Chapter 12 - The Son Behind the Glass
Sarah pressed both hands against the glass.
The hooded man turned toward her.
Even with most of his face hidden, she recognized something in the way he moved.
A connection older than memory pulled through her.
“My son.”
The man strained against the restraints.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Mercer’s voice filled the observation room.
“An emotional reunion would interfere with the procedure.”
Sarah searched for a control panel.
“Let them go.”
“Ethan’s survival requires a complete genetic sequence. Noah provides one half. Subject Seven provides the other.”
“What happens to them?”
“The extraction process is demanding.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is the only answer you are receiving.”
The countdown continued.
17:56.
Margaret examined the equipment.
“Anna wrote about emergency overrides.”
She opened her daughter’s red notebook.
Pages contained diagrams, medication lists, and names of Halcyon employees.
Near the end, Anna had drawn the underground ward.
“The chambers can be opened from a central station,” Margaret said.
“Where?”
“Room 6.”
Sarah looked down the corridor.
“I’ll find it.”
Noah grabbed her arm.
“I’m coming.”
“You’re weak.”
“I know the system.”
“How?”
“I escaped from a place built exactly like this one.”
They followed the map through narrow passages.
As they ran, Noah explained that the Halcyon children had been moved between facilities for years. Each child possessed a different rare trait. They were tested, isolated, and told the outside world had rejected them.
Subject Seven had protected the younger children.
“He helped me escape,” Noah said.
“What was he like?”
“Angry. Quiet. He remembered things the rest of us didn’t.”
“What things?”
“A woman singing.”
Sarah stopped.
“What song?”
Noah hummed a few notes.
It was the lullaby Sarah’s mother had sung to her.
Sarah had sung it during pregnancy.
Her son remembered her voice.
Room 6 stood behind a biometric lock.
Noah entered a code from memory.
The door opened.
Inside was a command center filled with monitors.
One screen showed Ethan.
Another showed Subject Seven.
A third displayed Daniel being dragged through the tunnel by security guards.
Mercer followed them, his shoulder bandaged.
Sarah found the chamber controls.
A warning appeared.
MANUAL RELEASE REQUIRES EXECUTIVE AUTHORIZATION.
Noah searched the console.
“There’s a remote connection.”
“To where?”
“Mercer headquarters.”
A folder sat beside the keyboard.
Inside were insurance policies for all three boys.
Ethan’s policy listed Daniel as beneficiary.
Noah’s listed Mercer Biotech.
Subject Seven’s listed Halcyon Private Trust.
The total combined value exceeded eighty million dollars.
Sarah finally understood.
The treatment was not only an experiment.
It was a financial machine.
If the boys died during an approved clinical procedure, Daniel, Mercer Biotech, and Halcyon Trust would receive millions.
If the procedure succeeded, Mercer would own the medical patent.
Victor profited either way.
Sarah photographed every page and sent them to Elena, then to a journalist whose investigation into Mercer Biotech had once appeared online.
The upload failed.
No signal.
Noah pointed to a wired terminal.
“This system connects externally.”
Sarah attached her phone.
A password request appeared.
She tried Daniel’s birthday.
Incorrect.
Ethan’s birthday.
Incorrect.
Then she remembered the two bracelets.
2:13 a.m.
She entered 0213.
The archive opened.
Thousands of Halcyon files appeared.
Sarah selected everything and pressed SEND.
A progress bar began moving.
8 percent.
May you like
The door behind them exploded inward.
Mercer entered with a gun pressed against Daniel’s neck.
