Chapter 11 - The Man Who Stole Amelia
His name was Raymond Pike.
Former Chicago detective.
Officially dead for twenty-six years.
Nobody was surprised anymore.
Pike had worked for Vincent.
He abducted Amelia from a recovery facility and transported her between private clinics.
He helped erase Laura, Marcus’s lover.
He forged medical transfers.
He made people disappear on paper.
Now he was standing twenty feet from Chloe.
David moved despite his fresh stitches.
“You take one more step—”
Pike smiled.
“You always sounded like Vincent.”
That insult landed.
Then real security arrived behind him.
Pike fled through the stairwell.
They caught two of his men.
Not him.
But his appearance solved the traitor question.
Dr. Cole’s phone had been cloned.
Vincent deliberately framed him.
Why?
To fracture us.
Almost worked.
Then Marcus asked Amelia:
“Where did Pike take you?”
She hesitated.
“Different places.”
“Who helped you escape?”
Amelia looked at Margaret.
Everyone turned.
Margaret whispered:
“Laura.”
Marcus stopped breathing.
Laura.
Amelia’s mother.
Supposedly disappeared thirty-two years ago.
Alive then.
Maybe now.
“Where is she?”
Amelia didn't know.
Laura infiltrated the medical network.
Helped Amelia escape.
Then vanished.
Another woman swallowed by the Carter machine.
Marcus sat.
He looked exhausted.
“I spent my whole life believing everyone I loved died.”
Margaret whispered:
“That was Vincent’s greatest weapon.”
If people are dead, you stop searching.
If people left, you blame yourself.
Either way, power stays protected.
Then Elena found something on Pike’s abandoned phone.
A live location.
The warehouse facility.
And a camera feed.
Vincent.
Sitting alone.
Waiting.
Beside him stood a young woman.
Thirty-ish.
Dark hair.
Elena stared.
“Who is she?”
Amelia's face changed.
“My other daughter.”
Elena turned.
“What?”
Amelia had twins.
Elena and Rebecca.
But after birth, Vincent took Rebecca.
Amelia believed she died.
Apparently not.
Vincent raised her inside the program.
The woman on-screen wore a white medical coat.
Rebecca Winters.
A scientist.
Elena’s twin sister.
Another stolen child.
Then Rebecca looked directly into the camera.
As though she knew we were watching.
She said:
“Elena, don’t come here.”
The audio was clear.
“Mom, if you’re alive, I’m sorry.”
Amelia covered her mouth.
Then Rebecca continued:
“Vincent thinks Chloe can stabilize his treatment.”
My stomach dropped.
“He’s deteriorating.”
So Lazarus hadn't cured him.
Only delayed death.
Chloe wasn't a future research subject.
She was his desperation.
Rebecca looked toward someone off-camera.
“He’s planning the procedure tonight.”
David stared.
Then Rebecca leaned closer.
“But Chloe isn’t the match he needs.”
Vincent suddenly appeared behind her.
Rebecca stopped speaking.
He smiled into the camera.
“David.”
My skin crawled.
“You always were difficult.”
David said nothing.
Vincent continued:
“Bring Chloe.”
“No.”
“Then Rebecca dies.”
Elena screamed:
“No!”
Vincent ignored her.
“And after Rebecca, Amelia.”
“No.”
“Then Marcus.”
His own family.
Just pieces.
David looked at Chloe.
She was crying.
Then whispered:
“Dad?”
He turned.
First time she had called him that.
He nearly broke.
She said:
“Don’t give me to him.”
David knelt despite the pain.
“Never.”
Then his phone rang.
Unknown caller.
A woman's voice.
Older.
Soft.
“David Carter?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Laura Mason.”
Marcus stood so fast his chair fell.
Laura.
Alive.
She said:
“I can get you inside Vincent’s facility.”
Pause.
May you like
“But first, you need to know why Chloe has that blood.”
And suddenly even Amelia looked afraid.
