CHAPTER 6 – THE HUNTER INSIDE THE HOSPITAL
CHAPTER 6 – THE HUNTER INSIDE THE HOSPITAL
Red emergency lights flashed across the corridors.
Patients looked around in confusion as armed security officers sealed every exit.
Doctors whispered nervously.
Nobody questioned Dominic Moretti's authority.
Not when his voice carried that tone.
"Find whoever entered my daughter's room."
One of the nurses blinked.
"Your... daughter?"
Dominic looked toward Emma's ICU.
He didn't correct her.
Clara noticed.
For reasons she couldn't explain...
Neither did she.
Meanwhile, inside the hospital's surveillance center, technicians replayed the footage frame by frame.
The mysterious nurse kept her face lowered beneath a surgical cap.
But one detail stood out.
A silver bracelet.
Tiny emerald stones.
Dr. Hastings went pale.
"I know that bracelet."
"Who?"
"It belongs to Dr. Vanessa Cole."
One of the hospital's senior genetic researchers.
She had officially retired five years earlier.
Dominic immediately turned.
"Where is she?"
A security officer answered.
"She signed into the building tonight."
"But..."
"We can't find her now."
Dominic smiled.
It wasn't a pleasant smile.
"Then she's still here."
At that very moment...
Three floors below the ICU...
Dr. Vanessa Cole hurried through a forgotten service corridor carrying a small insulated case.
Inside was a single blood sample.
Emma's.
Her breathing was uneven.
"They found the file..."
"They weren't supposed to find the file..."
She reached an old freight elevator.
Just as the doors began closing...
A gloved hand stopped them.
Dominic stepped inside.
Alone.
Vanessa froze.
He looked at the insulated case.
"What's in the box?"
"I..."
"You have one chance."
She swallowed.
"It's evidence."
"Of what?"
"That Project Phoenix never ended."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?"
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
"You think twelve children were enough?"
"There were hundreds."
"The rich wanted perfect heirs."
"Governments wanted stronger soldiers."
"Corporations wanted patents on human genetics."
"So they kept experimenting."
She looked directly into his eyes.
"And now they've discovered Emma exists."
Clara, who had just arrived with two guards, felt ice run through her veins.
"Why would they care about my daughter?"
Vanessa's answer was barely above a whisper.
"Because Emma's blood..."
"...is the only successful second-generation result ever recorded."
The insulated case suddenly beeped.
Vanessa's face changed.
"No..."
Dominic frowned.
"What?"
She slowly opened the lid.
The blood vial was gone.
Only a small black tracking device remained.
Someone had switched it.
From somewhere above them came the echo of slow applause.
Everyone looked up.
A tall man stepped onto the metal walkway overlooking the freight elevator.
Elegant gray suit.
Black gloves.
Cold smile.
He clapped once more.
"Impressive, Dominic."
"I wondered how long it would take you to uncover Phoenix."
Dominic's expression hardened.
"You."
The man inclined his head.
"It's been a long time."
Clara looked between them.
"You know him?"
Dominic answered without taking his eyes off the stranger.
"Unfortunately."
The stranger smiled wider.
"My name is Victor Ashcroft."
"And twenty years ago..."
"I helped create Project Phoenix."
He lifted the missing vial of Emma's blood between two fingers.
"Thank you for bringing the child back to us."
Then the lights went out.
May you like
A gunshot echoed through the darkness.
And someone screamed.
