Chapter 24 - The First Subject
The drive hidden inside my mother's coat contained only one file.
ONE.
I stared at the screen.
“That can't be the second archive.”
Evan shook his head.
“It is.”
“This is a medical scan.”
“No.”
He pointed to the metadata.
“Look.”
I zoomed in.
The file wasn't dated twenty-three years ago.
It was dated yesterday.
I frowned.
“How?”
Evan leaned over.
“Because the second archive isn't a storage system.”
“Then what is it?”
“A living record.”
Mercer glanced at him.
“Explain.”
Evan hesitated.
Then he said, “Every Northstar subject was monitored from birth.”
“That's not new.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“The new part is that the system was never monitoring behavior.”
“What was it monitoring?”
“Choice.”
I stared at him.
“Choice?”
“They wanted to know whether certain people would make the same decisions under pressure.”
Torres folded his arms.
“So they manufactured pressure.”
“Yes.”
My stomach turned.
“My entire life was a test.”
Evan nodded.
“Mine too.”
My mother looked at us.
“I never wanted that for either of you.”
I looked at her.
“But you knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed.”
“I tried to fight.”
“Did you?”
Her expression broke.
“Every day.”
I looked away.
The SUV turned onto a highway.
My father stared out the window.
I didn't trust him.
Not anymore.
But I still needed him.
That was the worst part.
I opened the file.
A list appeared.
SUBJECT ONE.
Then my name.
SUBJECT TWO.
Evan Sloane.
Then something I had never seen.
OBSERVER.
Gabriel Ellison.
I looked up.
“You were part of the experiment.”
My father didn't deny it.
“I was assigned as observer.”
“And you agreed.”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“You.”
I waited.
He continued.
“When you were four, they asked me to document your first disobedience.”
“What did I do?”
“You stole a key.”
I almost laughed.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You wanted to unlock your mother's bedroom.”
“Why?”
“She had locked herself inside after a Northstar operative came to the house.”
I looked at my mother.
She nodded.
“You kept asking why I was crying,” she said.
“I didn't know how to answer.”
My father continued.
“You found the key.”
“What did I do?”
“You opened the door.”
I stared at him.
“And?”
“You sat beside her.”
He looked at me.
“You didn't say anything.”
“What did that prove?”
He answered quietly.
“That your first instinct was not obedience.”
I felt my throat tighten.
“They wanted to know whether it could be trained out of me.”
“Yes.”
“Could it?”
“No.”
For the first time, his voice carried something like pride.
I looked at Evan.
“What about you?”
“They tested me differently.”
“How?”
“Fear.”
He looked at the floor.
“They wanted to know whether a child isolated from family would become easier to control.”
My chest tightened.
“You were isolated.”
“For years.”
“What did they do?”
He didn't answer.
My mother reached for him.
He moved away.
“Don't.”
She lowered her hand.
“I know.”
“You don't.”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“You're right.”
Evan stared at her.
“You should have come.”
“I tried.”
“I was twelve.”
“I know.”
“I waited.”
“I know.”
“I thought you hated me.”
She started crying.
“I never hated you.”
Evan looked out the window.
“That's what they said.”
I felt something break inside me.
Not because of him.
Because of how ordinary the pain sounded.
The kind of pain families caused without ever touching each other.
Mercer broke the silence.
“We need to stop.”
My father frowned.
“No.”
“We're being followed.”
Evan looked through the rear window.
“How many?”
“Two.”
Torres reached for his weapon.
My father said, “Keep driving.”
Mercer glanced at him.
“Into what?”
“An old fuel depot.”
The SUV left the highway.
Thirty seconds later, headlights appeared behind us.
The first vehicle accelerated.
The second stayed back.
Gunfire erupted.
Torres fired through the rear window.
The first SUV swerved.
Mercer drove straight into the abandoned depot.
A chain snapped.
The barrier lifted.
We rushed inside.
The gate slammed shut.
Silence.
Then a voice echoed from the speakers.
“Gabriel.”
Everyone froze.
Sloane.
“You always did know how to hide.”
My father looked up.
“You're not here.”
“Not yet.”
“Then stop talking.”
“I want my daughter.”
I looked at the speaker.
“You can stop calling me that.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because blood matters.”
“It didn't matter when you tried to destroy my life.”
“That was necessary.”
“Necessary for what?”
“To wake you.”
My father shouted, “Don't listen to him.”
Sloane continued.
“You think Northstar is a machine.”
“It is.”
“No.”
His voice sharpened.
“It is an inheritance.”
The depot lights came on.
A projector activated.
An old video played.
My mother was younger.
My father was younger.
And Victor Sloane stood between them.
My mother whispered, “No.”
The three of them were inside a hospital room.
I watched myself as a newborn.
The video showed my mother holding me.
Then Sloane entered.
He looked at her.
“I'll take the girl.”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
“I'll protect her.”
“You don't protect people.”
“I protect what belongs to me.”
My father stepped forward.
“She belongs to her mother.”
Sloane looked at him.
“Not according to the agreement.”
“What agreement?”
My mother began crying.
I turned toward her.
“What agreement?”
She looked at me.
“I signed something.”
“What?”
“A guardianship order.”
My father closed his eyes.
“In exchange for your life.”
I stared.
“My life?”
Sloane's voice came through the speakers.
“Your mother was dying after childbirth.”
I looked at her.
“You were told I was born healthy.”
“I was dying.”
“Why?”
“Complications.”
“And Sloane saved you?”
She nodded.
“He offered treatment.”
“And the price?”
My mother whispered, “You.”
My skin went cold.
“You sold me.”
“No.”
“You signed me away.”
“To keep me alive.”
“I was a baby.”
“I know.”
“You signed a paper giving him rights over me.”
“I never intended to honor it.”
“But you signed it.”
She sobbed.
“Yes.”
I couldn't breathe.
My father touched my shoulder.
I pulled away.
“You all made decisions about me before I could speak.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
I looked at Evan.
“What happened to you?”
Sloane answered.
“Your mother was never supposed to have a second child.”
Evan stepped forward.
“What?”
“You were an accident.”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
Sloane continued.
“She became pregnant again. Northstar considered you useful.”
Evan's face hardened.
“You took me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to see whether two children with the same genetic markers would make the same choices under different environments.”
I stared at him.
“That's why.”
Sloane's voice became softer.
“That was the beginning.”
The projector went dark.
Then one final sentence appeared.
SUBJECT ONE FAILED.
SUBJECT TWO UNRESOLVED.
I looked at Evan.
“What does that mean?”
May you like
He whispered,
“They've never decided which one of us belongs to them.”
