Chapter 11 - THE BODY BENEATH THE COMPANY
Sublevel Three was hidden beneath Carter Biomedical’s oldest building.
Thomas had constructed the underground laboratory before the company moved most operations to the glass headquarters.
Only a handful of senior scientists knew it existed.
Evelyn and Marcus descended through a service elevator while Nora coordinated the evacuation above.
Daniel remained missing.
Margaret and Ryan remained unreachable.
Police had not located the kidnappers.
Yet someone had entered the hidden laboratory using Evelyn’s biometric authorization.
“I’ve never been here,” she said.
Marcus watched the elevator numbers descend.
“Your father used your childhood scans to create the access profile.”
“That is why the system recognizes me.”
“Yes.”
The elevator opened into a circular chamber lined with medical equipment.
At its center stood a transparent containment unit.
The door was open.
The unit was empty.
Evelyn approached slowly.
A hospital bracelet lay on the floor.
THOMAS CARTER.
“He was here,” she whispered.
“For three years,” Marcus replied.
“You kept him alive?”
“We kept his tissue viable.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
“Was he conscious?”
Marcus did not answer quickly enough.
Evelyn turned toward him.
“Was my father conscious?”
“Occasionally.”
Rage moved through her.
“You let me bury an empty coffin while he was alive beneath my company.”
“Thomas demanded secrecy.”
“He was ill.”
“He was dangerous.”
“To whom?”
“Potentially everyone.”
Marcus activated a wall display.
Security footage showed the containment chamber thirty minutes earlier.
A person wearing a medical suit entered using Evelyn’s identity profile.
The figure approached Thomas’s unit.
The door opened.
A man stepped out.
He was thin, pale, and unsteady.
But unmistakably alive.
Thomas Carter.
Evelyn gripped the console.
The footage had no sound.
Thomas looked toward the camera.
Then he helped the suited figure remove their helmet.
Daniel stood beneath it.
Evelyn stepped back.
“No.”
Daniel wrapped a coat around Thomas and guided him toward the elevator.
Marcus paused the video.
“Daniel removed him.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Daniel know about this facility?”
“He should not have.”
“But his father investigated Lakewood.”
Marcus’s expression changed.
“His father was not an investigator.”
“Daniel said he was.”
“His father was Lakewood security director.”
Evelyn felt betrayal turn into something colder.
Every truth Daniel revealed had concealed another lie.
The display flashed.
A file had been opened moments before the containment breach.
Evelyn selected it.
PROJECT RESURRECTION.
Inside were years of reports documenting Thomas’s condition.
After his apparent death, his cells continued functioning.
Helix therapy slowed tissue decay and triggered cycles of repair.
He was not immortal.
He was trapped between recovery and collapse.
The most recent report contained one warning.
STABILIZATION REQUIRES SUBJECT E TRANSFUSION.
Evelyn understood.
“They need my blood.”
Marcus nodded.
“The vial from the mausoleum was an early sample. It may not be enough.”
“Daniel took my father so he could bring him to Vale.”
“Maybe.”
“What other explanation is there?”
“Thomas may have asked him.”
A telephone rang inside the chamber.
It was an old landline mounted on the wall.
Marcus looked at Evelyn.
“No one knows this number.”
The ringing continued.
Evelyn answered.
“Hello?”
A weak voice responded.
“Evie.”
Her knees nearly gave way.
“Dad?”
Thomas breathed slowly on the other end.
“I’m sorry.”
“Where are you?”
“There isn’t much time.”
“Are you with Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Did he take you against your will?”
“No.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Why did you leave?”
“Because Vale has Ryan.”
“And Mother?”
“Margaret made her choice years ago.”
“What choice?”
Thomas began coughing.
Daniel’s voice sounded faintly in the background.
“We need to move.”
Evelyn gripped the phone.
“Daniel lied to me.”
“He lied to protect his father.”
“Where are you?”
“Listen carefully. Helix-R cannot be approved.”
“What?”
“It must never reach the public.”
“You spent your life developing it.”
“I spent my life trying to contain it.”
“You said it could save people.”
“It can.”
“Then why destroy it?”
Thomas was silent for several seconds.
“Because Vale discovered what happens when Helix is combined with Subject E’s current cells.”
“What happens?”
“It does not only repair damaged tissue.”
“You already said it might reverse aging.”
“It does more than that.”
“What?”
A sound interrupted the call.
A struggle.
Daniel shouted.
Then Margaret’s voice came through the line.
“Hello, Evelyn.”
“Where is my father?”
“With the family.”
“You are not my family.”
Margaret laughed softly.
“You still think family is defined by love.”
“What do you want?”
“You.”
“For what?”
“To finish what Lakewood began.”
The line went dead.
Marcus opened another security file.
“The system traced the call for six seconds.”
“Where?”
He displayed a location.
May you like
Lakewood County.
The clinic that officially no longer existed.
