Chapter 8 - THE CHILDREN OF LAKEWOOD
Daniel insisted they contact federal authorities.
Evelyn refused to surrender the notebook.
“They kidnapped Ryan because they believe it contains something valuable,” she said.
“That is exactly why law enforcement should handle it.”
“The same government that sealed Lakewood’s records?”
“That happened decades ago.”
“Someone powerful protected that clinic. Adrian Vale is now the chairman of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“You are not trained for a hostage exchange.”
“No, but I am the person they asked for.”
Nora opened the surviving notebook pages across the conference table.
Most were damaged, but several references remained readable.
Subject E.
Subject R.
Subject M.
Subject J.
Each subject appeared to have been monitored for years.
“Ryan is younger than Lakewood’s closing date,” Nora said.
“So he could not have been created there,” Daniel replied.
“Unless the program continued somewhere else.”
Evelyn examined Ryan’s chart.
Subject R showed markers related to neurological reward response, impulse control, and risk tolerance.
“He was engineered to take risks,” she whispered.
Daniel shook his head.
“Do not assume these notes describe successful modification.”
“They describe him.”
“People can match vague descriptions.”
“This is not vague.”
Nora found another page.
SUBJECT E: CARDIAC ADAPTATION SUCCESSFUL. LONG-TERM FAILURE POSSIBLE WITHOUT SECONDARY CORRECTION.
Evelyn read it silently.
“My condition was predicted before I was born.”
Daniel moved beside her.
“Which means Helix-R may be the secondary correction.”
“My father spent his life trying to repair what they did.”
“Or trying to complete it,” Nora said.
Evelyn looked at her.
Nora pointed to another line.
HELICAL REPAIR SEQUENCE REQUIRES ACTIVE SUBJECT TEMPLATE.
“Active subject,” Evelyn said. “Living genetic material.”
Nora nodded.
“Helix-R might only work because it was developed using your blood or tissue.”
Evelyn remembered years of childhood medical appointments.
Thomas told her she had unusual allergies.
Margaret said she was a fragile child.
Blood tests had been routine.
Too routine.
Daniel’s phone rang.
He stepped away to answer.
Nora watched him.
“You still don’t trust him.”
“I don’t know what to trust.”
“He is helping.”
“He also investigated my family and concealed it.”
“He may have had legal reasons.”
“People always have reasons.”
Daniel returned.
“William Hale is conscious.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked to speak with Evelyn alone.”
At the hospital, Hale looked smaller beneath the bandages.
Evelyn sat beside him.
“You told me I wasn’t the first.”
Hale’s uninjured eye filled with regret.
“There were six known pregnancies.”
“At Lakewood?”
“Yes.”
“How many children survived?”
“Four.”
“Who are they?”
“I only knew the codes.”
“E, R, M, and J?”
He looked surprised.
“You found the notebook.”
“Who is Subject R?”
“I assumed Ryan.”
“He was born after the clinic closed.”
“The work moved.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who continued it?”
“Thomas and Julian both claimed they stopped.”
“And Vale?”
Hale looked toward the door.
“Vale never stops anything that can make him powerful.”
“Did Margaret know Ryan was part of the program?”
“She chose it.”
Evelyn felt physically sick.
“She volunteered her children?”
“Margaret believed the modifications would make you extraordinary.”
“And when I became sick?”
“She blamed Thomas.”
“What about Ryan?”
“His procedure was different.”
“He was designed?”
Hale closed his eye.
“Do not use that word.”
“What word should I use?”
“No child chooses the ambitions of their parents.”
Evelyn looked down at the bandages covering his hands.
“Why were you at the warehouse?”
“Margaret called me.”
“She asked you to destroy the notebooks?”
“She asked me to save them.”
“From whom?”
“Thomas.”
“My father is dead.”
Hale’s eye opened.
“That is what we were told.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“You attended his funeral.”
“The coffin was sealed.”
“He died in my arms.”
“Did you see his body afterward?”
She remembered the hospital room.
The failing monitors.
Thomas’s final breath.
Margaret had insisted Evelyn leave while staff prepared the body.
The funeral director said Thomas’s illness had altered his appearance and recommended a closed casket.
At the time, Evelyn did not question it.
“He was dead,” she said.
“I believed so too.”
“What changed?”
“Three weeks ago, I received a recording.”
“From whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“What was on it?”
“Thomas’s voice.”
Hale struggled to move his burned hand.
“He said Subject E was in danger.”
Evelyn could barely breathe.
“Where is the recording?”
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
Hale looked directly at her.
“In the one place Margaret can never enter.”
Before he could explain, his monitor alarm sounded.
Doctors rushed inside.
Evelyn was forced into the corridor.
Through the glass, she watched them work.
Two minutes later, the alarms stopped.
A doctor approached her.
“I’m sorry.”
William Hale was dead.
When Evelyn returned to her car, an envelope waited beneath the windshield wiper.
Inside was a key.
May you like
Attached to it was a handwritten note.
THE ONE PLACE MARGARET CAN NEVER ENTER IS THE GRAVE OF THE MAN SHE BETRAYED.
