Chapter 19 - SUCCESSOR CJulian sat inside a federal interrogation room seventeen miles away.
Cassandra stood behind the observation glass while two agents questioned him about the Hart Meridian transfer.
He answered each question calmly.
Then the red light beneath the table began blinking.
Julian looked directly toward the hidden camera.
“They found the third button.”
Cassandra entered the room.
“What did you say?”
Julian lifted his restrained hands.
“Ask Amelia why Theodore paid for my education before he ever met my mother.”
Cassandra stopped.
“You were raised with us.”
“I was placed with you.”
The room’s electronic lock engaged.
The agents reached for their weapons.
Julian moved faster.
He twisted one agent’s wrist, took the access card and pressed it against the table.
A hidden interface activated.
The factory flood controls appeared.
Cassandra stared at him.
“You are Orpheus Successor C.”
“No.”
Julian entered a code.
“I was the failsafe.”
At the factory, water rose around Amelia’s boots.
Elias fired into the ceiling mechanism. The bullets ricocheted.
Nathaniel searched for a manual release.
The woman with Helen’s face held the ledger above the water.
“You must open the Continuity page.”
Amelia took it.
Most of the writing had been encoded, but three names remained visible:
Amelia Hart.
Elias Hart.
Julian Kane.
“Why Kane?” Amelia asked.
Samuel’s face had gone pale.
Julian was Evelyn’s son.
Theodore looked at him.
“Samuel, tell her.”
Samuel did not.
The water reached Amelia’s knees.
Theodore spoke instead.
“Evelyn was recruited into Orpheus before she married Samuel. Sebastian needed a third child whose identity would not lead back to the Harts.”
“Julian is yours?” Amelia asked.
“No.”
Theodore looked toward the woman.
“He is Helen’s.”
The chamber fell silent.
Elias stared at her.
Julian had been born only eight months after Elias.
The dates made no sense unless records had been altered—or the pregnancies had not been natural.
The woman closed her eyes.
“Orpheus used my genetic material without consent.”
Samuel looked toward her.
“Then Julian is not your son.”
“He carries my blood.”
The floodwater suddenly stopped rising.
A screen activated on the wall.
Julian appeared from the interrogation room.
“Hello, Amelia.”
“Release the chamber.”
“I will.”
He looked toward Elias.
“After our brother gives me the ledger.”
Elias laughed bitterly.
“You were always the obedient one.”
“I was the forgotten one.”
Julian’s eyes shifted to Theodore.
“You held a funeral for Elias. You raised Amelia. You hid me inside another family.”
Theodore answered quietly.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From whom?”
The screen split.
Victor appeared inside the Hart Meridian control center.
Beside him sat Cassandra, bound to a chair.
Julian looked shocked.
Victor smiled.
May you like
“From me.”
Then Victor raised a syringe toward Cassandra’s neck.
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