Chapter 14 - THE ORIGINAL SUBJECT
I couldn't move.
The hallway seemed to disappear.
The doctors.
The nurses.
The police.
All of it faded.
There was only Sarah's voice.
“You were the original subject.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I never participated in a study.”
“Not knowingly.”
I shook my head.
“That isn't possible.”
Sarah opened the file.
“When you were twenty-five, you were admitted to St. Catherine's after a car accident.”
I remembered.
Of course I remembered.
I had broken my wrist.
Spent two nights in the hospital.
“They took blood.”
“Routine tests.”
“That's what you were told.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did they really do?”
Sarah looked at Detective Reed.
“They discovered the mutation.”
I stared at her.
“What mutation?”
“The same one Mason has.”
I laughed.
It came out broken.
“So I'm the reason?”
Sarah nodded.
“They've been tracking your family ever since.”
Thomas stared at me.
“Dad knew.”
“What?”
“That's why he married you.”
I looked at my son.
“What did you say?”
He immediately shook his head.
“No. That's not what I meant.”
But the damage was done.
Sarah stepped in.
“Dad loved Mom.”
Thomas nodded.
“He did.”
“Then why?”
Sarah looked at me.
“Because your mother was the first person whose cells showed resistance.”
I felt sick.
“You're saying my marriage was connected to this?”
“No.”
She took my hand.
“Your husband discovered the program after he married you.”
“He protected you.”
I closed my eyes.
Suddenly I remembered something.
My husband had always refused to let doctors draw my blood unless absolutely necessary.
He had been obsessive about it.
At the time, I thought he was being protective.
Now I understood.
He knew.
He had been terrified they would take more.
A police officer rushed toward us.
“Detective!”
“What?”
“We found Richard's vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Outside St. Catherine's.”
Detective Reed looked at me.
“We're going.”
The old facility was dark.
Broken windows.
Overgrown grass.
A rusted sign hanging above the entrance.
ST. CATHERINE'S MEDICAL RESEARCH CENTER.
Inside, the air smelled like mold.
We followed the sound of a generator.
Then we found the laboratory.
Lights flickered overhead.
Machines hummed.
And in the center of the room was Richard Kane.
Beside him stood Dr. Vanessa Hale.
She was alive.
Barely.
A bandage covered her shoulder.
And behind them—
my husband.
Alive.
Older.
Thinner.
His face filled with pain.
I stopped breathing.
“David?”
He looked at me.
His eyes filled with tears.
“Helen.”
I ran toward him.
Richard raised a weapon.
“Stop.”
I froze.
My husband shook his head.
“Don't.”
Richard smiled.
“This family has been difficult.”
Detective Reed raised his weapon.
“Put it down.”
Richard laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
He looked at me.
“Your husband wasn't kidnapped.”
I stared at David.
“What?”
Richard continued.
“He came willingly.”
David closed his eyes.
“Helen…”
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice!”
My voice echoed through the room.
Richard smiled.
“That is what I wanted you to believe.”
“What?”
He pointed toward a machine.
“Look.”
A screen lit up.
My medical records appeared.
Then Thomas's.
Then Mason's.
Richard said:
“Three generations.”
He paused.
“One genetic line.”
Then he looked at me.
“And one woman at the center of it.”
Me.
David suddenly stepped forward.
“You have what you wanted.”
Richard turned.
“What?”
“The files.”
David looked at Detective Reed.
“Everything is in the basement.”
Richard smiled.
Then his smile disappeared.
Because Detective Reed had already placed a small device on the floor.
A recording device.
Richard realized too late.
Every word had been captured.
He raised his weapon.
Detective Reed fired first.
Richard dropped.
Vanessa screamed.
Police rushed in.
David collapsed against the wall.
I ran to him.
“Are you hurt?”
He looked at me.
“No.”
Then he whispered:
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
He took my hand.
“I didn't know what they were doing when it started.”
“David…”
“I thought I was helping science.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“Then I discovered the children.”
“What children?”
“The ones who didn't survive.”
My heart broke.
David continued.
“I tried to expose them.”
“And they stopped you.”
“Yes.”
“Why did they keep you alive?”
He looked at Mason.
“Because I knew where the original samples were.”
I stared at him.
“Where?”
He whispered:
“Inside your house.”
My blood froze.
“The samples were never destroyed.”
“Where?”
David looked toward me.
“Behind the nursery wall.”
I remembered the laboratory.
The documents.
The photographs.
Everything suddenly made sense.
But there was one final question.
“Why did Richard say I was the original subject?”
David squeezed my hand.
“Because you were.”
May you like
He looked at Mason.
“And your grandson is the first child who inherited everything.”
