CHAPTER 10: THE CHILDREN UNDER THE HOSPITAL
Adrian called the hospital’s security director.
No answer.
Marcus tried the police.
Every call was redirected to Commissioner Hale.
Claire looked at the date on the document.
Three days.
“What is the Second Fire?”
Miriam sat in the front pew.
“A mass destruction protocol.”
“Why would they kill the children?”
“To erase evidence if Project Janus was exposed.”
Claire Vale tightened her grip on the pistol.
“Then we expose it publicly.”
Anna shook her head.
“The people involved control the networks that would receive the evidence.”
“Politicians?”
“Governments. Banks. Military programs. Private medical companies.”
Richard looked at the list of names attached to the document.
Several had attended the ballroom gala.
“They weren’t guests,” he said.
“They were investors.”
Miriam nodded.
“The gala was an emergency meeting. Dr. Voss planned to reveal the project.”
Claire remembered him dying in her arms.
“Evelyn killed him to stop it.”
“No,” Miriam said. “Evelyn killed him because he intended to activate the Second Fire himself.”
Adrian stared at her.
“My mother was trying to save the children?”
“Partly.”
“Why didn’t she tell us?”
“She didn’t trust any of you.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“She had good reason.”
A phone rang inside the chapel.
It was an old landline covered in dust.
Claire answered.
A man’s voice said, “Hello, Clara.”
August.
Claire looked around.
“How did you find us?”
“I built the chapel.”
“What do you want?”
“You already know.”
Claire looked toward Anna.
“Me.”
“You and your sister.”
Claire Vale took the phone.
“Why?”
August laughed.
“Because one of you carries Helena’s complete memory pattern.”
Anna went still.
“That is impossible.”
“No,” August replied. “You simply never found the correct daughter.”
Claire asked, “What happens if you get the memory pattern?”
“I finish Continuance.”
The call ended.
Every phone in the chapel activated at once.
A live video appeared.
The children’s hospital.
Beneath it, rows of white rooms stretched underground.
Hundreds of children sat motionless on small beds.
A little girl walked toward the camera.
She appeared five years old.
She had Claire’s eyes.
“Mama?” the girl asked.
Claire’s heart stopped.
Adrian moved beside her.
The child looked directly at both of them.
“My name is Lily.”
A medical file appeared beside the video.
BIOLOGICAL SOURCE ONE: CLARA VALE.
BIOLOGICAL SOURCE TWO: ADRIAN WHITMORE.
Claire dropped the phone.
Adrian stared at the screen.
“We have a daughter?”
Anna shook her head.
“You have a genetic child.”
The girl pressed her hand against the camera.
May you like
“Please come before the fire.”
Then armed men entered the room and dragged her away.
