Chapter 3 - THE GIRL THEY WERE HUNTING
Daniel refused to speak.
Adrian gave him ten minutes.
Nothing.
Twenty.
Still nothing.
Finally, Adrian placed the photograph on the table.
“You've been watching Lily.”
Daniel stared.
“Yes.”
“Who hired you?”
Silence.
“Who?”
“I can't.”
“You can.”
“They'll kill my wife.”
Adrian's expression softened slightly.
“Who are they?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Blackwell.”
Adrian froze.
The Blackwell organization had disappeared fifteen years ago.
A violent syndicate that had controlled pharmaceutical smuggling throughout the Northeast.
Its leader had supposedly died in a warehouse fire.
Victor Blackwell.
Dead.
Or so everyone believed.
“Victor.”
Daniel nodded.
Adrian looked at Marcus.
“Find out who is still alive.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You can't stop them.”
“I stopped better men.”
“They're not coming for you.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Then who?”
“Lily.”
“Why?”
“Because she survived.”
“Survived what?”
Daniel looked down.
“The trials.”
Adrian's blood ran cold.
“How many children?”
“Twenty-seven.”
“And Lily?”
“The only one left.”
Silence.
Adrian thought about the medical report.
The bruises.
The hunger.
The fear.
“They experimented on children?”
Daniel nodded.
“Why?”
“To develop a treatment.”
“What treatment?”
“A disease-resistant biological therapy.”
Adrian looked toward the door.
Lily.
A little girl carrying the result of an experiment she never asked for.
He felt anger unlike anything he had experienced in years.
“Where are the others?”
“Dead.”
“Who ran it?”
Daniel whispered,
“Dr. Marcus Vale.”
Adrian recognized the name.
Marcus Vale.
A famous medical researcher.
Missing for fourteen years.
He had been presumed dead.
Another ghost.
Adrian returned to Emma.
She was sitting beside Lily.
He told her everything.
“My mother knew.”
“Yes.”
“She tried to protect Lily.”
“Yes.”
“Why did she trust your grandmother?”
“Because Grace helped develop the research.”
Adrian's stomach turned.
“My grandmother was involved?”
“Yes.”
“But she stopped.”
Emma nodded.
“She realized what they were doing.”
“Then why didn't she expose them?”
“Because they threatened everyone.”
Adrian sat beside her.
“Where is the research?”
Emma shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“Do you know who does?”
She whispered,
“My mother.”
“Your mother is unconscious.”
“She won't stay that way.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“She has a memory.”
“What memory?”
“Where the final formula is.”
Adrian's phone rang.
Nathan.
“Adrian.”
“What?”
“Emma's condition is worse.”
Adrian stood.
“How bad?”
“Her organs are stressed.”
“Can you stabilize her?”
“For now.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Do it.”
He returned to the room.
Emma was awake.
Weak.
She looked at him.
“Please.”
“What?”
“Don't let them take Lily.”
“I won't.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
“Even if it means losing everything?”
Adrian looked at Lily.
Then at Emma.
“I've already lost enough.”
That night, security found a tunnel beneath the property.
Someone had been entering the estate for months.
The tunnel led to an abandoned warehouse.
Inside were files.
Dozens.
Each one had a child's name.
Most were crossed out.
Lily's file was marked ACTIVE.
Emma's file was marked PROTECTIVE.
Adrian opened the final folder.
His own name was inside.
He stared.
“What am I?”
Marcus looked.
“Your father was involved.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
He turned the page.
A photograph.
Adrian at age twelve.
Standing beside Grace.
And beside them, Lily's mother.
Sarah.
The date was twenty-seven years earlier.
Adrian remembered that day.
His father had taken him to the laboratory.
He had forgotten.
But now he remembered.
His father had told him one thing.
“Never tell anyone about this place.”
Adrian had obeyed.
For twenty-seven years.
Without knowing why.
He sat down.
“My father knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“Because he was protecting you.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Then the lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Men stormed the warehouse.
Adrian pulled Emma behind cover.
Marcus returned fire.
Lily screamed.
Adrian reached her.
“Stay with me.”
A man's voice echoed through the darkness.
“Bring me the girl.”
Adrian's expression became deadly.
He recognized the voice.
Dr. Marcus Vale.
Alive.
Adrian whispered,
“We're going to end this.”
But Vale laughed.
“You don't understand, Adrian.”
“What?”
“Your father started this.”
“And you finished it.”
“No.”
Vale's voice softened.
“Your father failed.”
Then the lights returned.
Vale was gone.
May you like
But the wall behind him contained a message.
Lily isn't the only survivor.
