Chapter 12 - The Wrong Enemy Again
Benjamin Reeves denied everything.
Then disappeared.
His home empty.
Phone off.
Company counsel claimed medical leave.
Too convenient.
Federal investigators finally entered formally.
Daniel handed over copies.
Not originals.
Mara insisted.
Good.
The drive remained sealed pending legal handling.
Vanessa was questioned separately.
So was Caroline.
Then authorities found Benjamin.
Dead?
No.
Hiding in a clinic owned by Aurora remnants.
He surrendered.
And immediately ruined everyone’s theory.
“I wasn’t trying to open Michael’s archive.”
Then who stole Sophie’s blood?
Benjamin claimed Caroline did.
Caroline denied it.
He produced proof.
Storage footage.
A woman resembling Caroline.
But Daniel already knew appearances could deceive.
Helen.
Margaret.
Caroline.
The Haley-Carter women shared disturbing resemblance across branches.
Then Benjamin said:
“Sophie isn’t valuable because she survives toxins.”
“What?”
“That was Michael’s misunderstanding.”
Another misdirection.
Sable’s old research had been scientifically weak.
The “resistance” effect was inconsistent.
Commercially almost useless.
Then why track the H-line?
Because the marker acted as a genealogical identifier.
Not a superpower.
It connected descendants to specific Sable subjects.
Meaning Sophie’s DNA proved lineage.
Lineage to whom?
Benjamin refused initially.
Then federal counsel pressed.
One of the Sable participants had given birth during the program.
The birth was hidden.
The child was adopted under false records.
Who?
Subject H-17.
Helen Haley.
Vanessa’s great-aunt.
Helen had a child.
That child entered the Carter family.
Daniel froze.
Caroline?
Benjamin shook his head.
“Michael.”
Silence.
Michael Carter was not biologically a Carter?
Not entirely.
His birth mother Evelyn?
Yes.
Father Henry?
No.
According to Benjamin, Henry and Evelyn adopted Michael privately after Helen gave birth during treatment.
Then later had Daniel biologically.
That would make Michael connected to Vanessa’s maternal line.
Distant relation.
Not enough to explain Sophie.
Then Benjamin added:
“Michael discovered it.”
That changed his obsession.
He was not researching random subjects.
He was researching his own biological family.
He found Vanessa as a descendant of Helen’s twin Margaret.
Genetically related.
Then he manipulated her into Daniel’s orbit.
Why?
Not to create a “perfect child.”
To create a child linking two branches:
Michael’s hidden maternal line.
Daniel’s Carter line.
Vanessa’s Haley line.
Sophie became proof tying the secret adoption, Sable subjects, and Carter Biomed cover-up together.
A living genetic map.
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
“That’s why Michael came to see her.”
Yes.
But still not the final secret.
Because genetic proof could expose old fraud.
Serious.
Not horrifying enough to explain Caroline’s terror.
Then investigators decrypted one small non-sensitive index from the archive.
Not content.
A list of file titles.
One:
H-22 INCIDENT.
Date:
Sophie’s birthday.
Another:
TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION.
Another:
DECEASED INFANT.
Daniel stopped breathing.
May you like
“What infant?”
Nobody answered.
