Chapter 12 - Project ChrysalisI locked myself in my private study on the third floor, sliding the micro-SD card into my secure, offline terminal.
The screen flared to life, bypassing my personal firewalls with an authorization code that only high-ranking Vanguard executives—or the system’s primary creators—should have possessed.
A text document opened automatically.
“Subject 001: Sophie. Born March 4, 2022. Enhanced neural plasticity via in-utero acoustic conditioning. Designed to process ultrasonic frequencies and map subterranean structural anomalies before human sensory awareness registers them.”
My breath hitched.
Sophie wasn't just Elena’s daughter. She was a biological experiment. A human receiver engineered by Vance and Elena during the height of Vanguard's fringe neuroscience division before I shut them down. When the syndicate fractured, Elena had gone into hiding, carrying the ultimate biometric asset right into my home, waiting for the day she could use the child to crack my security from the inside out.
Except something had gone wrong with their programming.
Instead of turning into a weapon for Vance, Sophie had spent two years watching my children, listening to their heartbeats, and developing something the scientists never accounted for:
Empathy.
Knock. Knock.
The heavy mahogany door of my study clicked open. Marco stood in the doorway, his expression grim.
May you like
“Boss. We searched Elena’s quarters in the staff wing. You’re not going to like what we found in her safe.”
I stood up, closing the terminal. “Show me.”
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