Chapter 10: The First Betrayal
Chapter 10: The First Betrayal
The room fell into complete silence.
Daniel Brooks replayed William Thorne's final message.
Again.
And again.
Each time, the same sentence echoed through the secure laboratory.
"...the true key to Project Genesis is carried in the bloodline of the first child born to Marcus and Khloe."
Arthur Sterling slowly lowered himself into a chair.
For the first time in decades...
The powerful chairman looked frightened.
Not for himself.
For Khloe.
For the unborn child.
Daniel finally broke the silence.
"Was William serious?"
Arthur nodded slowly.
"William never joked about science."
"He only joked about golf."
Neither man smiled.
Across town...
The Sentinel Team's headquarters had been moved to a secure location beneath Thorne Tower.
No signs.
No windows.
No public records.
Only biometric doors separated the outside world from the underground command center.
Marcus sat beside Khloe inside the medical suite.
She had finally fallen asleep.
The baby's heartbeat echoed steadily through the portable fetal monitor.
Rachel Kane entered quietly.
"You should get some rest."
Marcus never looked away from Khloe.
"I'll sleep when this ends."
Rachel understood.
She had seen soldiers with the same expression before impossible missions.
"Daniel found something."
Marcus stood immediately.
"What?"
Rachel hesitated.
"It's about Genesis."
Five minutes later...
Marcus entered the command room.
Arthur and Daniel were waiting.
Neither looked comfortable.
Marcus noticed.
"What happened?"
Daniel looked toward Arthur.
"You should tell him."
Arthur took a deep breath.
"I knew Genesis existed."
Marcus stared.
"You what?"
"I didn't know everything."
"But I knew your father was working on a classified medical project."
Marcus's jaw tightened.
"You never mentioned it."
"It wasn't my secret to tell."
Marcus looked away.
For years...
Arthur had been like family.
Now he realized even Arthur had hidden the truth.
"Show me the video."
Daniel played William's recording.
Marcus watched in complete silence.
No emotion.
No interruption.
Until the final sentence.
"...the bloodline of the first child..."
The screen went black.
Marcus remained perfectly still.
Finally...
He whispered,
"My father knew."
Arthur nodded.
"Apparently."
Marcus slowly looked up.
"He knew our son would become a target..."
"And he never warned me."
Meanwhile...
Outside an abandoned roadside motel...
Police crime scene investigators examined dozens of bullet holes.
Detective Laura Bennett crouched beside a broken window.
No body.
No blood.
No Isabella.
Only a single spent cartridge.
Ruiz approached.
"Professional ammunition."
Laura nodded.
"They came to kill her."
"And failed."
Ruiz handed her a small plastic evidence bag.
"What about this?"
Inside...
A silver necklace.
Laura frowned.
She recognized it immediately.
Isabella had worn it at the charity gala.
The clasp had broken during the attack.
Someone had torn it off.
Laura turned the pendant over.
Hidden inside was a tiny memory chip.
Ruiz blinked.
"That's not jewelry."
"No."
Laura smiled slightly.
"It's storage."
Back at Sentinel Headquarters...
Daniel inserted the memory chip into a secure reader.
One folder appeared.
Its title was only one word.
INSURANCE
Rachel folded her arms.
"Open it."
Hundreds of files appeared.
Emails.
Bank transfers.
Audio recordings.
Photos.
Marcus looked confused.
"What is this?"
Daniel clicked the newest file.
A recorded conversation began playing.
A man's voice.
Calm.
Confident.
"Isabella..."
She answered.
"Yes?"
"You'll receive twenty million dollars after Khloe loses the baby."
Marcus's fists clenched.
The man continued.
"And another thirty million once Marcus signs the transfer documents."
Rachel froze.
"Pause."
Daniel stopped the recording.
Marcus looked toward the speaker profile.
The caller ID had been digitally altered.
Unknown.
Rachel smiled.
"Not unknown."
She enlarged the audio waveform.
"Everyone leaves fingerprints."
"Even voices."
She turned toward her cyber specialist.
"Run voice analysis."
Three minutes later...
The computer displayed a match.
98.7% Probability
Everyone stared at the screen.
Marcus slowly read the name.
"No..."
Arthur whispered,
"This isn't possible."
The voice belonged to...
Damien Thorne.
Marcus's cousin.
The man who had supposedly been in London.
Marcus slammed his fist against the table.
"I trusted him."
Arthur quietly replied,
"So did your father."
Rachel looked thoughtful.
"Maybe that's why William never told anyone about Genesis."
Marcus frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Rachel answered calmly.
"He already knew someone inside the family had turned against him."
Silence filled the room.
Then Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression immediately changed.
"What?"
Arthur stood.
"Another attack?"
Daniel slowly lowered the phone.
"No."
"Worse."
At the Thorne family cemetery...
Someone had broken into William Thorne's private mausoleum.
Marcus was already reaching for his jacket.
"What was stolen?"
Daniel swallowed.
"They don't know."
"The vault is empty."
Forty minutes later...
Marcus, Rachel, Arthur, and Laura stood inside the underground mausoleum.
Massive steel doors had been forced open.
The private family archive beneath William's tomb had been ransacked.
Old documents covered the floor.
Display cases had been smashed.
Laura examined the security system.
"No fingerprints."
Rachel walked slowly around the room.
"They knew exactly where to look."
Marcus stopped in front of his father's private safe.
The heavy door hung open.
Empty.
Inside...
Only one item remained.
A handwritten envelope.
Addressed simply to:
Marcus
His hands trembled as he opened it.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
His father's handwriting was unmistakable.
My son,
If this letter is all that remains, then I have already failed to keep Genesis hidden.
Trust no one simply because they share your blood.
The first betrayal did not come from outside our family.
It came from within.
Marcus stared at the final sentence.
Rachel quietly asked,
"What else?"
Marcus turned the page over.
There was one more line.
Only six words.
"Find Evelyn before Damien does."
Marcus frowned.
"Evelyn?"
Arthur's face lost all color.
"No..."
Laura looked at him.
"You know her?"
Arthur nodded slowly.
"Evelyn Cross."
"She was William's lead geneticist."
Marcus looked stunned.
"I've never heard that name."
Arthur whispered,
"Because everyone believed she died..."
"...eight years ago."
At that exact moment...
In a quiet mountain cabin hundreds of miles from New York...
A woman in her early fifties carefully locked the front door.
Gray streaks ran through her dark hair.
She lived alone.
No phone.
No internet.
No neighbors.
A package lay on her porch.
No return address.
She opened it cautiously.
Inside...
Was a newspaper.
The headline read:
BILLIONAIRE'S PREGNANT WIFE SURVIVES KIDNAPPING
A small handwritten note slipped from the pages.
It contained only one sentence.
"They've found Marcus. You're next."
The woman slowly closed her eyes.
After eight years of hiding...
The past had finally caught up with her.
She walked to the fireplace.
Pulled a locked metal case from beneath the floorboards.
Inside were dozens of research notebooks.
A flash drive.
And one faded photograph.
William Thorne stood smiling beside her in a laboratory.
In his arms...
He held a newborn baby.
The back of the photograph bore a handwritten note:
"Subject Zero."
Evelyn Cross whispered to herself,
"I prayed this day would never come."
Outside...
A black SUV quietly stopped at the end of the dirt road.
Three armed figures stepped out.
One of them looked toward the isolated cabin.
Then calmly loaded a suppressor onto his pistol.
The hunt for Evelyn Cross...
May you like
Had already begun.
End of Chapter 10
