Chapter 19 - The Person Sitting Beside Me
Ethan's chair was empty.
For one second, my mind refused to understand.
Then I ran.
“Ethan!”
Dad entered the diner through the side door.
“What happened?”
“He's gone.”
Dad looked around.
“Who?”
“Ethan.”
His expression changed.
Daniel was already searching the parking lot.
I called Ethan.
Straight to voicemail.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message.
You trusted the wrong man again.
Attached was a video.
I pressed play.
Ethan sat in a dark room.
His hands were tied.
A man stood behind him.
Not Edward Carter.
Not Voss.
A third voice.
“Tell her.”
Ethan looked directly into the camera.
“Camila…”
His lip was bleeding.
“I need you to know I didn't choose this.”
The man struck him.
I screamed.
“Stop!”
The video continued.
The voice behind him said:
“Ask him about C-14.”
Ethan looked terrified.
Not confused.
Terrified.
Then he whispered:
“I knew.”
The video ended.
I stared at the screen.
Dad took the phone.
“What did he say?”
“I knew.”
Dad went still.
Eli stood.
“They have him.”
“Who?”
“C-14.”
I stared at him.
“You said C-14 was inside my family.”
“He is.”
“Who?”
Eli looked at me.
“Ethan.”
The word destroyed something inside me.
“No.”
Eli shook his head.
“Not genetically.”
“Then what?”
“He was selected.”
“For what?”
“To complete the experiment.”
Dad grabbed Eli.
“What do you know?”
Eli didn't resist.
“I know they studied him for years.”
“Who?”
“Diane.”
Dad released him.
I looked at my father.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Ethan have access to the Carter system?”
Dad's face changed.
I remembered something.
Ethan's office.
The missing financial files.
The times he'd said he didn't know.
The times he had somehow appeared exactly where the danger was.
And the photograph.
He had been watching the street.
“I told you he was on your right,” I whispered.
Dad looked at me.
“What?”
“The first message.”
My phone.
Do not trust the man sitting on your right.
Ethan had been there.
Not because the sender guessed.
Because someone was watching him.
Dad took a breath.
“We have to find him.”
A voice came from behind us.
“You won't.”
We turned.
Richard Vale stood in the diner doorway.
Alive.
Older.
Exhausted.
He lowered his weapon.
“I've been trying to stop Carter for twelve years.”
Dad raised his.
“Don't move.”
Richard laughed.
“Still the same.”
Dad's jaw tightened.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I let everyone believe that.”
“You signed the transfer.”
“Yes.”
“You took Camila.”
“No.”
Dad froze.
Richard looked at me.
“Her mother did.”
“You said my father delivered me.”
“He delivered the other children.”
“Where was I?”
“Already gone.”
I stepped forward.
“With who?”
Richard looked at me.
“C-14.”
My heart stopped.
“Who is C-14?”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Your mother's first child.”
I couldn't breathe.
“My mother had another child?”
“Yes.”
“Before me?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Richard looked at my phone.
“Your brother isn't C-14.”
Eli stepped forward.
“Then who is?”
Richard whispered:
“Diane.”
Silence.
I laughed because the alternative was screaming.
“Diane?”
“Yes.”
“She is not a child.”
“Not now.”
My face went cold.
Richard continued.
“Project Carter began with adults.”
Diane was one of the original participants.
She was trained to manipulate family structures.
To create pressure.
To engineer betrayal.
Then she had Ethan.
She was raising him as part of the experiment.
I looked toward the road.
“What about Noah?”
Richard's face hardened.
“That's why they took him.”
“Why?”
“Because Noah has the same inherited marker as Camila.”
“So?”
“So he qualifies for the final stage.”
“What final stage?”
Richard looked at Dad.
“Phase Two.”
Dad's eyes widened.
“Carter isn't predicting behavior anymore.”
“No.”
“What is it doing?”
Richard looked at me.
“It's selecting it.”
I didn't understand.
“They want to know whether human attachment can be turned into a weapon.”
I felt sick.
“Where is Ethan?”
Richard's answer was quiet.
“Where Diane always wanted him.”
“Where?”
“Back at the house.”
“My house?”
“Your home.”
Dad swore.
“They took Noah there.”
Richard nodded.
“And they want you to follow.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Phase Two requires the entire family.”
He handed me a key.
A small metal key.
The same symbol.
The same shape as the one Robert had given me.
“The first door.”
Then he placed another key in my palm.
“The second.”
I stared.
“What's behind it?”
Richard looked at my father.
“Your memory.”
Dad's face drained of color.
“And if I open it?”
Richard stepped back.
“You'll remember why you agreed to save Camila.”
He turned toward the door.
I called after him.
“Richard!”
He stopped.
“Why are you helping me?”
He looked over his shoulder.
“Because I failed your mother.”
Then he added:
“And because C-14 is about to kill someone.”
The diner fell silent.
Dad grabbed my shoulders.
“Camila.”
I looked at him.
“We are not going to the house.”
I shook my head.
“Yes, we are.”
“No.”
“They have my son.”
“I know.”
“They have Ethan.”
“I know.”
“They have answers.”
Dad stared at me.
I tightened my grip on the keys.
“Then we're going.”
His eyes filled with fear.
I had seen that look only once before.
When he found me after I'd disappeared.
“Dad?”
He whispered:
“If we go there, they won't just be waiting for you.”
“Who will they be waiting for?”
He looked at the key.
“Me.”
Outside the diner, every streetlight went dark.
Then my phone rang.
Ethan's number.
I answered.
Silence.
Then a woman's voice.
Diane.
“Bring your father.”
I closed my eyes.
“Where's my son?”
She laughed softly.
“Right where you left him.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, Camila, that you still don't understand what your family has done.”
The line went dead.
Then another message arrived.
A live photograph of my house.
Noah's crib.
Ethan standing beside it.
Diane behind him.
And beside Diane stood someone I had never expected to see.
May you like
My mother.
Alive.
