Chapter 66: The Laboratory of Shadows
Chapter 66: The Laboratory of Shadows
The lower hold of the cargo ship wasn't filled with grain or electronics. It was a massive, sterile medical wing, identical to the private clinic in Zurich, but larger. Rows of glass incubators sat humming in the dark, all empty, waiting for the harvest.
In the center of the room stood a single, illuminated terminal.
Sarah walked toward it, her boots clicking against the steel floorboards. The screen didn't show financial data. It showed a map of her own genetic structure, branching out into a timeline that went back fifty years.
Beside her own name was another branch: Leo Vance Jr.
Sarah froze. She looked closer at the dates. Leo wasn't just her husband. His genetic markers had been selected by The Consortium before they were even born. Their entire romance, their chance meeting at that diner near the Ohio border—it had been mapped out by a computer program twenty-five years ago.
"We were chosen, Sarah," a voice said from the dark entrance of the medical wing.
Leo walked into the room, his clothes dripping wet, his face pale from the river water. He held a silver scalpel in his hand, his eyes wide with a cold, fanatic light.
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"My father didn't choose you out of spite for Eleanor," Leo said, stepping closer. "He chose you because your father’s corporate empire was built on the research they stole from the Soviet bio-labs in the nineties. Hope isn't just a child, Sarah. She is the cure for the genetic degradation that’s killing me. That’s killing your father. That’s killing Eleanor."
He raised the scalpel. "The simulation is over. The sample must be harvested tonight."
