Chapter 6 - Robert's Confession
Robert arrived at the hospital in handcuffs.
Emily watched through the observation window as federal agents escorted him into an interview room.
There was dried blood along his collar.
A bruise darkened one side of his face.
For one dangerous second Emily wanted to run to him.
Then she remembered Maya on the surgical table.
She stayed where she was.
Agent Cole entered.
"He's asking for you."
"No."
"He says there are things he will only tell you."
Emily looked through the glass.
Robert sat with his head lowered.
"Where is Voss?"
"Escaped before our team entered."
"Convenient."
"We don't believe your husband helped him escape."
"You don't believe my husband helped the man who experimented on our child?"
Cole didn't react.
"We recovered Robert bound to a chair."
Emily turned.
"He was kidnapped?"
"Possibly."
"Possibly?"
"He also went to the location voluntarily."
Emily almost laughed.
"Of course."
Cole waited.
Finally Emily said, "Five minutes."
Inside the interview room, Robert stood when she entered.
"Emily."
"Sit down."
He did.
She remained standing.
"Start."
Robert looked at the mirror.
"Is Maya alive?"
"Yes."
His shoulders dropped.
"Thank God."
"Don't use God right now."
He nodded.
Emily folded her arms.
"What did Voss put inside her?"
"I don't know."
She turned toward the door.
"Wait."
Robert's voice cracked.
"I know what they intended."
Emily stopped.
He swallowed.
"St. Gabriel called it Project Second Heart."
The name chilled her.
"What does that mean?"
"They were trying to grow replacement biological systems inside living hosts."
Emily stared.
"Hosts."
"I know how it sounds."
"She's your daughter."
"I know."
"No. You don't get to say that as though knowing it fixes anything."
Robert lowered his eyes.
Emily sat across from him only because her legs were beginning to shake.
"Explain."
Robert rubbed his wrists where the restraints had left marks.
"They recruited parents whose babies had certain gene profiles. They said the research was safe. Tiny cellular implants. Nothing more."
"And you believed that?"
"They showed me papers."
"You took money."
"Yes."
"How much?"
Robert didn't answer.
"How much?"
"Seventy-five thousand dollars."
Emily stared.
Fifteen years ago, seventy-five thousand dollars had been more money than they had ever seen.
She remembered Robert suddenly paying off debts.
He had told her an investment returned well.
She had believed him.
"You sold our daughter for seventy-five thousand dollars."
"No."
"That's exactly what you did."
Robert's eyes filled.
"They told me the tissue would dissolve within months."
"But it didn't."
"No."
"When did you learn that?"
Robert hesitated.
Emily's voice went cold.
"When?"
"Three years later."
The betrayal deepened.
"Three years."
"They contacted me."
"And you said nothing."
"They showed me scans."
"You knew there was something inside her for twelve years?"
"I knew something remained. I didn't know it was growing."
Emily stood.
Robert reached across the table.
"Please."
She pulled back.
"Don't touch me."
His hand dropped.
"What happened three months ago?"
Robert stared at the tabletop.
"Voss called me."
"What did he say?"
"That Maya had reached maturity."
Emily's skin crawled.
"What does that mean?"
"He said the implant might activate."
"Activate how?"
"I don't know."
"Stop lying."
"I'm not."
Robert's voice rose.
"He never told us anything. Parents were kept separate. We weren't researchers. We were useful idiots."
Emily studied him.
"Parents."
"There were others."
"How many?"
"I don't know. Maybe dozens."
"And their children?"
"I don't know."
"Alive?"
Robert looked away.
Emily understood.
"Some died."
He nodded.
"How many?"
"Voss wouldn't say."
Emily closed her eyes.
Robert whispered, "When Maya started getting sick, he told me the implant had become vascularized."
"Meaning?"
"It was using her blood supply."
"And you still didn't take her to a hospital."
"He said regular doctors might rupture it."
Emily slammed both hands onto the table.
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"Because once you knew what I'd done, I'd lose you."
The honesty was so selfish it left her speechless.
Robert cried quietly.
"I was afraid."
"Maya was afraid."
"I know."
"No. She was fifteen years old and begging her father to believe her while something you allowed strangers to put inside her was bleeding."
Robert covered his face.
Emily walked toward the door.
"One more thing."
Robert looked up.
"The DNA."
His face changed.
Emily saw recognition.
"You know whose tissue is inside her."
Robert didn't speak.
Emily moved closer.
"Whose?"
"I was hoping they were wrong."
"Whose?"
Robert looked toward the mirrored glass.
Then whispered, "Voss had a son."
Emily waited.
"He died when he was nine."
A terrible understanding formed.
"No."
Robert's voice broke.
"His name was Lucas."
Emily stepped backward.
"Don't."
"Voss believed children with Maya's genetic marker could sustain tissue derived from another person."
"What tissue?"
"I don't know."
"Whose DNA is inside my daughter?"
Robert closed his eyes.
"Lucas Voss."
Emily left before she hit him.
In the hallway, Agent Cole was already waiting.
"You heard?"
"Everything."
Emily fought for breath.
Cole's phone vibrated.
He read a message.
His expression changed.
"What now?"
"The pathology comparison is back."
Emily stared.
Cole didn't soften it.
"The sample is a familial match to Malcolm Voss."
Robert had told the truth.
But Cole wasn't finished.
"There is a second finding."
Emily's blood chilled.
"What?"
"The tissue isn't fifteen years old."
"What does that mean?"
May you like
Cole looked through the glass toward Maya's ICU room.
"It means whatever is inside your daughter has been producing new human tissue recently."
