, do you remember the total from the grocery store?"
Without thinking, I answered.
"$84.73."
Walter laughed.
Victor didn't.
"So she has it too."
Walter smiled.
"It's genetic."
Genetic?
Rebecca replayed the clip three more times.
Then she looked at me.
"Emily..."
"Have people ever commented on your memory?"
I frowned.
"I don't know."
"School?"
I thought back.
Elementary school.
Middle school.
College.
Teachers.
Exams.
Phone numbers.
Addresses.
I slowly realized something.
"I've never really forgotten anything."
Mason looked confused.
"What do you mean?"
I swallowed.
"I still remember..."
"My first-grade classroom."
"The seating chart."
"The birthdays of everyone in my class."
"The serial number on my first bicycle."
Rebecca didn't look surprised.
She looked concerned.
"And Louisa?"
I looked toward my daughter.
She quietly whispered,
"License plate."
"What?"
She pointed toward the hospital parking lot outside.
"The blue truck."
"RZT... 4187."
An agent checked through binoculars.
He blinked.
"She's right."
Louisa smiled innocently.
"I only saw it once."
The room became silent again.
Rebecca slowly closed the laptop.
"Project Bell..."
"It wasn't trafficking."
"It started as research."
A Family Secret
Rebecca immediately requested my birth records.
They arrived electronically within minutes.
Mother:
Sarah Brooks.
Father:
David Brooks.
Normal.
Nothing unusual.
Then...
A second file arrived.
One that had been sealed.
Rebecca frowned.
"What is this?"
The cover page read:
Court Ordered Adoption Records.
My heart stopped.
"I wasn't adopted."
Rebecca opened the file.
The room became eerily quiet.
Birth Mother:
Unknown.
Adoptive Parents:
Sarah and David Brooks.
Date of Adoption:
Six months after birth.
I stared blankly.
"No..."
"My parents..."
Rebecca looked at me gently.
"They are your parents."
"They raised you."
"But biologically..."
She didn't finish.
She didn't have to.
My entire identity shifted beneath my feet.
The Phone Call
An encrypted phone began ringing.
Not mine.
Not Rebecca's.
The FBI evidence phone.
Recovered from Victor's pocket.
Everyone looked at it.
No one spoke.
Finally Rebecca answered.
"This is Agent Sloan."
A calm male voice replied.
"I know."
Walter.
Rebecca quietly activated speakerphone.
"What do you want?"
"I called to congratulate you."
"For what?"
"You finally discovered Emily."
I clenched my fists.
"What are you talking about?"
Walter ignored me.
Instead, he addressed Rebecca.
"Did you tell her?"
"Tell me what?"
Rebecca remained silent.
Walter chuckled.
"Interesting."
"So you haven't opened Folder Seven."
Rebecca's face changed instantly.
She turned to the analyst.
"There was no Folder Seven."
"There is now."
The analyst refreshed the directory.
A new encrypted folder appeared.
Created...
Thirty seconds earlier.
Walter had somehow accessed the FBI evidence server remotely.
The room erupted into chaos.
"Disconnect the network!"
"Pull the cable!"
"Too late!"
The folder opened automatically.
One photograph filled the screen.
A newborn baby.
Wrapped in a hospital blanket.
A silver bell hung above the crib.
Written underneath...
SUBJECT ZERO
Rebecca slowly zoomed in.
The baby's hospital wristband became readable.
Patient Name:
Emily.
Birth Date:
My birthday.
Then another document opened by itself.
One sentence.
Only eight words.
She was never supposed to survive the experiment.
The room fell completely silent.
Then Walter spoke one last time.
"You've spent your whole life looking for me."
He laughed softly.
"But Emily..."
His voice turned almost gentle.
May you like
"I've been watching you since the day you were born."
The call disconnected.
