Chapter 6 - THE DOCTOR WHO WATCHED MY SON GROW
Dr. Samuel Crane disappeared before they could reach him.
His clinic was closed.
Home empty.
Phone abandoned.
Adrian blamed himself.
Emily recognized the pattern because she did it too.
People with power believed every failure should have been preventable.
“Stop,” she said.
Adrian looked at her.
“What?”
“You’re doing that thing.”
“What thing?”
“Turning someone else’s crime into proof you weren’t vigilant enough.”
He almost smiled.
“You met me three days ago.”
“I recognize professional arrogance.”
“From personal experience?”
“Extensive.”
That was the first time they laughed together.
It lasted two seconds.
Then Evan’s medical records arrived.
Emily forgot how to breathe.
Crane had ordered genetic panels nearly every year.
Far beyond routine pediatric care.
Adrian had approved them because Crane claimed Evan’s unknown maternal history required extra caution.
“He knew exactly who the mother was,” Emily whispered.
“And he was tracking development.”
Height.
Cognition.
Motor coordination.
Immune markers.
Even standardized school performance appeared in private notes.
Evan had been an experiment continuing in real time.
Emily wanted Crane found.
Not hurt.
Found.
Exposed.
Put in a courtroom where every page would be read aloud.
Her anger surprised Adrian.
“You don’t want revenge?”
“I want records.”
“That sounds terrifyingly like you.”
“You barely know me.”
“I’m learning.”
The encrypted files on Julian’s drive began opening under Meridian’s cybersecurity team.
One folder was labeled GENERATION TWO.
Emily stared.
“No.”
Inside were profiles.
Evan’s name.
Three other children.
All between ages five and eight.
Each apparently conceived through unauthorized combinations of stored genetic material.
The scope was larger than Evan.
“This wasn’t about the Kane family,” Emily said.
Adrian nodded grimly.
“Dominic funded something Simon expanded.”
There were donor codes.
Embryo numbers.
Placement records.
Some incomplete.
One file indicated a child in Boston.
Another in Dallas.
A third location unknown.
Emily sat back.
“We have to tell the authorities.”
“Yes.”
Immediately.
No private handling.
No family cleanup.
Adrian agreed without hesitation.
That mattered.
Federal investigators became involved through attorneys that afternoon.
Helix’s old malpractice files were reopened.
Medical licensing boards were contacted.
Victim identification began under strict privacy protocols.
Then one of Emily’s engineers called her.
Not about Helix.
About Meridian.
“We found an intrusion.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Data taken?”
“One archive.”
“What archive?”
Her engineer hesitated.
“Your personal health records.”
Emily went cold.
“What exactly?”
“Genetic testing from our executive health program.”
Someone had breached Meridian after Emily reunited with Evan.
Simon had not disappeared to hide.
He was still collecting data.
Then Adrian’s phone rang.
Evan’s school.
He answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What do you mean he isn’t there?”
Emily stood.
Adrian listened.
Then his voice became terrifyingly calm.
“Lock the campus.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?” Emily asked.
“Evan’s security car arrived for pickup.”
“And?”
“He never reached it.”
Emily’s blood froze.
The school cameras showed Evan leaving his classroom.
Walking down a side corridor.
Following a man in a physician’s coat.
The man turned toward the camera once.
Dr. Simon Cross.
May you like
Evan had willingly followed the doctor he knew as Dr. Crane.
And around his neck, the silver moon was still visible.
