CHAPTER 28 : THE FOURTH SIGNAL
Grant backed toward the boat.
“There is no fourth subject.”
Daniel examined the tracking device.
“The signal is using my biometric signature.”
Ethan kept his weapon raised.
“Then it could be the real Daniel.”
The scarred man looked at him.
“Or the real David.”
Noah stared between them.
“Which one are you?”
The man did not answer.
Grant lowered the carrier into the boat.
The preserved infant continued holding his collar.
“Tell them,” the voice from the carrier said.
Grant’s hand trembled.
“Tell us what?” Ethan demanded.
Grant looked toward Helen’s tunnel entrance.
“She was never trying to preserve Daniel’s son.”
“Who was she preserving?”
“The source.”
Daniel moved closer.
“What source?”
“The genetic material used to create Daniel, David and every continuity heir after them.”
Ethan looked toward the infant.
“That child was supposedly born thirty years ago.”
“He was removed from preservation thirty years ago,” Grant corrected. “He was not born then.”
“How old is he?”
Grant shook his head.
“The original records were destroyed.”
A shot struck the side of the boat.
Helen stood in the tunnel entrance.
Evelyn remained beside her.
Claire’s face was expressionless.
“Give me the child,” Helen ordered.
Grant aimed the carrier toward the water.
“One more step and I drop him.”
Claire’s voice suddenly emerged.
“No!”
She pushed against Evelyn’s control.
Her body stumbled.
Helen grabbed her.
“Evelyn, stay focused.”
Claire looked at Ethan.
“Under the estate.”
Her words were strained.
“The coffin…”
Evelyn took control again.
“She is confused.”
Daniel faced Helen.
“What is beneath the estate?”
“Nothing.”
Margaret’s voice came through Ethan’s radio.
“Don’t believe her.”
She sounded weak.
“Thomas told the truth about one thing. Helen moved Daniel’s coffin.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“Where?”
Margaret coughed.
“Beneath Ethan’s childhood room.”
Ethan remembered the nightmares he had experienced as a child.
Three knocks beneath the floor.
A pause.
Two more.
The same warning code Claire had used.
Danger.
Follow me.
He had told Margaret someone was trapped under his bed.
She had insisted it was the heating system.
Grant looked toward him.
“You heard him.”
Ethan lowered his weapon slightly.
“Heard who?”
“The man inside the coffin.”
Noah moved behind Grant.
Before Grant could turn, Noah struck his wrist.
The carrier fell.
Ethan caught it before it hit the floor.
Daniel tackled Grant.
Helen raised her weapon, but Claire forced her arm aside.
The shot entered the ceiling.
Vanessa pulled Ethan toward the tunnel.
“Go!”
Noah followed.
Daniel held Grant down as water flooded the boathouse.
Grant laughed beneath him.
“You still don’t know which brother you are.”
Daniel struck him.
Grant only laughed harder.
Ethan carried the preserved infant into the tunnel.
The baby’s hand pressed against the clear carrier wall.
His heartbeat synchronized again with Claire’s newborn.
Behind Ethan, Claire screamed.
Not from pain.
From memory.
She saw a white room.
A little girl lying beneath a sheet.
Helen standing beside her.
Evelyn holding a syringe.
Claire saw the moment her original body died.
Then she saw Helen place a second child inside the same bed.
Claire regained control.
She looked at Helen in horror.
“You didn’t save me.”
Helen stepped backward.
“You don’t understand.”
“You killed the first Claire.”
“No.”
“I remember your hands.”
Helen’s expression became desperate.
“Evelyn made the decision.”
Claire turned toward Ethan.
She pointed toward the tunnel leading to the estate.
“I know who is inside the coffin.”
Ethan stopped.
“Daniel?”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
Her next words were almost too quiet to hear.
“It’s the man who used to speak to me before I was born.”
