Chapter 17 - THE WOMAN WHO CHOSE HERSELF
The doctors shut down every electronic device in the room.
The monitors.
The computers.
The lights.
Everything.
The babies stabilized.
But the message remained burned into my mind.
ACTIVATION SEQUENCE BEGINNING.
I looked at Adrian.
“We have to end this.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“We destroy the original system.”
“And if that doesn't work?”
He looked at my children.
“Then we find another way.”
I smiled sadly.
“You always say that.”
“Because it keeps working.”
We spent the next three days dismantling the project.
Federal agents arrested executives.
Scientists turned over files.
My mother's testimony exposed the original program.
Ethan cooperated.
Thomas disappeared.
And the woman who had called herself Ethan's mother refused to speak.
But one person was still missing.
My father.
The more we investigated, the more we realized he might not have died when we thought.
Then one evening, an investigator entered my room.
“Mrs. Mercer?”
“Yes?”
“We found a video.”
I froze.
“My father?”
He nodded.
The screen turned on.
My father appeared.
Older.
Alive.
He looked directly at the camera.
“Claire.”
I began crying.
“I knew you would survive.”
I whispered:
“Dad.”
He continued.
“I'm sorry.”
The video showed him walking through a laboratory.
“The only way to destroy Project Three is to destroy the original biological archive.”
“What archive?”
He opened a vault.
Inside were thousands of samples.
Blood.
DNA.
Medical records.
He looked at the camera.
“This archive contains the genetic material of every child involved in the program.”
He paused.
“And mine.”
I stared.
“My DNA?”
“Yes.”
Then he said:
“The project cannot be destroyed while the archive exists.”
The video ended.
I looked at Adrian.
“Where is it?”
He already knew.
“Mercer headquarters.”
We went that night.
The building was empty.
We reached the vault.
The door opened using my fingerprint.
Inside were thousands of files.
My entire life.
My mother's.
Adrian's.
My children.
Everything.
I picked up one file.
CLAIRE BENNETT — SUBJECT ONE.
Another.
ADRIAN BLACKWOOD — SUBJECT TWO.
Another.
LUCAS / NOAH / GRACE — SUBJECT THREE.
Then I found another.
ETHAN MERCER — SUBJECT FOUR.
I froze.
“Ethan?”
Adrian stared.
“He was part of it too.”
The file explained everything.
Ethan had been genetically modified as a child to act as a stabilizing carrier.
That was why his mother had forced him into the project.
That was why he had been trapped.
That was why he could access the system.
He hadn't simply been a pawn.
He had been another victim.
I closed my eyes.
“I judged him.”
Adrian looked at me.
“You didn't know.”
“But I know now.”
We destroyed the archive.
Every file.
Every sample.
Every record.
The system screamed.
Then went silent.
For the first time in twenty-eight years, Project Three was dead.
I thought it was over.
Then Adrian took my hand.
“We should leave.”
I nodded.
We walked toward the exit.
But before we reached it, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
A man's voice whispered:
“You destroyed the archive.”
I froze.
“Who are you?”
“You think that ended the project?”
“Who?”
“You've only destroyed the records.”
My blood turned cold.
“The research lives.”
“Where?”
A pause.
“Europe.”
The line disconnected.
Adrian looked at me.
“What happened?”
I told him.
He sighed.
I looked at him.
“No.”
“What?”
“We're not running anymore.”
He smiled.
“What are you going to do?”
I looked at the destroyed vault.
“Finish what my father started.”
Adrian's eyes softened.
“Together?”
I nodded.
“Together.”
For the first time in my life, I wasn't someone's wife.
I wasn't someone's subject.
I wasn't someone's experiment.
I was Claire.
A mother.
A daughter.
May you like
A survivor.
And I had finally chosen myself.
