CHAPTER 9 — The Man Who Knew Too Much
The message remained on every screen.
RETURN SUBJECT SEVENTEEN.
OR EVERYONE DIES.
No logo.
No signature.
No IP address.
Just twelve words.
Then every monitor went black.
The mansion's emergency generators roared to life seconds later, flooding the halls with dim amber light.
Marcus grabbed his radio.
"Status report!"
Voices erupted from every corner of the estate.
"North gate secure!"
"West wing secure!"
"No intruders!"
Daniel listened carefully.
If no one had entered...
Then someone had already been inside.
Ethan raced into the security room.
His fingers flew across the keyboard.
"They didn't just hack the cameras."
Daniel stood behind him.
"What did they do?"
"They copied the server."
Marcus looked up sharply.
"All of it?"
Ethan nodded grimly.
"Blueprints."
"Security schedules."
"Camera layouts."
"Every recording."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"They wanted us to know."
Ethan looked over his shoulder.
"This wasn't theft."
"It was a warning."
Upstairs, Dr. Harris remained beside Claire.
She had become noticeably weaker.
The poison was progressing.
Emma sat quietly at her bedside.
Claire reached for her hand.
"You have your mother's eyes."
Emma froze.
"My..."
"...mother?"
Claire smiled sadly.
"You don't remember her."
Emma shook her head.
"I don't remember anything before the orphanage."
Claire's eyes filled with regret.
"That wasn't your fault."
Emma leaned closer.
"Who was she?"
Claire hesitated.
Then whispered,
"Her name was Sarah."
The name struck Emma like a distant echo.
Sarah.
Suddenly...
A faint image flashed through her mind.
A woman singing.
Soft hands brushing her hair.
A lullaby.
The same melody from the music box.
The memory vanished almost instantly.
Emma pressed her fingers against her temples.
"I almost remembered..."
Claire squeezed her hand.
"You will."
Meanwhile...
Victoria locked herself inside her private office.
She pulled the curtains shut.
Then opened the hidden safe again.
This time...
She removed a leather-bound address book.
Inside were dozens of handwritten names.
Most had been crossed out.
Dead.
Missing.
Eliminated.
Only three remained.
One of them was circled repeatedly.
Dr. Henry Lawson.
Victoria stared at the name.
"He knows too much."
She picked up the burner phone.
Before she could dial...
The phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered immediately.
"What happened?"
The voice on the other end was calm.
"Daniel has Claire."
Victoria closed her eyes.
"I know."
"Then you also know..."
"...we're out of time."
Victoria whispered,
"What do you want me to do?"
The answer came without hesitation.
"Find Lawson."
"Before Daniel does."
The call disconnected.
Downstairs...
Ethan suddenly stopped typing.
Daniel noticed immediately.
"What?"
"I found a name."
He turned the monitor.
An old payroll database appeared.
Employee records dating back twenty years.
Ethan highlighted one file.
Dr. Henry Lawson
Position:
Senior Geneticist.
Project Orchid.
Employment ended...
Nine years ago.
Status:
Missing.
Marcus frowned.
"Coincidence?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I don't believe in coincidences anymore."
Ethan opened another document.
Lawson's emergency contact.
No address.
Only one handwritten note.
If anything happens to me...
Tell Daniel the greenhouse was never about flowers.
Silence filled the room.
Marcus blinked.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel looked toward the greenhouse outside.
"There must be something hidden there."
Within minutes...
The four of them returned to the greenhouse.
This time carrying flashlights and ground-penetrating scanners from Ethan's forensic equipment.
Marcus searched the stone pathways.
Nothing.
Emma walked slowly among the orchids.
Rows upon rows of white blossoms surrounded her.
Their fragrance felt strangely familiar.
Almost comforting.
Then...
She noticed one flower.
Unlike the others...
Its petals were deep purple.
Emma frowned.
"Daniel."
He walked over.
"What?"
She pointed.
"Every orchid here is white."
"Except this one."
Ethan knelt beside it.
The soil was freshly disturbed.
Marcus grabbed a small gardening shovel.
Within seconds...
Metal struck wood.
Everyone stopped.
A small cedar box lay buried beneath the flower.
Daniel carefully lifted it out.
The lock was old.
Silver.
Exactly the size of the tiny key from the music box.
Emma stared.
"The key..."
Daniel handed it to her.
"You should do it."
Emma inserted the key.
Click.
The lid slowly opened.
Inside...
A cassette tape.
A photograph.
And a sealed envelope.
The envelope read:
For Daniel.
The photograph showed five people standing together inside a laboratory.
Richard Ashford.
Claire Bennett.
Dr. Henry Lawson.
Sarah.
And...
Victoria.
Emma's breathing caught.
Sarah.
The woman from her fading memories.
Her mother.
Daniel opened the envelope first.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Not from Claire.
From Richard Ashford.
He began reading aloud.
Daniel,
If you are holding this box...
then I have failed.
Emma looked at him.
He continued.
I trusted the wrong person.
I believed I could control Victoria.
I was wrong.
Daniel's hands tightened around the letter.
Orchid was never meant to become a weapon.
It began as research to help children survive neurological diseases.
Victoria turned hope into obsession.
Daniel paused.
The next sentence hit him harder than anything before it.
Emma is not an experiment.
She is my responsibility.
The room became silent.
Emma looked confused.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel read the final paragraph.
His voice grew quieter with each word.
Sarah died protecting her daughter.
Before she died...
she made me promise that Emma would never know who her real father was.
Daniel stopped reading.
His heart pounded.
Emma whispered,
"...My real father?"
Daniel slowly turned the page.
Only one sentence remained.
Written alone.
Underlined twice.
The truth will destroy our family.
Before anyone could speak...
A gunshot shattered the silence.
The greenhouse window exploded inward.
Glass rained across the floor.
Marcus instantly shoved Emma behind the stone fountain.
"DOWN!"
A second shot struck the cedar box, splintering the wood.
Ethan drew his pistol and fired toward the broken window.
Outside...
A dark figure disappeared into the trees.
Marcus sprinted after the shooter.
Daniel knelt beside Emma.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
"I'm fine."
Then Daniel looked down.
His blood ran cold.
The cassette tape...
The only recording hidden inside the box...
Was gone.
Someone hadn't come to kill them.
They had come for the tape.
May you like
Which meant whoever fired those shots already knew exactly what was recorded on it.
And they were willing to kill to keep anyone else from hearing it.
