CHAPTER 7 — WHAT HER FATHER LEFT BEHIND
CHAPTER 7 — WHAT HER FATHER LEFT BEHIND
The alarm continued to scream.
Red lights flashed across the private room, turning every face into something unfamiliar.
Daniel stood frozen beside the door.
Luka had one hand inside his jacket.
Adrian simply watched us.
And I was staring at the DNA report.
My father's name was still there.
ALEXANDER BENNETT — 17.4% GENETIC CONTRIBUTION.
Dead.
For six years.
Yet somehow, his DNA was inside my daughter.
I looked at Daniel.
“You said my father was killed.”
“He was.”
“Then how is his DNA in Emma?”
Daniel swallowed.
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear I'm not.”
“You knew about M-17.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the first test.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my father was involved.”
“Yes.”
“And now you're telling me you don't know how his DNA ended up in my daughter?”
Daniel's face tightened.
“I knew he was involved in the research.”
“That's not what I asked.”
He looked at Luka.
“Ask him.”
My eyes moved to Luka.
He didn't speak.
“Luka?”
His jaw tightened.
“I don't know exactly how the transfer happened.”
“Transfer?”
The word made my stomach twist.
“What transfer?”
He looked at the report.
“Your father's genetic material was used during the development of M-17-02.”
“Development?”
“Yes.”
“So Emma was created in a laboratory?”
“No.”
“Then explain it.”
Luka hesitated.
“Your father modified an existing genetic sequence.”
“Mine?”
“Yes.”
“Before I was pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
I stared at him.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because there are parts of this I never understood.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“There was a procedure.”
I turned toward him.
“What procedure?”
Daniel looked sick.
“Your father called it preventive therapy.”
“For me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Twenty-five years ago.”
I froze.
Twenty-five years.
The year I was born.
My father hadn't simply raised me.
He had altered me.
I suddenly remembered the childhood memories I had never understood.
The annual blood tests.
The strange doctor who visited our house.
The injections my father called vitamins.
The summer when I was eight and spent three days in a private clinic.
The locked cabinet in his study.
I had always thought my father was overly protective.
Now I wondered whether he had been protecting his experiment.
I whispered:
“He changed me.”
Luka didn't answer.
“Didn't he?”
“Yes.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“Why?”
“Because he believed M-17 would eventually be hunted.”
“And he wanted me to carry it.”
“He wanted you to survive it.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That isn't better.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Your father loved you.”
“Then he should have told me.”
“I agree.”
“Did you know?”
Daniel looked away.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before our wedding.”
I stared at him.
“You knew my father had altered my DNA before you married me?”
“Yes.”
“And you still married me.”
“I was ordered to.”
I stepped toward him.
“That's not an excuse.”
“I know.”
“You watched me build a life with you.”
“I know.”
“You watched me become pregnant.”
“I know.”
“You watched me believe you loved me.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I did love you.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of your father?”
“Yes.”
“And Meridian?”
“Yes.”
“And what else?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Your father.”
I stopped.
“My father?”
“Alexander knew everything.”
“What did he know?”
“That my family was using you.”
My heart broke.
“And he allowed it?”
“He tried to stop it.”
“When?”
“After you became pregnant.”
I looked at Luka.
“That's when everything changed.”
He nodded.
“Your father realized Meridian had found out about the pregnancy.”
“So he created M-17-02.”
“No.”
Luka's voice was quiet.
“He discovered it already existed.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Emma's genetic profile was developing naturally.”
“Then why does the report show my father's contribution?”
“Because he interfered.”
I stared.
“He modified the embryo?”
“No.”
Luka shook his head.
“He modified you.”
Silence.
“Your father had already changed your genetic sequence years before you met Daniel.”
“So when I became pregnant…”
“The sequence passed naturally to Emma.”
I looked down at my daughter.
“So she inherited something my father had put inside me.”
“Yes.”
“And that became M-17-02.”
“Yes.”
I could barely breathe.
“My father engineered me to create her.”
“No.”
Luka's voice softened.
“He engineered you to survive.”
“What's the difference?”
“The difference is that he didn't know what your child would become.”
I looked at the report.
“Then why were they waiting for her?”
“Because Meridian did know.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“My father had been tracking you for years.”
“Why?”
“Because he suspected your father had hidden the stable version of M-17 inside you.”
I felt sick.
“My entire marriage was built around this.”
“Yes.”
“And Emma?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Was the proof.”
The alarm suddenly stopped.
Silence.
Luka looked toward the door.
“They've entered the estate.”
“How many?”
“Enough.”
Adrian finally moved.
He walked toward the filing cabinet.
“We don't have much time.”
I looked at him.
“Why are you helping us?”
“I'm not.”
He opened the cabinet.
“I'm helping myself.”
Inside were dozens of folders.
Some were marked with dates.
Others with codes.
One had a photograph attached.
I saw a little girl.
Dark hair.
Eight years old.
A familiar face.
Sofia.
I picked it up.
“What is this?”
Adrian didn't answer.
I turned the photograph over.
There was handwriting.
SUBJECT 17 — FAILED STABILIZATION
My blood ran cold.
“Sofia was a failed experiment.”
Adrian's expression changed.
“She was dying.”
“Because of what you did.”
“Because of what your father did.”
I looked at him.
“You keep blaming him.”
“Because he started it.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You continued it.”
Adrian said nothing.
Then Luka saw another folder.
His face changed.
“Sofia.”
He pulled it out.
Inside were medical reports.
Photographs.
Treatment schedules.
And a final page.
TRANSFER STATUS: UNKNOWN.
Luka stared.
“She wasn't transferred.”
“What?”
“She escaped.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Yes.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe she was dead.”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
“Because Sofia wasn't the only one who escaped.”
Luka froze.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian opened another file.
Inside were four photographs.
Four children.
Four names.
Four codes.
I stared.
“Sofia wasn't alone.”
“No.”
“How many?”
“Seven.”
My stomach turned.
“Seven children?”
“Seven M-17 subjects survived.”
“Where are they?”
Adrian closed the folder.
“Somewhere safe.”
“Where?”
He looked at me.
“That's what your father left behind.”
I stared.
“What?”
Adrian walked toward the center of the room.
“There is a second facility.”
“Where?”
“Under the city.”
“Which city?”
“New York.”
I shook my head.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
“Meridian has facilities everywhere.”
“Yes.”
“Why would my father leave one here?”
“Because he knew eventually you'd come looking.”
He reached inside his coat.
He pulled out a small brass key.
I recognized it immediately.
It was the same symbol engraved on the pendant my father had given me when I was fifteen.
A circle.
A line.
Three small dots.
My father's symbol.
I touched it.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your father gave it to me.”
“When?”
“The night before he died.”
I looked at him.
“What did he tell you?”
Adrian's face became serious.
“He said, 'When my daughter finally learns the truth, give her the key.'”
I took it.
My fingers trembled.
“What does it open?”
“A room beneath St. Vincent's.”
I frowned.
“The hospital?”
“Yes.”
“The hospital where Emma was born?”
“Yes.”
My heart stopped.
“That's where M-17-02 was created.”
“No.”
Adrian looked at me.
“That's where it was born.”
I felt cold.
“The hospital staff.”
“Yes.”
“The missing records.”
“Yes.”
“The nurses who disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“All connected to Meridian.”
“Yes.”
Luka suddenly looked toward the door.
“We have company.”
A heavy impact shook the hallway.
Then another.
Someone was trying to break through.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“We have to go.”
“Not without the files.”
Luka grabbed the folder.
“I have them.”
Adrian opened a hidden panel behind the bookshelf.
A narrow passage appeared.
“Go.”
I looked at him.
“What about you?”
“I'll slow them down.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“You've spent your entire life being protected by men who lied to you.”
He looked at Daniel.
“Don't let another one make the same mistake.”
Then he looked at Luka.
“Take her somewhere your father never knew existed.”
Luka nodded.
We entered the passage.
The door closed behind us.
Then gunfire erupted.
I covered Emma's ears.
Daniel moved beside me.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
“I know.”
“I don't know who to trust.”
“You don't have to trust me.”
“Good.”
He nodded.
We continued down the passage.
After several minutes, we emerged into an underground garage.
A vehicle waited.
Luka opened the door.
“Get in.”
We climbed inside.
The moment the car moved, I looked at Daniel.
“Tell me everything.”
He stared ahead.
“I will.”
“No more lies.”
“No more lies.”
“Where did my father get the M-17 research?”
Daniel was silent.
“Daniel.”
“From your mother.”
I froze.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“She died when I was two.”
“I know.”
“What did she have to do with M-17?”
“Everything.”
I felt dizzy.
“My mother wasn't sick.”
Daniel shook his head.
“She was a researcher.”
I stared.
“My mother was a scientist?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Your father erased her records.”
“Why?”
“Because she wanted to destroy the research.”
I closed my eyes.
The story was getting darker.
“What happened to her?”
Daniel swallowed.
“She disappeared.”
“Where?”
“No one knows.”
I looked at Luka.
He was driving.
His expression was grim.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Did my father kill her?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Luka didn't answer.
Daniel did.
“Meridian.”
Silence filled the vehicle.
I looked down at Emma.
“How many secrets can one family carry?”
Luka finally spoke.
“As many as it takes to survive.”
I looked at him.
“I don't want survival anymore.”
He glanced at me through the mirror.
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
He nodded.
“Then you're going to hate what comes next.”
We reached St. Vincent's just before midnight.
The hospital looked normal.
Bright windows.
Ambulances.
Nurses moving through corridors.
Patients waiting.
Nobody looking at us.
But beneath the hospital was another world.
Luka used the brass key on a service elevator.
The doors opened.
We descended.
One floor.
Two.
Three.
Then the elevator continued past the hospital's official basement.
Four.
Five.
Six.
The lights flickered.
A digital display appeared.
M-17
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
I stared.
A corridor stretched before us.
White walls.
Glass laboratories.
Empty beds.
Children's drawings.
My hands became cold.
“Is this where they kept them?”
“Yes.”
I walked toward one of the glass rooms.
There was a small stuffed rabbit on the floor.
Dust covered it.
A name had been written on the wall.
SOFIA.
Another name.
ELIAS.
Another.
MAYA.
Another.
Seven names.
Seven children.
I touched the glass.
“What happened to them?”
A voice came from behind us.
“Some escaped.”
We turned.
Sofia stood in the doorway.
Blood stained one side of her coat.
Luka rushed toward her.
“Sofia!”
She smiled weakly.
“I told you I'd find you.”
He embraced her.
I stared.
“How did you get here?”
She looked at me.
“Your father showed me.”
“What?”
“He prepared this place before he died.”
She walked toward a wall.
Then pressed her hand against it.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a small cassette recorder.
Old-fashioned.
I stared.
“My father left this?”
“Yes.”
Sofia handed it to me.
“It's for you.”
I pressed play.
Static.
Then my father's voice.
Older.
Tired.
But unmistakable.
My knees almost gave way.
“Anna…”
I stopped breathing.
My name.
He hadn't called me that since I was a child.
“If you're hearing this, then the people I feared have finally found you.”
I covered my mouth.
His voice continued.
“I am sorry.”
A pause.
“I know you will hate me.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“You have every right to.”
I closed my eyes.
“But everything I did was intended to keep you alive.”
The recording crackled.
“I altered your genetic sequence when you were an infant.”
I looked at Emma.
“I did not know what the consequence would be.”
My father's voice became weaker.
“I thought I was protecting my daughter.”
A long silence.
“Then you became pregnant.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“And I realized the truth.”
The recording stopped for several seconds.
Then:
“Your child is not simply carrying M-17.”
Luka stared at the recorder.
My father continued.
“She is carrying the cure.”
Silence.
I looked at Daniel.
He went pale.
My father continued:
“Meridian will come for her.”
“They will say they want her blood.”
“They will say they want her DNA.”
“But they are lying.”
I held Emma tighter.
“The cure isn't inside her blood.”
My heart pounded.
“It is inside her ability to repair what M-17 destroys.”
The recording crackled.
“If they obtain her, they will use her to save themselves.”
I whispered:
“Who?”
My father answered as though he could hear me.
“The people responsible for creating M-17.”
The recording continued.
“And there is one final truth.”
I held my breath.
“The man who fathered your child is not the man you believe.”
I looked at Daniel.
He closed his eyes.
My father's voice continued:
“Daniel is her biological father.”
I exhaled.
“But he is not the only father whose blood matters.”
My heart stopped.
“Because the second genetic contribution came from me.”
I stared at the recorder.
“My DNA was used to repair the unstable sequence before your daughter was conceived.”
Luka whispered:
“That's impossible.”
My father continued.
“I used my own genetic material because I had no other compatible source.”
I couldn't breathe.
“That is why M-17-02 carries seventeen-point-four percent of my DNA.”
Daniel looked at me.
My father's voice became softer.
“This does not make your daughter my child.”
A pause.
“It makes her my legacy.”
I began crying.
He continued.
“And if you're listening to this…”
A deep breath.
“…then I need you to understand the most important thing.”
The recording crackled.
“Do not let anyone tell you that Emma was created to save the world.”
Silence.
“She was created to save herself.”
The tape ended.
No music.
No dramatic final words.
Just silence.
I stood there holding my daughter.
For the first time since she was born, I wasn't looking at her as a secret.
Or a project.
Or a weapon.
She was simply my little girl.
My father had tried to protect her.
Meridian wanted to control her.
And everyone around me had lied to me in the name of survival.
But there was one question still unanswered.
Why had my father needed to use his own DNA?
Luka looked at the final page of the file.
His face suddenly changed.
“What?”
He didn't answer.
“What is it?”
He turned the page toward me.
There was another notation.
One I hadn't seen before.
M-17-02 — MATERNAL HOST: ANNA BENNETT
PATERNAL CONTRIBUTION: DANIEL BENNETT
STABILIZATION SOURCE: ALEXANDER BENNETT
Then, beneath all three:
STATUS: INCOMPLETE
I stared.
“Incomplete?”
Luka nodded slowly.
“There is one more component.”
“What component?”
He looked at Sofia.
She lowered her eyes.
“Another child.”
I felt cold.
“What?”
Sofia whispered:
“M-17-03.”
I stared at her.
“Where is that child?”
She looked toward the dark end of the laboratory.
Then she said:
“That's why Meridian came back.”
A light suddenly turned on behind the glass.
Inside the final room stood an empty crib.
Beside it was a fresh photograph.
A baby.
Not Emma.
Another newborn.
And written beneath the photograph were four words:
THE OTHER ONE LIVES.
My blood ran cold.
May you like
Because someone had been conducting the experiment again.
And this time, they had created another child.
