Chapter 6 - THE FIVE EMBRYOS
The police station denied responsibility for the message.
Cybersecurity specialists traced the interruption to a server located outside the country, then lost the signal through a chain of encrypted networks.
Daniel refused to continue speaking.
Claire remained at the hospital while Dr. Patel and Dr. Bell examined the files recovered from the hidden laboratory.
By afternoon, they understood part of what had happened.
Claire’s blood contained a rare engineered immune marker.
It was not a naturally occurring genetic mutation.
Someone had altered her immune system before birth.
Dr. Bell sat beside her bed with several diagrams.
“Your mother appears to have participated in prenatal gene therapy research.”
“On me.”
“Yes.”
“Without my consent.”
“You were a fetus.”
“Without her consent?”
“We don’t know.”
Claire studied the notes.
“What does this have to do with my baby?”
“Your immune system recognizes a specific protein as dangerous. The protein appears in the placenta when the fetus carries a corresponding paternal marker.”
“Daniel’s marker?”
“Not exactly.”
Dr. Patel turned the page.
“The records show five fetal designations.”
“F-01 through F-05.”
“Yes.”
“Were all five mine?”
“The tissue in the freezer is genetically related to you.”
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
“Children?”
“Early-stage pregnancies.”
“Did Daniel cause them?”
Dr. Patel answered carefully.
“The records suggest that embryos may have been transferred without your knowledge.”
Claire stared at her.
“No.”
“Claire.”
“No. Daniel and I tried naturally.”
“I believe you believed that.”
Claire pushed the diagrams away.
Memories came in broken pieces.
A dinner Evelyn prepared.
A glass of wine.
Waking with soreness.
Daniel telling her she had fainted.
A clinic receipt in his jacket pocket.
A bruise on her thigh.
“F-05,” Claire whispered. “Was this baby transferred too?”
Dr. Bell hesitated.
“We need DNA comparisons.”
“Do them.”
“We require legal authorization to test Daniel’s samples.”
“Use mine and the baby’s.”
“We can identify whether the fetus is genetically yours.”
“And the father?”
“We can compare with Daniel if he consents or a court orders it.”
Claire looked at Ortiz.
“Get the order.”
Ortiz nodded.
An hour later, Claire received a call from an unknown number on the secure phone.
Ortiz told her not to answer.
The caller left a voicemail.
Claire played it on speaker.
At first, there was only static.
Then a woman’s voice said, “Lily.”
Claire nearly dropped the phone.
No one had called her Lily since childhood.
Her mother used the nickname because Claire had once filled the garden with paper flowers.
“Lily, they will tell you I abandoned you.”
Claire pressed a hand to her mouth.
The voice was weak but clear.
“I did not leave willingly.”
Ortiz signaled for technicians to trace the call.
“They need the child alive, but not for the reason Daniel believes. Do not allow Evelyn to know when labor begins.”
The message ended with a series of numbers.
Dr. Patel wrote them down.
“What are they?”
Claire repeated the sequence.
“Seven, twelve, nineteen, three, eight.”
Ortiz asked whether they meant anything.
Claire shook her head.
Then she remembered.
“My mother taught me a book code.”
“What book?”
“The Secret Garden. We used it when she traveled.”
Ortiz sent an officer to locate the edition from Claire’s childhood home.
That evening, the book arrived from an evidence storage box associated with her father’s estate.
Claire turned to page seven, line twelve, word nineteen.
Then page three, line eight.
The decoded message consisted of six words.
BELLWETHER SURVIVED UNDER ST. ORISON.
Ortiz searched the name.
“St. Orison Hospital closed in 2012.”
“Where?”
“Three hours north.”
Dr. Patel looked at the photograph of Amelia by the window.
“The building behind her could be older institutional architecture.”
Ortiz called local authorities.
The hospital had supposedly been abandoned for fourteen years.
But electrical usage records showed steady power consumption.
Before Ortiz could organize a search, an alarm sounded from Claire’s monitor.
The baby’s heart rate dropped.
Dr. Patel rushed to the bed.
“Turn onto your left side.”
Claire obeyed.
The rate continued falling.
“Prepare the operating room,” Dr. Patel ordered.
“No,” Claire said. “It’s too early.”
“We may need to deliver.”
The lights dimmed again.
Every monitor in the room changed at once.
Instead of medical readings, the screens displayed a live video feed.
Amelia sat in a dark room.
A masked person stood behind her.
Amelia looked into the camera.
“Claire, do not let them perform surgery.”
Dr. Patel stared at the screen.
Amelia raised her hospital bracelet.
The printed name was visible.
DR. AMELIA ROWE.
Then the masked figure placed a hand on her shoulder.
A serpent ring gleamed beneath the light.
May you like
The screen went black.
At the same instant, the baby’s heartbeat returned to normal.
