Chapter 1 - The Blood Trail
The wall-sized monitor in Victor Hale’s private penthouse suite flickered, casting a sickly blue light across the marble room. Five names. Five mothers. Five living children scattered across the globe like secrets buried in shallow graves.
Evelyn held Sophie so tightly her knuckles turned white. The toddler’s breath was warm against her neck, a miraculous, living proof that the past two years of grieving a phantom child had been a manufactured lie.
“Who did this?” Victor’s voice vibrated with a dangerous, quiet fury. He stepped closer to Marcus Vale, his lead counsel, whose hands were visibly shaking against his leather briefcase. “My father died four years ago. How are automated wire transfers still executing from Hale Biomedical under Project EOS?”
“The transfers were pre-programmed through an off-shore trust in Zurich,” Marcus stuttered, pulling up a secondary file. “Set to release funds upon the recorded birth of each subject. Victor... if Julian built this network, someone is still maintaining it.”
Before Victor could answer, a crimson warning light flashed across the screen. A automated alert from Zurich blinked in jagged red text: SUBJECT 02 – SIGNAL LOST.
Marcus’s phone buzzed violently against the glass table. He swiped it open, his face draining of what little color remained. “That was local security in Switzerland. Elena Vance—the surrogate mother who carried the second child—her apartment was breached ten minutes ago. She’s gone. Her child is gone.”
May you like
Sophie suddenly stirred in Evelyn’s arms, her small fingers clutching the waitress’s stained apron. “Scared,” the little girl whimpered, speaking only her second word in two years. “Bad men coming.”
Victor pulled a concealed firearm from beneath his desk, racking the slide with a cold, metallic snap that echoed through the silent room. He looked at Evelyn, his eyes locked onto hers with absolute, unyielding resolve. “They aren’t coming for us,” Victor said softly. “We’re coming for them.”
