CHAPTER 7 — THE WOMAN IN THE HIDDEN HOSPITAL
CHAPTER 7 — THE WOMAN IN THE HIDDEN HOSPITAL
“I killed him.”
Ethan's words remained in the room long after his voice disappeared.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
My mother stared at him as though she had forgotten how to speak.
Luka's hand tightened around the weapon at his side.
And I…
I couldn't understand what I had just heard.
“You killed my father?”
Ethan looked at me.
“Yes.”
“Daniel Vale?”
“Yes.”
“You murdered him?”
“I was eighteen.”
“That doesn't answer my question.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
I stepped backward.
“You killed the man who was my biological father.”
“I didn't know who he was.”
“You just said you knew.”
“I knew later.”
“Then what did you know when you killed him?”
Ethan swallowed.
“That he was trying to destroy M-17.”
“And you stopped him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I believed Victor.”
My mother finally spoke.
“You always were his perfect soldier.”
Ethan lowered his head.
“I was a child.”
“You were old enough to pull the trigger.”
His face crumpled.
“I know.”
I turned away.
My hands were shaking.
My daughter was gone.
My husband had confessed to killing my biological father.
My mother had been imprisoned for twenty-two years.
And somewhere in the darkness, someone had been manipulating all of us.
I picked up the USB drive again.
“Play the rest.”
Ethan looked confused.
“There isn't a rest.”
“There has to be.”
The screen had stopped after his confession.
I turned the device over.
A tiny red light was blinking.
Luka noticed it.
“It's transmitting.”
“What?”
“The USB isn't storage.”
He pulled it from my hand.
“It's a beacon.”
My mother's face went pale.
“Then they know where we are.”
The farmhouse windows shattered.
Gunfire erupted.
Luka pushed me to the floor.
“Stay down!”
My mother covered her head.
Ethan grabbed a table and overturned it.
Bullets tore through the wall.
Someone shouted outside.
“Give us the child!”
I screamed:
“She isn't here!”
The voice answered:
“We know.”
Luka fired through the broken window.
A car engine roared away.
Then silence.
I looked at him.
“Why did they leave?”
He checked the ammunition.
“They got what they wanted.”
“The USB?”
“No.”
He looked at the empty crib.
“The location.”
My mother stood slowly.
“We have to move.”
“Where?”
She looked at Ethan.
“The hospital.”
I frowned.
“What hospital?”
“The hidden one.”
We drove for almost an hour without headlights.
My mother gave directions.
Left.
Right.
Another turn.
Then a dirt road that seemed to lead nowhere.
Finally, we stopped beside an abandoned factory.
I stared at it.
“This is a hospital?”
“It used to be.”
My mother opened a rusted gate.
Behind the factory was an underground entrance.
Luka unlocked it with a key.
The door opened.
A smell of antiseptic drifted toward us.
I felt my stomach tighten.
“This place is still operating.”
My mother nodded.
“M-17 never closed.”
We entered.
The hallway was spotless.
Too spotless.
White walls.
White lights.
Security cameras.
No windows.
No people.
Then I saw the sign.
MERCY MEDICAL RESEARCH FACILITY.
My mother whispered:
“This is where they kept me.”
I looked at her.
“For twenty-two years?”
“Yes.”
“How did you survive?”
She looked toward a locked door.
“Because I wasn't the only prisoner.”
The door opened.
Inside was a small room.
An old woman sat beside the window.
Her hair was completely white.
Her wrists were scarred.
She looked up.
Then smiled.
“Mara.”
My mother stopped.
“Clara.”
The woman stood slowly.
“You came back.”
“I had to.”
Clara looked at me.
Her expression changed.
“Oh.”
She stepped closer.
“She's grown.”
I stared.
“You know me?”
“I watched you every day.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother asked me to.”
My mother took my hand.
“Clara was my nurse.”
“You were a nurse here?”
“Yes.”
“For M-17?”
“At first.”
She looked down.
“Then I became a prisoner.”
My stomach turned.
“Why?”
“Because I refused to continue the experiments.”
I looked around.
“How many patients were here?”
Clara's expression darkened.
“Hundreds.”
“Where are they?”
“Dead.”
Silence.
My mother looked away.
Clara continued.
“Some were children.”
I held Lily's blanket tighter even though my daughter wasn't there.
“Why would anyone do this?”
“Because they believed human beings were raw material.”
I whispered:
“And my mother?”
Clara nodded.
“She was the most important subject.”
“Why?”
“Because she carried the original sequence.”
My mother closed her eyes.
Clara looked at me.
“And you inherited it.”
“Where is my daughter?”
Clara looked at me.
“Safe.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She was never taken from the farmhouse.”
My heart stopped.
“Then where is she?”
Clara smiled.
“With the only person Victor cannot reach.”
“Who?”
Clara pointed toward another room.
The door opened.
Luka stepped inside.
He was carrying my daughter.
I ran toward him.
“Lily!”
He handed her to me.
She was sleeping.
Perfectly safe.
I kissed her forehead.
“How?”
Luka looked at Ethan.
“Ethan helped.”
I turned.
Ethan was standing in the doorway.
“I knew the hospital had a secondary exit.”
“But you said you didn't know where she was.”
“I didn't.”
“Then how did she get here?”
He looked at my mother.
“She arranged it.”
My mother nodded.
“I took Lily before they entered the farmhouse.”
I stared.
“You knew?”
“I suspected someone would attack.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you would have tried to stop me.”
She smiled sadly.
“And I couldn't risk losing her.”
I looked at my daughter.
Relief flooded through me.
Then anger returned.
“You let me believe she was gone.”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
“Because we needed Victor to believe he had won.”
Clara led us deeper into the hospital.
The corridors became older.
The lights flickered.
Finally, she stopped at a steel door.
“This is where it happened.”
“What?”
“Your birth.”
I stared at the door.
“My birth?”
Clara nodded.
“You weren't born in a normal hospital.”
I felt cold.
“Where was I born?”
“Here.”
She opened the door.
Inside was an old delivery room.
A rusted bed.
A broken monitor.
A faded bloodstain on the floor.
My mother stopped breathing.
I looked at her.
“You gave birth to me here.”
“Yes.”
“Who was there?”
“Clara.”
“Victor.”
“And Daniel.”
My heart tightened.
“My father was there?”
“Yes.”
“Then what happened?”
My mother sat on the edge of the bed.
“You were born at 3:17 in the morning.”
She looked at me.
“You didn't cry.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“You were silent.”
“I was alive?”
“Yes.”
“But you thought I was dead.”
“No.”
She smiled through tears.
“I knew you were alive.”
“Then why didn't I cry?”
“Because Victor had injected you.”
“With what?”
“A sedative.”
“Why?”
“He wanted to see whether your nervous system had inherited the sequence.”
I felt sick.
“He experimented on me immediately.”
“Yes.”
My mother touched my face.
“But Daniel stopped him.”
“What did he do?”
“He took you.”
“And then?”
“He tried to escape.”
“Did he succeed?”
“No.”
My mother looked down.
“He made it as far as the eastern corridor.”
I remembered Ethan's confession.
“You were there.”
Ethan nodded.
“Yes.”
“You killed him.”
“Yes.”
My mother looked at Ethan.
“You were ordered to.”
“I know.”
“You were told Daniel was armed.”
“He wasn't.”
“You knew that?”
“Not until afterward.”
My mother stared at him.
“You watched him die.”
Ethan's voice broke.
“Yes.”
“And then you took Elena back.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Ethan.
“What happened to me?”
“You were returned to Victor.”
I felt numb.
“Then why am I alive?”
Ethan answered:
“Because Daniel had already hidden your records.”
Clara walked toward an old filing cabinet.
She opened a drawer.
Inside were hundreds of files.
She removed one.
E-06.
Then another.
E-07.
Then a third.
E-08.
She handed the last one to me.
“This is your daughter.”
I opened it.
Most of the pages were blank.
Only one sentence remained.
SUBJECT E-08 HAS NO GENETIC PARENTAL MATCH.
I looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Clara shook her head.
“I don't know.”
My mother looked frightened.
“That's impossible.”
Clara looked at her.
“You knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That E-08 wasn't created from you and Daniel.”
My mother's face went white.
I looked at her.
“Mom?”
She didn't answer.
“Tell me.”
She whispered:
“I don't know where her DNA came from.”
The room went silent.
Luka stepped forward.
“But the tests showed…”
“Tests can be manipulated,” Clara said.
“Then who is Lily's biological father?”
Clara shook her head.
“No one knows.”
I looked at my daughter.
My heart tightened.
Then Clara added:
“Except one person.”
“Who?”
She looked toward the end of the corridor.
“Dr. Adrian Moretti.”
Luka froze.
“My father?”
Clara nodded.
“He never died.”
The room went silent.
Luka stared at her.
“You're lying.”
“I saw him.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“Where?”
Clara pointed toward the deepest part of the hospital.
“In the operating theater.”
Luka's face hardened.
“What was he doing?”
Clara whispered:
“Preparing the final procedure.”
“For whom?”
She looked at my daughter.
“For Lily.”
We rushed down the corridor.
Luka moved faster than anyone.
I followed with Lily in my arms.
My mother stayed beside me.
Ethan followed behind.
The operating theater was empty.
But something was wrong.
There was blood on the floor.
A chair had been overturned.
And on the operating table lay a black envelope.
Luka picked it up.
Inside was a photograph.
An older man.
Gray hair.
Sharp eyes.
A scar across his cheek.
Luka stared at it.
“My father.”
On the back was a message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET HIM DIE.
Luka's hands trembled.
Then another piece of paper fell from the envelope.
I picked it up.
It contained one sentence.
THE CHILD WILL BE TAKEN AT MIDNIGHT.
I looked at the clock.
11:42 PM.
We had eighteen minutes.
My mother grabbed my arm.
“We have to leave.”
“No.”
I looked at the operating table.
“We don't run anymore.”
Luka looked at me.
“Elena…”
“If they want Lily…”
I held my daughter closer.
“They can come for her.”
Ethan stared at me.
“What are you planning?”
I looked at the security cameras.
“Let them.”
My mother understood.
“You want to trap them.”
“Yes.”
Luka shook his head.
“Too dangerous.”
“I've spent my entire life running from people who think I'm a laboratory experiment.”
I looked at my daughter.
“I'm done.”
Then the hospital lights went out.
Every door locked simultaneously.
A voice came through the speakers.
“Good evening, Elena.”
I recognized it immediately.
Victor.
“You've finally returned to the place where you were born.”
My mother grabbed my hand.
Victor continued.
“Bring the child to the operating room.”
I looked at the camera.
“No.”
Silence.
Then Victor laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
The doors began opening one by one.
Footsteps echoed through the corridor.
Victor's voice became colder.
“I'm not coming for Lily.”
A pause.
“I'm coming for you.”
The operating room doors burst open.
A group of armed men entered.
Behind them stood a man I had never seen before.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Scarred.
Luka stared at him.
“Dad.”
Adrian Moretti smiled.
Then looked directly at me.
“Hello, Elena.”
I tightened my arms around Lily.
He pointed at my daughter.
“It's time to finish what we started.”
May you like
And behind him, on the hospital monitor, a final message appeared:
M-17 PHASE TWO: MOTHER-DAUGHTER TRANSFER — INITIATED.
