Chapter 7 - THE SHOWDOWN AT THE LAKEThe storm raged violently over Lake Saranac. Fog rolled off the black water, wrapping around the massive timber frame of the Whitmore lake house like a suffocating shroud.
Ryan drove his SUV through the iron gates, the tires spraying gravel as he skidded to a stop in the driveway. Beside him in the passenger seat sat a steel box containing her father’s original research ledger on Project Genesis.
Maya was in the backseat, holding a heavy iron tire iron in her lap, her eyes filled with frantic, maternal fury.
“Stay in the car until I give the signal,” Ryan ordered, turning to her.
“I’m not letting her hurt our son, Ryan!” Maya said, her voice shaking with rage.
“If she sees you, she’ll panic and do something unhinged,” Ryan said, grasping her shoulder firmly. “Trust me. I am going to end this tonight.”
Ryan stepped out into the pouring rain, carrying the steel box under his arm. He walked up the wide stone steps and pushed open the heavy oak doors of the lodge.
Inside, the great room was lit only by the crackling fire in the massive stone fireplace.
Sitting in a leather wingback chair in front of the flames was Evelyn Whitmore. She was holding a silver teacup, perfectly composed, as if she were hosting an afternoon tea party.
Beside her chair stood a high-tech portable medical incubator. Inside it, sleeping quietly under a clear plastic dome, was three-year-old Oliver. Standing next to the incubator was a tall man in a tactical vest, his hand resting on a holstered sidearm.
“You’re on time, Ryan,” Evelyn said, taking a delicate sip of tea. “I always raised you to be punctual.”
“Let him go, Mother,” Ryan said, walking to the middle of the room and placing the steel box on the low coffee table. “Here is the ledger. Everything Maya’s father wrote down. The proofs of toxicity, the cover-ups, the off-the-books payments. Take it and leave us alone.”
Evelyn smiled softly, a cold, pitying smile. “Oh, Ryan. My sweet, naive boy. Did you really think this was just about a ledger?”
Evelyn stood up, her eyes glinting in the firelight. “Project Genesis wasn't just a failed drug. It was a breakthrough in genetic sequencing. Your father didn't destroy it—he refined it. And the only surviving living subject carrying the stabilized genetic sequence...”
May you like
She pointed a slender, manicured finger toward the incubator.
“...is Oliver.”
