CHAPTER 20 — THE CONTINUITY PROTOCOL
Preston stopped pretending he did not understand.
“The trust contains a continuity protocol,” he said. “The recognized heir becomes the legal owner of the Bennett biometric network.”
Grant frowned.
“A child cannot control a network.”
“The child does not,” Preston replied. “The appointed guardian does.”
Emily understood.
“Helena recognizes an infant. Then she appoints herself guardian.”
Charles leaned against the nursery wall.
“The protocol was designed during a period when the family believed enemies could eliminate every adult heir.”
Emily looked at him.
“So you built a system that could place an empire in a baby’s name.”
“It was never supposed to be activated.”
“Everything you create is never supposed to be activated.”
The board meeting had been moved to midnight.
They had less than seven hours.
Grant arranged a secure convoy to take the three infants to a protected government facility.
Emily refused.
“Helena controls the registry. She will identify any route connected to official security.”
“Keeping them here is worse.”
“Then we move without filing their identities.”
Grant looked at the two identical men.
“And what do we do with them?”
“Separate them.”
Both men objected at the same time.
Emily ignored them.
One would travel with Grant.
The other would travel with Preston and two officers.
Emily, Claire, Charles, and the children would take a third route.
Before leaving, Claire examined the bird charm found on Emily’s blanket.
The wooden bird had a narrow seam along its back.
Claire pressed the wings together.
A tiny metal strip slid from the base.
“A data key,” Grant said.
Charles recognized the symbol engraved into it.
“Vanessa’s lighthouse.”
Emily looked at him.
“What lighthouse?”
“Vanessa’s family owned a coastal property. Helena converted the lower level into a fertility laboratory.”
Preston shook his head.
“Too obvious.”
“That may be why Helena believes we will not go there.”
Emily placed the data key in her pocket.
“We go.”
The drive took ninety minutes.
The children traveled inside separate protected carriers, each monitored by Claire.
Emily sat beside the baby she had delivered.
Vanessa’s biological daughter.
Emily could not bring herself to think of the child as someone else’s.
She had carried her.
That mattered.
Across from her slept the infant carrying Emily’s DNA.
Emily’s biological daughter had Vanessa’s chin.
She wondered whether Vanessa had spent six weeks loving her.
The lighthouse appeared beyond a wall of rain.
Its upper structure had been abandoned, but electricity still powered the underground levels.
Preston entered an old Bennett code.
The steel door opened.
Inside they found rows of medical storage cabinets.
Most were empty.
Claire inserted Vanessa’s data key into a computer.
Three files appeared.
TRINITY-A.
TRINITY-B.
TRINITY-C.
Emily opened the first.
The embryo had been created from Lydia Shaw and N.B.
The second had been created from Vanessa Cole and N.B.
The third had been created from Emily Whitmore and N.B.
The father’s identity in every file had been reduced to the same initials.
N.B.
Nathan Bennett.
Nicholas Bennett.
Or someone else using the name.
Claire opened the implantation records.
Trinity-A had been carried by Lydia.
Trinity-B had been implanted into Emily.
Trinity-C had been implanted into Vanessa.
The three births had been deliberately scheduled in reverse order.
Vanessa delivered first.
Lydia delivered second.
Emily delivered last.
“The eldest child is mine,” Emily whispered.
“Biologically,” Claire said.
Preston read the trust clause.
“The first living descendant registered by the board becomes the primary heir. Birth order only matters if all children are registered simultaneously.”
Emily looked at the clock.
“Helena plans to register whichever child she controls.”
An alarm sounded above them.
The laboratory doors locked.
Grant tried his radio.
No signal.
One of the identical men moved toward the emergency panel.
The lights turned red.
A recorded message began playing.
Vanessa appeared on the central monitor.
She was seated in a dark room.
“I knew you would find the lighthouse.”
Emily stepped toward the screen.
“Where are you?”
“This recording was made three weeks ago.”
Vanessa looked directly at the camera.
“If you are watching, Helena has already found me.”
She lifted a medical photograph.
It showed an embryo container marked TRINITY-D.
Emily stared at it.
Claire whispered, “That is impossible.”
Vanessa continued.
“Charles was told there were three embryos.”
May you like
Her expression filled with fear.
“There were four.”
