Chapter 5 - Dr. Voss Never Left
Voss did not attack.
That surprised Ethan.
He simply stood at the end of the corridor as though arriving late to an appointment.
Claire's hatred was immediate.
“You.”
Voss looked at her almost sadly.
“You remember me now.”
“I remember enough.”
“Memory is unreliable after sedation.”
Ethan moved between them.
“Put the syringe down.”
Voss smiled faintly.
“You have Malcolm's posture.”
“I am not Malcolm's anything.”
“No. You're much more interesting.”
Ethan wanted to hit him.
He didn't.
Not yet.
“What is in the syringe?”
“A sedative.”
“For whom?”
“Jonah.”
Claire's voice sharpened.
“You've been treating him?”
“Managing him.”
“For twenty years?”
“Twelve.”
“Who did the first eight?”
Voss looked toward the darkness.
“Malcolm.”
Claire's father had not simply sealed Jonah inside.
He kept experimenting until his death.
Afterward Voss continued.
“Why?”
“Because stopping would kill him.”
Claire stared.
Voss explained.
Nocturne altered Jonah's metabolism permanently.
His body depended on compounds that stabilized abnormal connective-tissue growth.
Without them, painful tissue breakdown occurred.
The “monster” in the wall was also a patient trapped by the treatment that created him.
“Why not take him to a hospital?”
“Because every sample of his blood would expose crimes reaching far beyond Malcolm Hart.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“So you kept him imprisoned to protect yourself.”
“Partly.”
At least Voss was not pretending.
“Who is Adam?”
Voss's expression changed.
“The only success.”
Adam received a refined vector after Jonah's adverse reactions.
Enhanced night vision.
Faster tissue repair.
Minimal deformity.
He escaped.
Malcolm spent years trying to find him.
Then Adam reappeared during Claire's procedure.
He and Jonah attempted to free her.
They nearly succeeded.
Adam disappeared again.
Years later, Voss used preserved sperm to create embryos with Claire's eggs.
“Without consent.”
“Yes.”
Claire slapped him.
Hard.
Voss absorbed it.
“I deserved that.”
“No. You deserve prison.”
“Yes.”
That answer disarmed nothing.
Ethan asked:
“Is Adam Lily's father?”
Voss looked toward Claire.
“I don't know.”
“You created the embryo.”
“I created several.”
“Which one was transferred?”
“I didn't perform the transfer.”
“Who did?”
“Malcolm.”
Claire's father.
Dead before Lily was conceived.
Impossible.
Voss clarified.
Malcolm left instructions and frozen embryos.
Someone executed the protocol after his death.
Someone with access.
Voss suspected Adam.
Why would Adam continue the project that harmed him?
Voss did not know.
Maybe he wanted a child.
Maybe he wanted to prove the treatment could be inherited safely.
Maybe someone used his identity.
Then Ethan asked the question that mattered more.
“Why did Jonah tell Lily I'm not her father?”
Voss smiled sadly.
“Because he can smell genetic markers.”
Claire stared.
“That is absurd.”
“Not literally smell DNA. Nocturne amplified his olfactory sensitivity. He recognizes biological familiarity through scent far beyond normal humans.”
Ethan thought of Lily feeding Jonah.
Jonah touching her fingers.
“He knows she's related to someone.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Adam.”
So Jonah believed Adam fathered Lily.
But that remained inference.
Not proof.
Lily needed DNA testing.
Ethan hated that his eight-year-old would be pulled into adult secrets again.
Then Voss looked at him.
“You should test yourself too.”
“Why?”
“Because Jonah reacts to you.”
“How?”
“He avoids you.”
“So?”
“He avoids Malcolm's bloodline.”
Ethan froze.
“I am adopted.”
“So you were told.”
The documents had already challenged that.
Voss continued.
Ethan was the first child born from a pre-Nocturne regenerative trial.
His biological mother was not known.
Paternal line:
Malcolm Hart.
Claire's father.
Claire stared.
“No.”
If true, Ethan and Claire shared a father.
Half-siblings.
Their marriage would be biologically incestuous.
Lily's parentage became even more urgent.
Claire looked physically sick.
Voss raised one hand.
“Don't collapse into conclusions. Malcolm falsified records constantly.”
Ethan hated him for saying something sensible.
“We need DNA.”
“Yes.”
“And Jonah?”
Voss looked into the darkness.
“We need him too.”
A sudden crash.
Jonah struck the wall from the other side.
Voss went pale.
“He heard me.”
Ethan raised the flashlight.
“Jonah!”
The filthy hand appeared.
This time holding something.
A plastic specimen bag.
Inside:
hair.
Blond.
Several long strands.
A child's hair?
No.
Adult.
Label:
ADAM.
Claire whispered:
“He kept Adam's DNA.”
Voss moved closer.
Jonah hissed from darkness.
Not animal.
A damaged human voice forced through scarred vocal cords.
“Stay… back.”
Claire began crying.
“Jonah.”
The voice came again.
“Claire.”
Twenty years vanished from her expression.
“I'm here.”
“Girl… safe?”
“Lily?”
“Girl.”
“Yes.”
A long silence.
Then:
“Not… Adam.”
Claire's breath caught.
“Lily's father isn't Adam?”
Knock.
Once.
No.
Ethan stepped forward.
“Then who is?”
The darkness shifted.
Jonah struggled.
Two words emerged.
“Same… face.”
Claire frowned.
“Same face as who?”
Jonah's breathing became ragged.
“Ethan.”
Everyone looked at him.
Ethan felt cold.
Same face.
A man who looked like Ethan.
A twin?
Clone?
Brother?
Voss whispered:
“Oh no.”
“What?”
“There was another infant.”
Ethan turned.
“What infant?”
May you like
Voss looked terrified for the first time.
“Your cohort produced twins.”
