Chapter 21 - The Boy in the White Room
Daniel searched the clinic frantically.
The medical monitors remained active, displaying Ethan’s worsening condition, but there was no sign of him.
Laura held a torn piece of Ethan’s hospital gown.
“Bell said someone would cure him.”
Daniel examined the floor.
A trail of fresh blood led toward a narrow service door.
Not Ethan’s blood.
Bell’s injured leg had reopened.
Buddy lowered his head and followed the scent.
The service passage led downward through a spiral staircase. Daniel supported Laura as they descended, but halfway down she stopped.
“I should have protected him.”
“You were trying to.”
“I brought Victor into our home.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I ignored things I should have seen.”
Daniel turned to face her.
“Blame won’t bring Ethan back. Moving will.”
Laura wiped her eyes and continued.
At the bottom, they reached a white room filled with mirrors.
No doors were visible except the one behind them.
Buddy barked at his own reflection.
Then one mirror flickered.
It wasn’t glass.
It was a screen.
Ethan appeared on the other side, lying inside a transparent medical chamber. Bell stood beside him, barely able to remain upright.
Adrian Harrison entered the room.
For the first time, Daniel saw the founder in person.
He was older than he appeared on the monitors, but his posture remained straight and controlled.
Bell pointed toward Ethan.
“I brought him.”
Adrian ignored him.
“You failed repeatedly.”
“I can still help.”
“No. You can still confess.”
Two guards entered.
Bell stepped backward.
“Adrian, wait.”
They seized him.
He screamed as they dragged him away.
Adrian approached Ethan’s chamber and examined the readings.
“Remarkable.”
Daniel struck the mirror.
“Leave him alone!”
Adrian turned toward the hidden camera.
“I wondered how quickly you would find this room.”
“Open the door.”
“You still believe this is about a door.”
Daniel searched the walls.
Adrian continued.
“Ethan chose you because he sensed something familiar.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your wife died at St. Gabriel Medical Center, didn’t she?”
Daniel froze.
Laura looked at him.
He had never discussed his wife’s death with anyone at the hospital.
Adrian smiled.
“She was treated through one of our neurological programs.”
Daniel remembered the endless appointments.
The experimental medication.
The sudden complications doctors could never explain.
“You killed her.”
“No. Her body rejected the marker.”
Daniel’s fists tightened.
“She was part of this?”
“She carried the same genetic variation as Ethan.”
The revelation hit harder than any physical blow.
Adrian looked almost sympathetic.
“You came to the hospital because grief pulled you there. But perhaps biology did as well.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You’re lying.”
“Check the jar.”
Daniel reached into his coat and removed Ethan’s coins.
The glass base had cracked during the fighting.
Something thin was hidden beneath the paper lining.
He removed a small photograph.
It showed Daniel’s wife standing beside Michael Parker and Emily in the old laboratory.
A date had been written on the back.
Nine years earlier.
Below it were five words.
DANIEL MUST NEVER KNOW.
Before Daniel could speak, the white room darkened.
The chamber holding Ethan began descending through the floor.
May you like
Adrian’s voice followed from the speakers.
“Come to the core, Daniel. Your wife left something for you there.”
