Chapter 8 - THE VOICE BEHIND THE WALL KNEW SOFIA’S CHILDHOOD—THEN DANIEL FOUND A BLOODSTAIN THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
The laughter stopped as suddenly as it had begun.
Sofia stood in the red glow of the emergency lights, holding the photograph with both hands.
Daniel moved first.
“Marcus!”
No answer.
“Marcus!”
A weak voice came through the radio.
“Sir…”
Daniel grabbed it.
“Status?”
“I'm hit.”
Sofia’s stomach tightened.
“Where?”
“East entrance.”
Daniel ordered security to lock every gate.
Then he turned toward the west-wing corridor.
The laughter had come from there.
Adrian picked up a heavy fireplace poker.
Victoria stared at him.
“Seriously?”
“Do you have a better weapon?”
She looked toward the silver baseball bat displayed in an evidence case near the study.
“Actually…”
Sofia almost laughed despite everything.
“No bats.”
Victoria looked offended.
“It worked last time.”
“You were the problem last time.”
“Fair.”
Daniel stared at both women.
“Can we postpone this?”
They entered the west wing.
The hidden corridor was empty.
Sofia’s childhood photographs remained on the wall.
But one had changed.
A photograph of eight-year-old Sofia at a school playground had been removed.
In its place:
A fresh photograph.
Taken minutes earlier.
Samuel Kane tied to a chair.
Sofia stared.
Daniel looked behind the picture.
A message:
HE LIED ABOUT MERIDIAN.
Adrian whispered:
“Elias.”
Sofia turned.
“You're sure?”
“No.”
“Then stop saying his name like a ghost story.”
They searched the corridor.
At the end, Daniel found blood.
Fresh.
A trail led behind the wall.
Another hidden passage.
Sofia stared.
“How many secret rooms does this house have?”
Daniel sighed.
“I’m starting to think the visible rooms are the unusual ones.”
They followed the blood.
The passage descended.
At the bottom they found Samuel.
Alive.
Bleeding from his forehead.
Hands bound.
Sofia rushed toward him.
Samuel looked terrified.
“Don't.”
“What?”
“Trap.”
Daniel pulled Sofia back.
A thin wire stretched across the floor.
Adrian saw it.
“Alarm trigger.”
They stepped over it.
Daniel cut Samuel loose.
“Who did this?”
Samuel shook.
“I didn't see him.”
“Did you hear him?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Samuel looked at Sofia.
“He asked about you.”
Her stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Your childhood.”
“Why?”
“He wanted to know whether you were healthy.”
Sofia frowned.
“Healthy?”
“He asked whether you had seizures.”
“No.”
“Blackouts?”
“No.”
“Violent episodes?”
“No.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“Thank God.”
Sofia grabbed his collar.
“Stop speaking in riddles.”
Samuel looked at her.
“K-7’s neurological damage may have been hereditary.”
Silence.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You told us the genetic treatment worked.”
“For his heart.”
“Not his brain.”
Samuel shook his head.
“We didn't know whether the neurological effects could pass to offspring.”
Sofia released him.
She suddenly remembered every headache.
Every angry moment.
Every nightmare.
Then stopped herself.
Fear could turn normal life into evidence.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“No what?”
“I'm not doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Letting them make me afraid of my own brain.”
Samuel looked ashamed.
Sofia continued.
“I have lived twenty-five years. I know who I am.”
Daniel nodded.
“Good.”
Adrian stared at Samuel.
“What else did you hide?”
Samuel said nothing.
Adrian approached.
“What else?”
“Project Meridian didn't end with K-7.”
Margaret appeared at the top of the stairs.
Everyone turned.
She had followed them.
Samuel looked at her.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“Neither should you.”
Sofia almost smiled.
Margaret descended.
“What happened after Elias escaped?”
Samuel looked down.
“We created another cohort.”
Adrian went pale.
“You told me Meridian was shut down.”
“I told everyone.”
“How many?”
“Seventeen.”
Sofia stared.
“Seventeen people?”
“Children.”
Silence.
Daniel whispered:
“What?”
Samuel looked broken.
“Embryos.”
Sofia’s blood went cold.
The program had moved from treating adults to manipulating embryos.
Adrian turned away.
“Jesus.”
Samuel continued.
“Most failed.”
Sofia hated the clinical word.
“Failed?”
“Miscarriages. Developmental abnormalities.”
“And the survivors?”
Samuel hesitated.
“Three.”
“Where are they?”
“I don't know.”
Sofia laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Samuel looked at her.
“One was adopted in California.”
“Name?”
“Unknown.”
“Second?”
“Europe.”
“And third?”
Samuel looked toward Daniel.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
“The third remained with the Hawthorne family.”
Silence.
Sofia stared at Daniel.
Daniel stared at Samuel.
“No.”
Samuel nodded.
“Daniel was not naturally conceived.”
Daniel stepped backward.
Margaret whispered:
“That's impossible.”
Samuel continued.
“Eleanor became pregnant through Meridian.”
Daniel’s face drained.
Sofia felt the room tilt.
Daniel had been told Luis was his biological father.
Now Samuel claimed something more complicated.
“Luis’s sperm?”
“Yes.”
“Eleanor’s egg?”
“Yes.”
Daniel swallowed.
“So I was part of the program too.”
“Not intentionally.”
Daniel laughed.
“Apparently nobody in this family does anything intentionally.”
Sofia touched his arm.
He did not pull away.
Samuel continued.
“Charles wanted a child. Eleanor had difficulty conceiving. Meridian assisted.”
Daniel stared.
“And nobody told me.”
“No.”
A sound came from deeper inside the passage.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Daniel raised the fireplace poker.
Adrian moved beside him.
A man stepped from the darkness.
Black jacket.
Jeans.
Approximately fifty.
Strong build.
Short gray-black hair.
And on his left wrist—
a black star.
Sofia stopped breathing.
Elias.
He looked at her.
Not angry.
Not smiling.
Just overwhelmed.
“Sofia.”
She stared.
“You know my name.”
“I've known it for twenty-six years.”
Samuel backed away.
Elias looked at him.
Samuel trembled.
“You.”
“Yes.”
Sofia stepped between them.
“Did you attack Marcus?”
“No.”
“Kidnap Samuel?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To make him talk.”
“You could have asked.”
Elias laughed.
“I asked for thirty years.”
Sofia studied him.
This man was supposed to be damaged.
Aggressive.
Paranoid.
But right now he looked exhausted.
“Are you my biological father?”
Elias’s face changed.
“I don't know.”
Sofia froze.
“What?”
“I was told my sample was used.”
“Then—”
“But Samuel lies.”
He looked at Kane.
“Adrian lies.”
Adrian stiffened.
“Charles lied.”
Daniel said quietly:
“Charles is dead.”
Elias looked at him.
“I know.”
Then back to Sofia.
“Luis was the only one who told me the truth.”
Sofia’s eyes filled.
“You knew Luis?”
“He found me in Chicago.”
“When?”
“Twenty-five years ago.”
“Why?”
“To apologize.”
“For using your sample?”
“Yes.”
Elias’s voice cracked.
“He told me a child had been born.”
Sofia felt tears.
“He told you about me?”
“He said your name was Sofia.”
“But Eleanor wanted Marisol.”
“Luis changed it.”
“Why?”
Elias smiled sadly.
“He said Sofia meant wisdom.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
That sounded like Luis.
Elias continued.
“He promised he would raise you safely.”
“You let him?”
“I had no right to take you.”
Sofia looked at him.
For the first time that night, her fear shifted.
“What happened to you?”
Elias touched the black star tattoo.
“Meridian.”
“Samuel says the treatments damaged your brain.”
“They did.”
“Are you dangerous?”
Elias considered the question.
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped closer.
Sofia raised a hand.
Elias continued.
“But not to you.”
Sofia did not know whether to believe him.
“Why come now?”
“Because Adrian returned.”
Everyone looked at Adrian.
Elias’s expression changed.
Hatred.
“He knows who switched the sample.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I don't.”
Elias stepped forward.
“You were there.”
“So were you.”
“No.”
Elias smiled coldly.
“I was unconscious.”
Adrian’s face changed.
Sofia noticed.
“What?”
Elias looked at her.
“Ask him where the sample came from.”
Sofia turned.
“Adrian.”
Nothing.
“Where?”
Adrian swallowed.
“Elias…”
“WHERE?”
Adrian finally answered.
“It wasn't taken from a fertility bank.”
Sofia waited.
“It was taken during surgery.”
Elias lifted his shirt.
A long surgical scar crossed his abdomen.
Sofia stared.
“They told me they were removing a tumor.”
Samuel whispered:
“Adrian…”
Adrian looked sick.
“I didn't know Charles intended to use it.”
Elias laughed.
“You harvested me.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Sofia’s disgust rose.
“You took reproductive material from a patient without consent?”
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“You're done.”
Adrian did not resist.
Then Elias said:
“That's not the worst thing he did.”
Adrian looked up.
Elias pointed toward Daniel.
“Tell him.”
Daniel frowned.
“Tell me what?”
Elias stared at Adrian.
“The sample used to create Daniel.”
Adrian whispered:
“Don't.”
Elias smiled without humor.
“Wasn't Luis’s.”
Silence.
Daniel went completely still.
Sofia stared.
Samuel covered his face.
Margaret whispered:
“Oh God.”
Daniel’s voice became dangerous.
“Whose was it?”
Adrian looked at him.
“I didn't know until years later.”
“WHO?”
Before Adrian could answer, a gunshot exploded.
Elias jerked.
Blood appeared across his shoulder.
Sofia screamed.
Daniel pulled her down.
Another bullet hit the wall.
Someone was shooting from the darkness.
Elias collapsed.
Sofia crawled toward him.
“Elias!”
His eyes opened.
He grabbed her wrist.
“Listen…”
Blood filled his shirt.
“Daniel…”
“What about Daniel?”
Elias struggled to breathe.
“His father…”
Another gunshot.
The lights died.
And Elias whispered one final name into Sofia’s ear.
May you like
A name that made her turn toward Daniel in absolute horror.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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