Chapter 12 - Caroline’s First Son)
Elliot Miller was six years old.
Caroline repeated his name until it became real.
Elliot.
Her son.
Grace’s older brother.
The child she had carried for months without remembering.
The child Luke willingly surrendered.
Federal agents searched every inch of Brightwell.
Arthur escaped through a tunnel leading to a wooded access road.
Luke also vanished.
But investigators recovered thousands of documents.
The entire system began becoming visible.
Arthur had built what he called the Continuity Program.
Not simply an illegal adoption operation.
Something more obsessive.
Children with selected genetic profiles were placed into controlled homes.
Their education, health, personality, and development were monitored.
Some parents knew.
Others believed they were participating in elite private-school programs.
Elliot was classified as Primary Line.
Grace was classified as Secondary Female.
Caroline’s current unborn son was labeled Primary Replacement.
The words made her physically ill.
Agent Reed showed her the records cautiously.
“We believe Arthur’s plan was to remove your current baby shortly after birth.”
“And Elliot?”
“He may no longer satisfy whatever standards Arthur created.”
Caroline stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“We found behavioral reports.”
“On a six-year-old?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
Elliot had been described as resistant.
Emotionally attached to caregivers.
Uncooperative with competition exercises.
Excessive empathy.
Poor dominance orientation.
Caroline read each phrase.
Then she almost smiled through tears.
Arthur considered kindness a defect.
Of course he did.
A final evaluation had been scheduled for two weeks earlier.
Outcome:
P1 STATUS UNDER REVIEW.
Caroline felt dread.
“If he failed?”
Reed did not know.
The facility’s child locations were coded.
Elliot’s latest code was HARBOR 6.
No address.
Grace’s location remained unknown.
Diane remained missing.
Luke and Arthur were fugitives.
Caroline was moved to a protected hospital floor.
Three days passed.
She began sleeping in fragments.
Every time she closed her eyes, memories returned.
Not chronologically.
Pieces.
Her first pregnancy.
Luke touching her stomach while speaking on the phone.
“Yes, Father. We confirmed male.”
Arthur alive before his supposed funeral.
The fake funeral had occurred after Elliot’s birth.
Arthur erased himself so operations could move without public scrutiny.
Caroline remembered asking why she had no photographs from early pregnancy.
Luke told her she had hated cameras.
She remembered Elliot moving inside her.
She remembered singing to him.
A song.
You Are My Sunshine.
Caroline cried when the memory came.
She had loved him before she knew his name.
On the fourth morning, Dr. Carter entered with urgent news.
“We may have found Harbor 6.”
Caroline sat upright.
“Where?”
“A private educational property on Lake Rowan.”
“Is Elliot there?”
“Federal agents are moving now.”
Caroline began removing monitor leads.
Dr. Carter sighed.
“I knew you would do that.”
“I’m going.”
“You are now thirty-three weeks pregnant.”
“I know exactly how pregnant I am.”
“You need to understand something.”
“What?”
Dr. Carter showed her the latest ultrasound.
“There are signs your placenta may be separating.”
Caroline froze.
“Is the baby okay?”
“Right now.”
“Right now?”
“If you have significant physical stress, bleeding, or trauma, we may need to deliver immediately.”
Caroline stared at the image.
Another son.
Still safe inside her.
Then her phone vibrated.
The number was unknown.
A photograph appeared.
Elliot.
He was sitting on a bed holding that morning’s newspaper.
Alive.
Below the photograph was a message.
YOU WANT HIM?
May you like
BRING THE BABY.
Caroline’s blood went cold.
