Chapter 13 - The Twins
A contraction hit before anyone could react.
Emily screamed.
Dr. Voss and Dr. Keene rushed into the laboratory behind federal agents.
"She's delivering now."
Conrad attempted to reach the terminal.
Ross tackled him.
Agents pulled him to the floor.
Julian appeared in the corridor under guard.
His face was bruised.
He saw Emily.
Then the monitors.
Then Conrad handcuffed on the ground.
"What happened?"
Emily looked at him.
"You finally lost."
Julian's eyes dropped toward her belly.
Something like shame crossed his face.
"I didn't know."
"You knew enough."
"I didn't know about the twins."
"You knew they were planned."
"I knew Conrad had scheduled a transfer. I didn't know whose genetic material."
Emily gripped the bed rails.
"Get him out."
Julian stepped forward.
"Emily."
"GET HIM OUT."
Agents dragged him away.
Dr. Keene cut the restraints.
"We don't have time to move upstairs."
"What?"
"Baby A is coming."
The hidden laboratory became a delivery room.
Rebecca stood beside Garrison.
Chloe remained against the wall, shaking.
For all the conspiracies, money, and violence surrounding their existence, the twins entered the world like all children did.
Fragile.
Loud.
Human.
The first was a girl.
She cried immediately.
Emily sobbed.
Dr. Voss placed her against Emily's chest.
"She's perfect."
Emily touched the tiny face.
"Grace."
Garrison closed his eyes.
The second baby arrived seven minutes later.
A boy.
Smaller.
Silent for three unbearable seconds.
Then he screamed.
Emily laughed through tears.
"Daniel."
Ross looked surprised from the doorway.
Emily smiled weakly.
"Don't get sentimental."
He almost laughed.
The twins were transferred to neonatal care upstairs.
Both stable.
Emily remained under observation.
Conrad was taken into federal custody.
Julian was arrested on charges involving medical fraud, conspiracy, unlawful administration of medication, evidence tampering, and kidnapping.
Chloe asked for one thing.
Her daughter.
Rebecca approached her in the hospital corridor hours later.
For a long time, the two women simply looked at each other.
Chloe whispered, "I carried her."
Rebecca nodded.
"I know."
"I talked to her every night."
Rebecca's eyes filled.
"I know."
"Does she know my voice?"
"I think she does."
Chloe covered her mouth.
"Can I see her?"
Rebecca began crying.
"Yes."
The baby had been hidden with Miriam's sister outside Vienna and returned to the United States under federal protection.
When Chloe held her again, she collapsed.
"I'm sorry."
Rebecca sat beside her.
"For what?"
"For everything."
Chloe looked toward Emily's room.
"I was horrible to her."
"Then apologize to her."
Chloe did.
Emily listened silently.
When Chloe finished, Emily said, "I don't forgive you yet."
Chloe nodded.
"I understand."
"But I hope you become someone your daughter deserves to know."
Chloe began crying.
"So do I."
Three weeks later, the first major indictments became public.
Carter Reproductive Medicine shut down.
Assets were frozen.
Families whose records had been altered were contacted.
Investigators opened hundreds of cases.
Julian's medical license was suspended immediately.
Conrad remained silent.
Garrison refused every television interview.
He spent his days between Rebecca's temporary residence and Emily's home.
For the first time in years, his family existed again.
Broken.
Complicated.
But alive.
It might have ended there.
Except for the screen in the underground laboratory.
The code beneath Garrison's photograph.
B-17.
May you like
And Conrad's final words.
You were the experiment.
