Chapter 36 - The Third BrotherNo one spoke.
The anonymous message remained glowing on every phone.
Start looking for the third brother.
The words seemed impossible.
For weeks, every answer had created two more questions.
Jonathan.
Adrian.
Daniel.
Elias.
Now...
A third brother.
Claire slowly lowered her phone.
"I thought the third child died in the fire."
The old man—Elias—looked toward the ocean.
"So did everyone else."
I turned to him.
"You know who he is."
Elias remained silent.
"You've known all along."
Finally, he nodded.
"Yes."
My pulse quickened.
"Then tell me."
Elias closed the Whitmore family Bible.
"The third boy wasn't supposed to survive."
A pause.
"But he escaped before the fire."
Claire frowned.
"Who helped him?"
Elias looked at me with tired eyes.
"The person who built Project HEIR."
"The Archivist?"
"No."
"The woman who paid for it."
We searched every page of the family Bible.
Most entries listed ordinary births and deaths.
Until Claire noticed something unusual.
Every tenth page had tiny pencil marks near the spine.
Almost invisible.
She carefully separated the pages.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside lay a folded blueprint.
It wasn't for a mansion.
It wasn't for a laboratory.
It was a map.
Across the top were handwritten words:
WHITMORE FOUNDATION – LEVEL B7
I frowned.
"There is no Level B7."
Elias smiled sadly.
"Officially."
Three hours later...
We stood beneath the abandoned Whitmore Foundation headquarters.
The basement elevator stopped at Level B3.
Nothing below it.
Claire pressed every button.
Nothing happened.
Then Elias stepped forward.
He placed his thumb beneath the control panel.
A hidden scanner flashed green.
The elevator continued descending.
B4.
B5.
B6.
Then...
B7.
The doors opened.
The air smelled untouched.
Dust covered the floor.
Rows of abandoned offices stretched into darkness.
Computer terminals.
Medical files.
Observation rooms.
As if everyone had left in a hurry.
Then we found a wall covered with children's photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Each picture had a number.
Subject 04.
Subject 11.
Subject 29.
Subject 46.
Then...
Three familiar faces.
Subject 01.
Jonathan.
Subject 02.
Adrian.
Subject 03.
The photograph had been removed.
Only the outline remained.
Below it someone had recently written:
TRANSFERRED
Claire whispered,
"He lived."
Before anyone could respond...
A computer monitor suddenly powered itself on.
No electricity.
No visible cables.
Just one sentence.
WELCOME HOME, SUBJECT ONE.
I stared.
The screen changed.
Another sentence appeared.
May you like
SUBJECT THREE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR YOU.
Then every light in the underground facility came on simultaneously.
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