Chapter 17 — THE MOTHER WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Evelyn Cross looked exactly like the woman in the photographs.
Older now.
Silver hair.
Sharp eyes.
A thin scar crossing her left cheek.
She stood behind Emma with one hand resting gently on the girl's shoulder.
Emma wasn't crying.
That frightened me.
“Mommy,” she said softly into the camera.
Sarah covered her mouth.
“Evelyn…”
Evelyn smiled.
“You should have come sooner.”
Sarah stepped closer to the monitor.
“Where is my daughter?”
“Safe.”
“Let her go.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“When Michael arrives.”
I stepped toward the screen.
“You want the key?”
Evelyn looked directly at me.
“No.”
She smiled.
“I want the truth.”
Daniel appeared behind me.
“What truth?”
Evelyn laughed.
“You're still pretending?”
Daniel stared at the screen.
“You died.”
“So did Robert.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“And yet here we are.”
Evelyn looked at me.
“Michael, do you know why your father disappeared?”
I said nothing.
“Because he discovered what the foundation really was.”
Robert's voice came from the recording.
“He discovered the children were being monitored.”
Evelyn continued.
“Not merely monitored.”
She looked at Emma.
“Measured.”
Emma looked up at her.
“Measured for what?”
Evelyn smiled.
“Potential.”
Daniel said:
“Don't.”
Evelyn ignored him.
“Your daughter has a rare neurological pattern. She remembers almost everything she experiences.”
I looked at Emma.
“She remembers.”
“Yes.”
“She remembers the hospital.”
“Yes.”
“She remembers Lily.”
“Yes.”
“She remembers you.”
Evelyn smiled.
“She remembers me better than she remembers most people.”
I felt sick.
“What do you want from her?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why take her?”
“Because someone else will.”
“Who?”
Evelyn's expression changed.
“The Board.”
Daniel swore under his breath.
I looked at him.
“Who are they?”
He didn't answer.
Evelyn did.
“Seven families.”
She counted on her fingers.
“Bennett.”
“Cross.”
“Mercer.”
“Hale.”
“Reed.”
“Whitmore.”
“And Black.”
She lowered her hand.
“For decades, they controlled the foundation.”
I looked at Daniel.
“And you?”
“I was never one of them.”
Evelyn laughed.
“You believed that?”
Daniel's face turned cold.
“I tried to destroy it.”
“You tried to control it.”
“That was before I understood what they were doing.”
Sarah stepped forward.
“You knew.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“You knew too.”
“I was trying to save them.”
“You switched the babies.”
Sarah's face went pale.
“Yes.”
I turned toward her.
“You switched them?”
Sarah looked at me.
“I didn't do it alone.”
Evelyn continued.
“Sarah took Anna.”
Margaret took Lily.
Robert helped them escape.
Daniel covered the records.
Rachel hid the girls later.
I looked at Rachel.
“You knew?”
Rachel nodded through tears.
“I was nine when I first saw Lily.”
“You were a child.”
“I know.”
“You couldn't have done anything.”
“I tried.”
Evelyn's expression softened.
“You did more than most adults.”
The screen suddenly changed.
Emma was shown walking down a hallway.
Evelyn followed.
They entered a room filled with photographs.
Emma stopped.
She touched one.
It showed two babies.
Emma and Lily.
Underneath were two names.
ANNA CROSS — SUBJECT 17A
LILY CROSS — SUBJECT 17B
Emma looked at the camera.
“Daddy?”
I stepped closer.
“What?”
“There are more.”
“More what?”
“Pictures.”
She pointed toward the wall.
There were dozens.
Children.
Hundreds.
Different ages.
Different years.
Every photograph had a number.
I stared.
“Evelyn…”
“Yes?”
“How many?”
She didn't answer.
Daniel whispered:
“Too many.”
I looked at him.
“How many children?”
“Over four hundred.”
My stomach dropped.
Emma suddenly pointed toward one photograph.
“Daddy.”
“What?”
“That one.”
I looked.
A little boy.
Maybe seven years old.
Dark hair.
Same birthmark as Emma.
Same eyes.
Under the photograph:
SUBJECT 17C — MICHAEL BENNETT.
I couldn't breathe.
“That can't be me.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Evelyn said:
“It is.”
I looked at my hands.
“My father…”
Robert had been watching.
He finally spoke.
“You were the first.”
My voice broke.
“The first what?”
“The first child they successfully conditioned.”
The room went silent.
Daniel looked at me.
“You weren't just Subject 17.”
“You were the prototype.”
I felt something inside me collapse.
All the strange memories.
The dreams.
The missing years.
The feeling that certain places were familiar.
The headaches.
The flashes.
It suddenly made sense.
I hadn't forgotten my childhood.
Someone had taken it from me.
Evelyn leaned toward the camera.
“Michael, your daughter inherited your memory.”
I stared at Emma.
“And Lily?”
“Lily inherited something else.”
“What?”
Evelyn smiled.
“Pattern recognition.”
Daniel whispered:
“Together, they're the key.”
“To what?”
Evelyn's smile disappeared.
“To the archive your grandfather spent his entire life trying to hide.”
The screen went black.
Then a final message appeared.
THE GIRLS ARE NOT THE ONLY SURVIVORS.
I stared at the words.
A second message appeared.
SUBJECT 17D IS ALIVE.
Daniel stepped backward.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
May you like
He whispered one name.
“Thomas.”
