Chapter 6 - The Man With Ethan's Face
Ethan had an identical twin.
At least genetically.
The original birth file had been split.
Infant A.
Infant B.
One placed with the Reese family.
One retained by Project Nocturne.
Ethan was Infant A.
Infant B disappeared from records at three months.
Voss had believed the second baby died.
Jonah knew otherwise.
Claire stared.
“If Ethan has an identical twin…”
“Then a DNA paternity test could confuse them without extended analysis,” Voss said.
The possibility struck all of them simultaneously.
Lily could be biologically fathered by Ethan's twin.
A man Claire did not remember meeting.
“How?”
Claire whispered.
Voss looked at her.
“Embryo transfer.”
The paternal sample used might belong to the twin.
Claire never had to meet him.
The implications were disturbing enough.
Then Lily screamed upstairs.
Ethan ran.
Nothing in the corridor mattered more.
He reached the bedroom in seconds.
Security officers were on the floor.
Conscious.
Dazed.
Lily was gone.
The wardrobe stood open.
A single red smear crossed the glossy floor.
Not blood.
Lipstick.
Claire's.
Lily had drawn an arrow.
Toward the wardrobe.
Ethan entered the corridor.
“LILY!”
A distant answer:
“Daddy!”
Alive.
He followed.
The tunnels branched.
Knocks guided him.
Jonah.
Three.
Two.
Three.
Listen.
Then a new pattern.
Fast left wall.
Slow right wall.
Directions.
Ethan followed.
He reached a hidden stairwell ending beneath the mansion garage.
A black van door stood open.
Lily sat inside.
Not restrained.
Beside her—
a man.
Around forty.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Muscular.
Ethan stopped.
It was like seeing himself in a mirror with different scars.
Same jaw.
Same eyes.
Same bone structure.
The man smiled.
“Hello, brother.”
Lily looked between them.
“Whoa.”
Even frightened, she noticed.
Ethan raised his fists.
“Get away from her.”
The man lifted both hands.
“If I wanted to hurt her, you'd still be upstairs.”
“Who are you?”
“Daniel.”
Voss arrived behind Ethan and whispered:
“Infant B.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“You.”
Voss froze.
Daniel's hatred was immediate.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Unfortunately.”
Daniel looked back at Ethan.
“I didn't kidnap Lily.”
“She's in your van.”
“She followed me.”
Lily nodded.
“I did.”
Ethan closed his eyes briefly.
Of course.
“Why?”
“He said he knew the person in the wall.”
Daniel had entered through the garage tunnel to find Jonah.
Security intercepted him.
He disabled them.
Lily saw.
Followed.
Ethan wanted to be angry.
Fear won.
He pulled Lily out of the van and held her.
Then Daniel whispered:
“She isn't my daughter.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You know?”
“I tested her years ago.”
Claire arrived.
“What?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I've been watching Malcolm's program since before Lily was born.”
Claire's anger erupted.
“You tested my child?”
“I stole a hair sample.”
“That does not make it acceptable.”
“No.”
Everyone in this story seemed finally capable of admitting wrongdoing.
Daniel explained.
He survived because Malcolm raised him inside a private facility.
At fourteen he escaped.
Adam helped him.
Adam became his mentor.
Later Daniel learned an embryo had been created using Claire's eggs.
He suspected his genetic material had been used.
Testing Lily showed no paternity.
Extended analysis also ruled out Ethan.
Ethan felt something break.
Although he had expected it, confirmation hurt.
Lily wrapped both arms around his waist.
“You're still Daddy.”
He held her tighter.
Claire asked:
“Then who?”
Daniel looked toward Voss.
“You know.”
Voss shook his head.
“No.”
“Stop.”
“I don't.”
Daniel pulled a file from the van.
Original embryo ledger.
The paternal contributor was coded:
N-0.
Nocturne Zero.
The first viable source.
Claire frowned.
“Jonah?”
“No.”
“Adam?”
“No.”
Voss became pale.
“Nocturne Zero died before the project began.”
Daniel stared at him.
“That is what Malcolm told you.”
“Who was he?”
Daniel looked toward the mansion.
“Malcolm's first subject.”
“Name?”
Daniel answered:
“Ethan Hart.”
Ethan stared.
“That is my name.”
“No.”
Daniel's voice softened.
“The first Ethan Hart.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Her father Malcolm had once had an older brother named Ethan.
The family told Claire he died as a child.
He didn't.
He became Subject Zero.
And his preserved genetic material had been used to create Lily.
Lily looked up.
“So my real dad is an old dead guy?”
Nobody knew how to answer.
Daniel did.
“No.”
May you like
He crouched.
“He may be alive.”
