Chapter 9 - THE LAST TEST
We spent the night preparing.
Detective Brooks moved my mother to another location.
Elena agreed to cooperate.
Michael remained under guard.
But there was one thing nobody understood.
Why did the organization want my baby?
The answer came from the oldest file.
Daniel Carter had documented everything.
The compound wasn't designed to track people.
It was designed to identify a specific genetic response.
A response that occurred only in certain descendants.
The original research had failed.
Until me.
And now my unborn child showed the same marker.
Michael read the report.
His face became empty.
"They've been waiting for this."
I looked at him.
"Who?"
He shook his head.
"I don't know all their names."
"But you know enough."
He looked at Detective Brooks.
"My father wasn't the leader."
"Who was?"
"My father's employer."
"Name."
Michael hesitated.
"Dr. Evelyn Shaw."
Detective Brooks immediately recognized it.
"She's alive?"
Michael nodded.
"She's been running private medical research for decades."
"Where?"
"Under a different corporation."
The name was in the file.
Carter Biomedical Research.
But there was another company beneath it.
A private maternity clinic.
The same clinic where my prenatal records had recently been transferred.
My stomach dropped.
"My doctor."
Michael looked at me.
"She's part of it."
I remembered the nurse.
The forms.
The appointment.
The moment I had written:
I am not safe at home.
Maybe that had saved me.
Or maybe someone had already read it.
The next morning, the hospital went into lockdown.
Police surrounded the building.
My delivery team was changed.
No visitors allowed.
No phones.
No outside communication.
Then, at 9:12 a.m., every light went out.
Emergency generators failed.
The monitors went dark.
Nurses screamed.
Detective Brooks pulled me into a hallway.
"Stay behind me."
A man appeared at the end of the corridor.
Then another.
Michael was brought from the security room.
He saw them.
"It's them."
One of the men raised a gun.
Before he could fire, Michael tackled him.
The corridor erupted into chaos.
I ran.
Not away.
Toward the maternity ward.
A nurse grabbed my arm.
"Sarah!"
I turned.
She was holding a newborn-sized blanket.
"Your doctor is waiting."
Something felt wrong.
"Which doctor?"
She smiled.
"Dr. Shaw."
My blood froze.
I stepped backward.
The nurse's smile disappeared.
She reached inside her pocket.
I ran.
I heard footsteps behind me.
Then Detective Brooks shouted:
"Sarah!"
I kept running.
At the end of the hallway was an emergency exit.
I pushed it open.
Rain poured down.
Outside, police cars surrounded the hospital.
I thought I was safe.
Then I saw the black SUV.
Michael's old vehicle.
The driver's door opened.
A woman stepped out.
Dr. Evelyn Shaw.
She looked directly at me.
And smiled.
May you like
"Hello, Sarah."
---
