CHAPTER 21 -THE VOICE IN THE DARK
“Daniel.”
The word came from Claire’s newborn son.
It was soft.
Clear.
Impossible.
For one frozen second, no one remembered that the elevator was falling.
Then the metal cables screamed above them.
The car dropped another six feet.
Claire slammed against the wall, protecting her premature baby with both arms. Vanessa caught her before she fell. Adrian held the preserved infant against his chest while Ethan reached for the opening in the ceiling.
Helen’s hand remained extended through the maintenance hatch.
“Move!” she shouted.
Ethan lifted Adrian first.
“Give her the child.”
Adrian hesitated.
The preserved infant had no pulse.
His skin had turned gray beneath the emergency light.
“Now!” Ethan ordered.
Adrian raised the baby toward Helen.
The moment Helen touched him, Claire’s newborn gasped.
The preserved child’s tiny chest rose at exactly the same time.
Adrian stared.
“They’re synchronized.”
The elevator dropped again.
Vanessa pushed Claire toward the opening.
Ethan climbed onto the handrail and lifted her high enough for Helen to grab her wrist.
Claire refused to release her son.
“Take him first,” Helen said.
“No.”
“He may be the only reason the other child is still alive.”
Claire looked at the newborn in her arms.
His eyes were closed again.
His lips had not moved since he whispered Daniel.
Vanessa climbed through the hatch behind her. Adrian followed, barely pulling his legs clear before the elevator lurched downward.
Ethan remained inside.
The floor tilted beneath him.
“Jump!” Vanessa screamed.
He caught the edge of the opening just as the remaining cable snapped.
The elevator plunged.
Its dark shell vanished beneath his feet.
A violent crash echoed from below.
Fire rolled through the shaft.
Helen and Adrian dragged Ethan onto a narrow maintenance platform seconds before flames rushed past them.
For several moments, everyone lay motionless.
The preserved infant suddenly coughed.
It was a small, weak sound.
But he was breathing.
Adrian placed two fingers against his neck.
“I have a pulse.”
Claire’s son began breathing more steadily.
Helen looked between the children.
“They’re sharing more than DNA.”
“What does that mean?” Claire demanded.
“The preservation program used neural mapping,” Helen said. “Memories, reflexes and biological commands were stored in living tissue.”
“You’re saying my baby has memories?”
“Not his own.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Then whose voice did we hear?”
Helen did not answer.
Behind them, something moved in the darkness.
A man emerged from the tunnel beyond the maintenance platform.
His face was scarred by old burns. One side of his body leaned heavily against a metal cane.
A Blackwood ring remained on his hand.
Helen’s expression changed.
“You should be dead.”
The man looked at Claire’s newborn.
“He didn’t say my name.”
Ethan moved in front of Claire.
“Who are you?”
The stranger’s eyes settled on him.
“The only man who can tell you why you were placed in Daniel Blackwood’s nursery.”
He stepped into the emergency light.
“My name is Daniel Blackwood.”
Helen slowly reached for the weapon beneath her coat.
The scarred man noticed.
Then he smiled.
“Go ahead, Helen.”
May you like
His gaze moved toward the preserved infant.
“But if you kill me, neither child will survive the night.”
