CHAPTER 6 — THE DNA REPORT WAS A LIE
Margaret stared at the DNA report in disbelief.
The old man smiled with absolute confidence.
"You raised my grandson."
"He was never yours."
Silence filled the clearing.
Even the armed men waited for Margaret to break.
Instead...
She slowly looked at Samuel.
Samuel wasn't looking at the DNA report.
He was looking at the old man's signature.
Then...
He laughed.
Quietly at first.
Then louder.
The old man's smile disappeared.
"What's so funny?"
Samuel reached into his coat and removed a pair of reading glasses.
"You've copied Richard's signature perfectly..."
"But you forgot one thing."
He held up the report.
"The date."
Everyone frowned.
Samuel pointed to the bottom corner.
"This laboratory didn't even exist on the date printed here."
The clearing fell silent.
Margaret grabbed the report.
He was right.
The DNA certificate had supposedly been issued in 1989.
But the laboratory wasn't founded until 1998.
It was a forgery.
Vanessa's confident smile faded.
The old man's eyes narrowed.
Samuel continued.
"You've spent thirty-five years manipulating people..."
"But tonight..."
"You got careless."
The old man's expression turned cold.
"Kill them."
Gunfire erupted.
Bullets shattered the cabin windows as Margaret and Samuel dove behind a stone wall.
Glass exploded everywhere.
The USB drive slipped from Margaret's hand and disappeared beneath the floorboards.
Vanessa screamed,
"Find the drive!"
"It's worth more than every company in America!"
Armed men rushed inside the cabin, tearing furniture apart.
But they couldn't find it.
Because Samuel already knew where it had gone.
Hidden beneath the cabin was a narrow escape tunnel Richard had secretly built decades earlier.
"Come with me!" Samuel shouted.
He pulled open a rusted steel hatch hidden beneath an old rug.
Margaret climbed inside just as bullets ripped through the cabin above.
The tunnel stretched nearly half a mile beneath the forest.
Dark.
Cold.
Silent.
Halfway through...
Margaret noticed dozens of dusty metal boxes lining the walls.
Each box carried a name.
Politicians.
Judges.
Billionaires.
Military generals.
Every person Richard had secretly investigated over forty years.
Then she reached the final box.
Unlike the others...
It had no dust.
Someone had opened it recently.
Margaret slowly lifted the lid.
Inside was a single photograph.
It showed Richard standing beside Samuel...
And another man.
The same mysterious old man leading the Ashford Organization.
The three men were smiling.
Like brothers.
Margaret's voice trembled.
"You knew each other..."
Samuel closed his eyes.
"Not just knew."
"We built the organization together."
Margaret froze.
"What?"
Samuel looked at her with tears forming in his eyes.
"I wasn't protecting you from Ashford..."
"I was one of its founders."
Before Margaret could speak...
A slow clap echoed through the tunnel.
Someone else was already inside.
A flashlight illuminated the darkness.
Standing at the end of the passage...
Covered in dust but smiling calmly...
Was Ethan.
He raised the missing USB drive in one hand.
"You were all chasing the wrong secret."
Then he clicked the USB into a portable computer.
One file automatically opened.
The screen displayed only six chilling words.
PROJECT EVE — SUBJECT STILL ALIVE.
Margaret's heart stopped.
May you like
Because the name listed as Subject EVE...
Was her own.
