Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Died Twice
“No.”
The word came from somewhere outside me.
Alessandro remained frozen beside the computer.
Marco looked between us.
Dr. Chen stepped closer.
“What did you say?”
Alessandro’s jaw tightened.
“A-17 was assigned to my brother, Gabriel.”
I held Logan tighter.
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“It may not.”
“Then don’t look at my son like that.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
Logan slept through everything.
His cheek rested against my shoulder.
His tiny hand held the collar of my scrub top.
He was mine.
David’s.
There had never been a question.
I remembered the night he was conceived.
David and I had been trying for almost a year.
We had celebrated the positive pregnancy test by eating grocery-store cake in bed.
Whatever Halcyon’s file claimed, it was wrong.
It had to be.
“Gabriel died six years ago,” Alessandro said.
“Then he cannot be Logan’s father.”
“I agree.”
“Good.”
Marco leaned toward the computer.
“Maybe ‘biological father’ refers to the source of the genetic line, not literal paternity.”
Dr. Chen nodded.
“That’s possible.”
I looked at him.
“Explain.”
“Some research programs label genetic donors as maternal or paternal lines even when they’re not actual parents.”
“Then why say classified?”
“Because Halcyon likes secrets.”
For once, Alessandro sounded bitter instead of mysterious.
Marco clicked another encrypted file.
A password prompt appeared.
“Any idea?”
Alessandro tried several codes.
Rejected.
I looked at the clue.
THE SON RETURNS WHAT THE FATHER STOLE.
A chill moved through me.
“David.”
Marco nodded.
“Could be.”
I thought about David’s habits.
Numbers.
Dates.
Small phrases.
Then I remembered something.
On Logan’s first ultrasound, David had whispered, “There you are, little wolf.”
I never knew why.
“What was your brother’s nickname?”
Alessandro looked surprised.
“Lupo.”
Italian.
“Wolf?”
“Yes.”
My heart beat faster.
“Try Lupo.”
Marco entered it.
Rejected.
“Try Little Wolf.”
Rejected.
I closed my eyes.
David loved stupid substitutions.
He replaced letters with numbers in passwords.
“L1TTL3W0LF.”
The file opened.
My stomach dropped.
Inside was a scanned report.
PROJECT LAZARUS – HEREDITARY CELLULAR RESILIENCE TRIAL
Subject A-17: Gabriel Romano.
Subject D-04: David Winters.
I stopped reading.
“David was a subject?”
Alessandro’s face turned dangerous.
“He never told me.”
Dr. Chen leaned in.
“They tested Lazarus precursors on both of them.”
“How?”
“Military contract.”
I looked at him.
“David told me he never served.”
“He did,” Alessandro said. “Special operations support.”
Another lie.
A photograph loaded.
Young David stood beside Gabriel Romano.
Both wore military uniforms.
Both looked barely twenty-five.
Friends.
Not strangers.
My husband had known Alessandro’s brother long before he knew me.
I sank into the chair.
“David knew your family.”
Alessandro stared at the photograph.
“He never told me.”
For once, we were both equally blindsided.
Marco opened the next document.
Most of it was medical terminology.
Dr. Chen read quickly.
Then stopped.
“What?”
He looked at Logan.
“What?”
“Both men developed antibodies after exposure.”
I wanted to scream.
“English.”
“Neither responded well to the synthetic Lazarus protein. Their immune systems rejected it.”
“So?”
Chen scrolled.
“Researchers began studying whether offspring might inherit adaptive resistance.”
My stomach rolled.
“They wanted children?”
“Yes.”
I stood.
“We’re done.”
“Catherine—”
“No.”
I picked up Logan.
“He is not a study. He is not an asset. He is not a result.”
“No one here thinks he is.”
I looked at Alessandro.
“You sure?”
He flinched slightly.
Good.
“Your organization took his cord blood.”
“David brought it.”
“You used it.”
“We used one sample to verify what Halcyon was searching for.”
“You had no right.”
“No.”
The answer stopped me.
Alessandro looked at Logan.
“We had no right.”
I didn’t know what to do with an apology from a man like him.
Marco opened another file.
“Boss.”
Something in his voice made Alessandro turn.
A video.
Date stamped four years earlier.
Gabriel Romano appeared on screen.
Alive.
Alessandro stopped breathing.
“No.”
The video showed Gabriel sitting in a concrete room.
Older than in the military photograph.
Bruised.
Thin.
But unmistakably alive.
The date was two years after Alessandro believed he had died.
“Oh God,” I whispered.
Alessandro gripped the desk.
Marco stepped toward him.
“Boss.”
“Play it.”
The video began.
Gabriel looked into the camera.
“My name is Gabriel Romano. Halcyon has held me for seven hundred and nineteen days.”
Alessandro’s face emptied.
“I was told my brother believes I died with our mother.”
His voice cracked.
“I pray he continues believing that.”
Alessandro turned away.
I saw his shoulders tighten.
Gabriel continued.
“Project Lazarus is no longer about resuscitation. The company intends to create operatives who can survive extreme trauma and prolonged oxygen deprivation.”
Dr. Chen whispered, “Jesus.”
“They believe the answer is hereditary.”
Gabriel looked exhausted.
“David Winters tried to get me out.”
I stared.
“He failed.”
Alessandro slowly turned back.
“He was exposed during the attempt.”
Gabriel leaned closer to the camera.
“If David survives, Halcyon will use his family against him.”
My eyes filled.
“Catherine and the child must never be brought into this.”
The recording skipped.
Gabriel appeared weaker.
“If anyone finds this…”
He swallowed.
“Tell Alessandro I’m sorry.”
Alessandro’s hand closed into a fist.
Then Gabriel said something that changed the room.
“And tell him I have a son.”
Alessandro froze.
“A boy Halcyon calls A-17B.”
My heart began pounding.
“His mother hid him before she died.”
Gabriel’s eyes filled with tears.
“David knows where.”
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
I looked at Alessandro.
“Your brother had a child.”
He nodded slowly.
“I didn’t know.”
Marco searched the files.
“Maybe that’s what ‘biological father classified’ means.”
A new document appeared.
A-17B — MALE CHILD — STATUS UNKNOWN.
Estimated age: three years, nine months.
The same age as Logan.
I frowned.
“That’s not possible.”
Dr. Chen checked the date.
“Actually…”
“No.”
I looked at Logan.
“No.”
Alessandro stepped toward the computer.
A photograph was attached.
Marco opened it.
Two newborn babies lay side by side in a hospital nursery.
One had a blue tag.
WINTERS, LOGAN
The other tag read:
UNKNOWN MALE
I stopped breathing.
The babies looked almost identical.
A note beneath the photograph said:
TRANSFER ERROR UNDER INVESTIGATION.
My knees weakened.
“No.”
Dr. Chen stared at the screen.
“Catherine.”
“No.”
“Were there any complications after Logan’s birth?”
“There was a lockdown.”
Everyone turned.
I remembered it clearly now.
Six weeks before David’s “death.”
Logan had been only a few hours old.
An alarm sounded.
Nurses closed the maternity ward.
Someone said an infant security bracelet malfunctioned.
David disappeared for nearly an hour.
When he returned, he looked terrified.
He told me he had been speaking with hospital security.
I believed him.
“What hospital?” Alessandro asked.
“Mercy Medical.”
Marco was already typing.
My phone buzzed.
David.
DO NOT TEST LOGAN’S DNA.
I stared.
Then another message.
CAT, PLEASE TRUST ME ON THIS ONE THING.
I laughed through tears.
“That’s rich.”
Alessandro read the screen over my shoulder.
His expression hardened.
“Call him.”
I did.
David answered immediately.
“Cat.”
“What happened the night Logan was born?”
Silence.
“Answer me.”
“I can’t do this over the phone.”
“You’ve done everything else over the phone.”
“Catherine.”
“Was our baby switched?”
No answer.
My entire body began trembling.
“David.”
“He was never supposed to be involved.”
“What does that mean?”
“Halcyon came to the hospital.”
“Why?”
“They were looking for Gabriel’s son.”
I gripped the phone.
“And?”
“I had to make a choice.”
“What choice?”
David started crying.
I had heard him cry only twice during our marriage.
At our wedding.
And when Logan was born.
“I’m sorry.”
My stomach dropped.
“What did you do?”
“I saved one child.”
I could barely breathe.
“Which child?”
David whispered two words.
May you like
“Not ours.”
The phone slipped from my hand.
