Chapter 6 - THE CABIN
Nobody moved.
Claire stared at the baby.
“What did she say?”
Danny looked terrified.
“She doesn’t talk.”
Graham felt ice in his chest.
Rose’s eyes closed again.
“Marcus,” Graham repeated.
Claire looked at him.
“As in Marcus Vale?”
“Yes.”
“How would she know his name?”
Danny whispered, “Mom used to say it.”
“That doesn’t explain an eight-month-old saying it.”
Graham looked toward the captured intruder.
“Ask him.”
But the man was gone.
Cal rushed to the rear door.
Two security guards lay unconscious outside.
One had a broken nose.
The other had been injected with something.
Graham swore.
“How?”
Cal checked the damaged cuffs.
“He had help.”
Claire stood.
“You need to call the FBI.”
Danny immediately shook his head.
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
“Kid, armed men just broke into this house.”
“The cops got Mom killed.”
“I’m not talking about local police.”
“They all wear badges.”
Graham watched Danny.
The boy wasn’t being difficult.
He was traumatized.
There was a difference.
Graham hated that he suddenly understood.
Cal entered.
“We need to move.”
Graham nodded.
“Lake house.”
Claire laughed once.
“You think taking a sick baby to some rich-guy cabin is a medical plan?”
“It’s off the grid.”
“So is dying.”
“I’m not leaving her here.”
Claire looked at Graham’s moving foot.
Then at Rose.
“Neither am I.”
They left before dawn.
No convoy.
No staff.
One SUV.
Cal drove.
Claire sat beside Rose with a portable monitor.
Danny stayed awake the entire ride.
Maya and Eli finally fell asleep.
Graham watched trees replace buildings.
Years ago, he had bought the cabin because his wife loved quiet mornings.
After she died, he stopped going.
By sunrise they reached the lake.
The cabin looked abandoned but safe.
Cal swept the rooms.
Claire set up a makeshift medical station.
Rose slept.
Her numbers slowly stabilized.
Danny sat beside her.
Graham watched him.
“You should sleep.”
Danny didn’t look up.
“You first.”
“I’m seventy-one.”
“So?”
“I’ve had practice.”
Danny almost smiled.
Almost.
Graham rolled closer.
“Your mother. Tell me what you remember about Halcyon.”
Danny hesitated.
“She used to come home angry.”
“About what?”
“She said doctors were supposed to heal people, not own them.”
Graham’s jaw tightened.
“What else?”
“One night she burned papers in the sink.”
“What papers?”
“I don’t know.”
“She ever mention a trial?”
Danny looked at him.
“Project Eden.”
Graham stopped breathing.
Claire, standing behind him, dropped a glass.
It shattered.
Danny turned.
“You know it.”
Claire looked at Graham.
“You told me Eden was shut down.”
“It was.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
“Rose is eight months old.”
“I can count.”
Claire stepped closer.
“What was Eden?”
Graham didn’t answer.
“Dad.”
He stared at the lake.
“Regenerative medicine.”
Claire went still.
“How aggressive?”
“Very.”
“Embryonic?”
“Yes.”
“Gene editing?”
Graham said nothing.
Claire’s face changed.
“Oh my God.”
Graham looked at Danny.
“Anna was pregnant while she worked there.”
Danny nodded.
“Not with Rose.”
Graham frowned.
“What?”
Danny’s expression darkened.
“My mom had another baby before Rose.”
Silence.
“A girl.”
Maya woke on the couch.
“Danny.”
He ignored her.
Graham asked, “Where is she?”
Danny looked at the floor.
“Mom said she died at Halcyon.”
Claire whispered, “How?”
Danny’s eyes filled.
“She said they told her the baby was stillborn.”
He reached inside his shirt and pulled out a chain.
A hospital bracelet hung from it.
Tiny.
Faded.
Graham took it.
BABY REYES.
No first name.
A date from seven years earlier.
Then Claire turned the bracelet over.
On the back was a stamped code.
E-01.
Graham stared.
Project Eden.
Subject One.
Claire whispered, “Dad… what did you fund?”
Outside, a branch snapped.
Cal appeared in the doorway with a rifle.
“Everybody away from the windows.”
A red laser dot slid across the wall.
May you like
Then another.
Then six more.
