Chapter 6 - DONOR 17
Dr. Nora Ellis ordered an immediate genetic comparison.
My father begged me not to listen to Tyler.
I could barely look at him.
“Explain it.”
He stood near the window, his shoulders bent.
“When Vance began Project Eve, they created cell lines from every successful subject.”
“You were a subject?”
“Yes.”
He had carried the same mutation as my mother.
The treatment worked on him years before I was born.
His stored cells became Donor 17.
Vance used them illegally to fertilize my egg because they wanted a child carrying two corrected genetic lines.
Biologically, the baby’s genetic father was not exactly my father.
The cells had been altered, cloned, and stripped of identifying markers.
But the origin was his.
I covered my mouth.
“This is sick.”
“I never consented.”
“You still created the program.”
“I tried to destroy it.”
“And Mom?”
“She helped me disappear.”
“Then why did she work with Tyler?”
My father’s face tightened.
“She didn’t.”
Marcus placed my mother’s last call on the table.
“The trace came from Vance’s private hospital wing.”
My father looked toward the hallway.
“They’re keeping her underground.”
Tyler began laughing from outside the room.
An officer shoved him against the wall.
Marcus stepped out.
“What is funny?”
Tyler stared through the doorway at me.
“They don’t need Emily anymore.”
The fetal monitor alarmed.
My daughter’s heartbeat dropped sharply.
Nora rushed to the bed.
“Turn her on her side.”
Pain tore through my abdomen.
Warm liquid spread beneath me.
“My water.”
Nora’s face changed.
“There’s blood.”
My father moved closer.
She stopped him.
“Stay back.”
Tyler watched from the hall with sudden concentration.
Too calm.
Marcus grabbed his shirt.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“You injected her.”
Tyler smiled.
“The baby was programmed to trigger labor under stress.”
Nora looked at me.
“We need an emergency delivery.”
“No.”
“If we wait, both of you could die.”
I gripped her hand.
“They’ll take her.”
Marcus drew his weapon and looked at the officers.
“Lock the entire floor.”
My father stepped closer.
“There is another way.”
Nora glared at him.
“You are not treating her.”
“The baby’s condition was designed. I know how to stop it.”
He removed a small metal vial from inside his coat.
May you like
The label read EVE REVERSAL AGENT.
Before anyone could reach him, the lights went out.
