Chapter 3 - THE FIRST MOTHER
Claire did not deny knowing Emily Carter.
She gave her statement from a separate room while surgeons prepared to remove the capsule from my abdomen.
Two years earlier, Emily arrived at Saint Matthew’s with unexplained bleeding. Aaron diagnosed severe placental disease and ordered emergency treatment.
Claire noticed bruises and unusual toxins.
She asked questions.
Aaron threatened her license and claimed Emily’s husband had already consented.
Emily died during surgery.
Her baby survived for six hours.
The records disappeared.
Claire stayed silent.
She told herself she lacked proof.
Then Aaron transferred her to Dr. Reed’s clinic, where she quietly began copying audit logs and watching for another patient with the same signs.
Me.
“Why didn’t you warn me sooner?” I asked.
“I didn’t know you were his wife until the appointment was booked under your maiden name.”
Another hidden record.
Aaron had registered me as Anna Collins, not Anna Mitchell.
He wanted Dr. Reed to evaluate me without realizing the family connection until it was too late.
Claire recognized him only when my phone began ringing.
Her silence after Emily had cost a life.
Her action today may have saved two.
Both truths existed.
The surgeon removed the capsule.
Inside was a microreservoir capable of releasing tiny doses of medication through my abdominal tissue. It had been implanted during Aaron’s “placental procedure.”
The reservoir was nearly empty.
Six measured releases had already occurred.
The seventh remained.
Laboratory testing identified a combination of anticoagulant, sedative, and synthetic hormone. The mixture could create bleeding, fetal distress, confusion, and memory gaps.
It could also mimic severe pregnancy complications.
Aaron had been manufacturing my illness.
Why?
Dr. Reed believed the answer lay in the ultrasound image she turned off.
The fetus showed an unusual vascular marker around the liver.
Not a disease.
A genetic trait.
She had seen it only once before.
In Emily Carter’s baby.
The program was not testing whether pregnancies survived poison.
It was selecting fetuses who carried the marker.
Detective Hayes searched Aaron’s office.
Behind a false cabinet, officers found ultrasound images from twelve pregnant women.
Each marked with a code.
RESPONDER.
NONRESPONDER.
TRANSFER.
My file read:
ANNA M.—RESPONDER 7—MATERNAL RESISTANCE HIGH.
FETUS VIABLE.
READY FOR COLLECTION.
Collection.
Not delivery.
Not treatment.
Collection.
Then federal agents found a freezer containing cord-blood samples, placental tissue, and infant genetic profiles.
Aaron had been conducting illegal research with Sylvia and Dr. Vale.
The funding source was Mitchell Regenerative Foundation.
Chairwoman: Sylvia Mitchell.
Medical director: Aaron.
Research consultant: Samuel Vale.
Hospital partner: Saint Matthew’s.
Emily Carter had not been a random victim.
She was the first successful responder.
Her baby’s genetic material had produced a treatment worth hundreds of millions.
The child’s six-hour death may have been falsified.
No burial record existed.
Then the anonymous sender contacted me again.
EMILY’S SON IS ALIVE.
A second message:
AARON CALLS HIM SUBJECT ONE.
A photograph showed a two-year-old boy standing inside a white medical room.
Around his neck hung a silver identification tag shaped like Sylvia’s cup.
May you like
The final message read:
YOUR BABY IS SUBJECT TWO.
