Chapter 4 - THE CARTER PROTOCOL
Dr. Carter read the document three times.
His breathing became slower with each line.
“My father died twenty-six years ago.”
Margaret nodded.
“That is what the obituary said.”
The paper showed a classified military research authorization signed by Colonel Samuel Carter.
Project purpose: embryonic selection, inherited disease prevention, behavioral trait mapping.
Status: terminated.
But another stamp crossed the bottom.
TRANSFERRED TO PRIVATE OVERSIGHT.
Dr. Lisa looked sick.
“This is illegal reproductive experimentation.”
Bradley rolled his eyes.
“You’re all being dramatic.”
Tiffany turned on him.
“Did you use me?”
“No.”
“Did you choose the donor?”
He looked away.
Her voice cracked.
“Did you choose this baby?”
Bradley’s silence answered.
Dr. Carter moved the ultrasound probe across Tiffany’s abdomen again.
He froze on an image.
Then he checked my abdomen.
The same expression appeared.
“What?” I asked.
He placed both screens side by side.
The babies were at almost identical developmental stages.
That was not the strange part.
The fetal identification codes embedded in both charts were sequential.
CP-31.
CP-32.
Dr. Lisa whispered, “They were registered as part of the same trial.”
My knees weakened.
Bradley had not simply impregnated two women.
He had placed us inside an experiment.
The nurse helped me sit.
“What are they testing?”
Nobody answered.
Margaret stared at the floor.
I looked at her.
“You knew.”
“Not everything.”
“You knew enough to call me.”
“I knew Bradley had become obsessed with his father’s records.”
“Which father?”
She hesitated.
“Dr. Samuel Carter.”
Dr. Carter stepped back.
“You’re saying Bradley is my half-brother?”
Margaret’s mouth trembled.
“Not exactly.”
Bradley laughed.
“You still don’t see it, William?”
Dr. Carter stared at him.
Bradley’s arrogance returned for one brief second.
“You aren’t his son either.”
The words landed hard.
Margaret covered her face.
Dr. Lisa looked between them.
Bradley continued.
“Samuel Carter didn’t raise children. He designed them.”
A loud alarm sounded from the ultrasound machine.
Tiffany cried out.
Her baby’s heartbeat became irregular.
Dr. Carter immediately turned back to the monitor.
“Lisa, oxygen.”
Bradley stepped away from the bed.
Not toward Tiffany.
Away.
I watched him.
He showed no concern.
Only calculation.
The nurse placed oxygen over Tiffany’s face.
Dr. Carter studied the fetal rhythm.
Then he looked at my monitor.
The same irregular pattern appeared.
Both babies’ heart rates were dropping at exactly the same time.
Dr. Carter looked toward Bradley’s pocket.
“What did you bring into this room?”
May you like
Bradley froze.
A faint blue light blinked through the fabric of his trousers.
