Chapter 15 - Original Subject
I didn't speak for several minutes.
The SUV moved through the darkness while Washington disappeared behind us.
Rain streaked the windows.
My mother's handwriting.
My father's confession.
The Secretary's threat.
And now a medical record with my name on it.
Original Subject.
"What does that mean?"
Hale stared through the windshield.
"It means someone documented you before you were old enough to consent."
"For what?"
"Genetic access."
Victor looked at him sharply.
"That program wasn't supposed to exist."
"It didn't officially."
"Then who authorized it?"
Hale said nothing.
I looked from one man to the other.
"You both keep talking like I'm not in the car."
Hale finally turned.
"Meridian discovered that Eleanor carried a rare hereditary marker."
I frowned.
"What marker?"
"A neurological adaptation."
"That sounds made up."
"It wasn't."
Victor spoke quietly.
"Your mother was unusually resistant to certain types of chemical conditioning."
I stared at him.
"Chemical conditioning?"
Hale nodded.
"Meridian used behavioral manipulation experiments on selected personnel."
"Experiments?"
"Yes."
My stomach turned.
"And Mom?"
"She was exposed."
"Survived."
"Yes."
"And I inherited it?"
"We don't know."
Victor looked at me.
"But they thought you might."
I looked back at the record.
"Original Subject."
Hale nodded.
"The file suggests you were the first child they monitored."
"The first?"
"There were others."
My blood went cold.
"What happened to them?"
"Some were transferred."
"And the rest?"
Hale looked away.
I understood.
I whispered, "This wasn't an intelligence program."
"No."
"It was a human experimentation program."
"Partly."
"Partly?"
Hale closed his eyes.
"That is what Eleanor discovered."
I felt sick.
"She didn't run because of money."
"No."
"She ran because of me."
Victor nodded.
"Yes."
I looked at him.
"And you helped them track me."
"I didn't know."
"You signed documents."
"I didn't know they were yours."
"You've said that before."
"I swear."
"How am I supposed to believe you?"
"You don't have to."
That answer surprised me.
Victor continued.
"You can hate me. You can accuse me. You can turn me over to federal prosecutors. But I will spend the rest of my life giving you every document I have."
"Even if it destroys you?"
"Especially if it destroys me."
Silence settled over the SUV.
Then the rear window shattered.
Blake shoved me down.
A bullet struck the seat.
Hale yelled, "Contact!"
Vehicles appeared behind us.
Black SUVs.
No markings.
The driver accelerated.
"Who are they?" I shouted.
"Meridian security."
"They followed us."
"No."
Hale looked at his phone.
"They intercepted the route."
"How?"
He looked at me.
"Someone in federal command gave them our location."
I stared at him.
"There's a leak."
"Yes."
Blake fired through the rear window.
The pursuing SUV swerved.
Another one appeared beside us.
Victor pulled me lower.
"Stay down."
A second burst of gunfire.
The driver lost control.
The SUV slammed into a concrete barrier.
Everything spun.
I hit the door.
Blackness.
When I opened my eyes, I heard rain.
Blake was bleeding from his forehead.
Hale was trying to free the driver.
Victor was beside me.
"Maya."
"I'm okay."
"Can you move?"
"Yes."
A figure appeared through the smoke.
Hale raised his weapon.
The person stepped into the headlights.
Adrian.
He was holding a small black drive.
"We don't have much time."
I stared.
"You caused this?"
He shook his head.
"No."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because I know who did."
Hale aimed at him.
"Drop the drive."
Adrian ignored him.
He looked at me.
"The original subject isn't you."
I froze.
"What?"
He stepped closer.
"You were the control."
My heart stopped.
"The first subject was your mother."
He held out the drive.
"You're what they built around her."
I took it.
Adrian lowered his voice.
"Eleanor discovered Meridian was tracking her pregnancy before you were born."
I looked at Victor.
He was crying.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"That's why you denied me."
"Yes."
Adrian continued.
"They didn't want to kill Eleanor."
"What did they want?"
"To see whether her resistance could be passed to a child."
He looked at me.
"You're the result."
The rain pounded harder.
I looked down at the drive.
"What is on it?"
"Proof."
"Of what?"
"That your entire childhood was monitored."
I felt my hands tremble.
"And the person who authorized it?"
Adrian smiled bitterly.
"You already know his name."
The Secretary.
Then Adrian leaned closer.
"There's one problem."
"What?"
"The Secretary isn't the highest authority in Meridian."
"Who is?"
He looked toward Hale.
Hale's face went rigid.
Adrian said:
"The person above him has been protecting your mother for twenty-six years."
I looked at Hale.
May you like
He whispered:
"Me."
