Chapter 14 - Julian's Last Bargain
Julian requested to see Emily from federal detention.
She refused three times.
On the fourth request, his attorney attached a message.
I know who B-17 is.
Emily went.
Garrison insisted on accompanying her.
Julian entered the interview room wearing a gray detention uniform.
He looked older.
Not humbled.
Not entirely.
But stripped of the confidence money had once provided.
He looked at Garrison.
"Still playing sheriff?"
Garrison sat silently.
Emily placed a folder on the table.
"You have five minutes."
Julian smiled weakly.
"You always did love deadlines."
"Four minutes fifty seconds."
His smile vanished.
"I can help you."
"In exchange for?"
"A reduced sentence."
"No."
"Emily."
"You admitted what you did."
"I admitted involvement."
"You injected me."
He looked down.
"Yes."
The confirmation still hurt.
"Did you know the pregnancies would end?"
"The first time, no."
Emily went still.
"And the second?"
Julian did not answer.
"And the third?"
His silence became confession.
Garrison shifted beside her.
Emily held up one hand.
She wanted the truth.
"Why?"
Julian looked at her.
"Conrad threatened to expose financial crimes I had already committed."
"So you murdered our children to protect your career."
"I told myself they weren't viable."
"They had heartbeats."
"I know."
Emily's eyes filled but her voice stayed steady.
"You deserve every day that's coming."
Julian nodded.
Perhaps, for the first time, he agreed.
Then he leaned forward.
"B-17 is not Garrison."
Garrison's expression remained unreadable.
"Explain."
"The samples labeled B-17 came from a child."
Emily frowned.
"What child?"
"I don't know the original name."
"Then you're wasting my time."
"I know the birth date."
Julian recited it.
Garrison stood so abruptly the chair fell backward.
Emily looked at him.
"What?"
Garrison stared at Julian.
"That is my birthday."
Julian nodded.
"The project began before you were born."
The room went silent.
Henry Blackwood had not merely experimented on descendants.
He had designed one.
Garrison.
Julian explained that B-17 referred to a genetic program initiated by Henry and a reproductive scientist named Dr. Nathaniel Bell.
Garrison's official mother had carried him.
But records suggested the embryo had been created using selected donor material.
The implications were enormous.
Garrison Blackwood might not be genetically related to the Blackwood family at all.
If true, decades of inheritance assumptions could collapse.
Emily's twins, created from material labeled B-17, might carry DNA from an unknown donor line.
"So who is their biological father?" Emily asked.
Julian shook his head.
"Not father. Source."
"That's not an answer."
"The B-17 material was cultured."
Garrison's face hardened.
"Human genetic material cannot remain viable for sixty years without preservation records."
"There are preservation records."
"Where?"
Julian smiled faintly.
"There it is."
"What?"
"The reason I asked for a deal."
Emily stood.
"No deal."
"You'll never find them."
"Then rot with your secret."
She walked toward the door.
Julian called after her.
"Your mother knew."
Emily stopped.
Slowly turned.
"My mother died when I was nineteen."
"She visited Blackwood Biomedical six months before she died."
Garrison looked at Emily.
Julian continued.
"Ask yourself why a schoolteacher with no medical background was meeting Conrad Blackwood."
Emily returned to the table.
"Where are the records?"
Julian leaned back.
"Reduced sentence."
Garrison finally spoke.
"You misunderstand your position."
Julian looked at him.
Garrison leaned closer.
"You are not bargaining with frightened people anymore."
For the first time, Julian looked genuinely afraid.
Garrison continued.
"Tell us where the records are, and perhaps the prosecutors hear that you cooperated."
"Perhaps?"
"That's more mercy than you gave Emily."
Julian stared at him for a long time.
Then he whispered an address.
A storage facility outside Richmond.
Unit 317.
The search team opened it that night.
Inside were boxes of medical documents.
Film reels.
DNA samples.
Photographs.
And a red notebook carrying Emily's mother's name.
The first page contained a handwritten sentence.
IF EMILY EVER FINDS THIS, TELL HER GARRISON IS NOT THE DANGER.
May you like
The second sentence was worse.
TELL HER HER FATHER IS STILL ALIVE.
