CHAPTER 5 — The Secret Hidden in Ethan's Blood
CHAPTER 5 — The Secret Hidden in Ethan's Blood
The words echoed through the garage.
"Bring the woman and the baby back alive!"
Not me.
Not Charles.
Ethan.
Every instinct inside me screamed the same question.
Why my son?
Charles reacted before I could.
"Marcus!"
Two smoke grenades rolled across the concrete.
Within seconds, thick gray smoke swallowed the garage.
Marcus grabbed my arm.
"Move!"
Gunfire erupted again.
Charles stayed behind, firing controlled shots to keep the attackers pinned while Marcus led Ethan and me through a narrow maintenance tunnel beneath the building.
The tunnel smelled of rust and damp concrete.
Behind us, the explosions became distant echoes.
Ahead, darkness stretched for what felt like miles.
Finally, Marcus stopped beside a reinforced steel door.
He entered a twelve-digit code.
The door unlocked with a heavy click.
Behind it waited something I never expected.
A hidden laboratory.
It looked older than the headquarters.
Dust covered unused workstations.
Equipment sat beneath white sheets.
Only one room remained powered.
Marcus looked at me.
"This was Mrs. Walker's lab."
Evelyn's.
The murdered wife.
Charles had preserved it exactly as she'd left it.
Coffee mug.
Notebook.
Family photo.
Even a tiny knitted elephant sitting beside a microscope.
My eyes landed on a whiteboard filled with formulas.
In one corner, written in red marker, were four words.
TRUST NO BOARD MEMBER.
Marcus noticed.
"She wrote that the day before she died."
A chill ran down my spine.
A secure drawer opened using Marcus's fingerprint.
Inside lay dozens of encrypted drives.
He selected one labeled simply:
PROJECT AURORA
The monitor flickered to life.
A recorded video appeared.
Evelyn Walker.
She looked exhausted.
"If you're watching this..."
She smiled sadly.
"...then I wasn't paranoid enough."
The recording continued.
"There is no accounting fraud."
I frowned.
What?
"The missing money is real..."
"...but it is funding unauthorized human trials."
Marcus looked at me.
He had never seen this recording before.
Evelyn continued.
"The board believes they're building the future of medicine."
Her expression darkened.
"They're actually building biological weapons disguised as genetic therapy."
My breath caught.
"This project can identify inherited immune traits through infant blood samples."
She looked directly into the camera.
"If someone controls this technology..."
"...they can decide who lives through the next pandemic."
The room became silent.
This wasn't corporate theft.
It was something far bigger.
The video ended.
Another file opened automatically.
A list of children.
Thousands of names.
Birth dates.
Hospitals.
Genetic profiles.
My stomach dropped.
Near the top of the screen...
ETHAN CARTER.
No.
No.
No.
I clicked the file.
Collection Date:
Two days after Ethan was born.
I whispered,
"I never agreed to this."
Marcus's face turned pale.
"They stole his DNA."
Another document appeared.
Rare Immune Variant Confirmed.
Probability:
1 in 47 million.
My knees nearly gave out.
Ethan wasn't random.
Someone had been tracking him since birth.
The steel door suddenly burst open.
Charles staggered inside.
Blood covered the sleeve of his suit.
Marcus rushed forward.
"Sir!"
"It's not mine."
Charles slammed the door shut.
"We've got five minutes."
He looked at the monitor.
"You found Aurora."
I nodded.
"They're after Ethan because of this?"
Charles didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked at my sleeping son.
Then he quietly admitted,
"I knew he was on the list."
The room froze.
I stared at him.
"You... knew?"
"I didn't know he was your child."
My voice cracked.
"You've been watching him?"
"I've been trying to protect every child on that database."
"You should've told me!"
"I couldn't."
His voice rose for the first time.
"Because I didn't know who inside my company was leaking information."
Tears filled my eyes.
"So you let me believe all of this was an accident?"
"No."
He stepped closer.
"I prayed it was."
Before either of us could speak again...
Every monitor in the laboratory switched on.
One by one.
Every screen displayed the same symbol.
A black phoenix.
Then a distorted voice filled the room.
"Good evening, Charles."
His face hardened.
"I wondered when you'd finally show yourself."
The voice laughed.
"You've always been predictable."
A live camera feed appeared.
The image showed Biotech Solutions headquarters.
Police cars surrounded the building.
News helicopters circled overhead.
Then the camera zoomed in.
Federal agents were escorting executives out in handcuffs.
Reporters shouted questions.
Another headline flashed across every screen.
CHARLES WALKER NAMED PRIME SUSPECT IN MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR FRAUD.
I looked at him in horror.
"They're framing you."
May you like
Charles nodded slowly.
"They've been preparing this for years."
