Chapter 75 Hiding in plain sight
Rafael
We sat in the forest for a long time. Staring at the crater where Kask's facility used to be.
Flora was still crying.
"She has them all," Flora whispered. "Lucia has all twenty-three embryos. Everything we fought for."
"I know," I said. I didn't know what else to say.
"We saved them from Kask," Flora continued. "Just to lose them to another version of me. How is that fair?"
"It's not," I said.
"So what do we do?" Flora asked. She turned to look at me. Her eyes were red and swollen. "We just let her disappear with them?"
"We don't have a choice," I said. "We don't know where she went. She could be anywhere by now."
"Then we find her," Flora said. She stood up. Wiped her eyes. "We track her down."
"Flora," I said gently. "We're exhausted. We have no resources. How are we supposed to find someone who's been trained to disappear?"
"I don't know," Flora admitted. "But we have to try."
I stood up too. Took her hands. "Listen to me. Lucia saved those children. She got them out before the facility exploded. They're alive because of her."
"She also kidnapped them," Flora said.
"Did she?" I asked. "Or did she rescue them? Think about it, Flora. If she'd left them in the facility, they'd be dead right now. She saved them."
"By stealing them," Flora said.
"Maybe," I said. "Or maybe she really does want to raise them properly. Away from Kask. Away from Project Genesis."
Flora pulled her hands away. "You want me to just accept this?"
"I want you to consider that maybe this is the best outcome," I said. "Those children will have a mother who understands what they are."
"She's not their mother," Flora said. "She's another experiment. Just like me."
"She's also the person who blew up Kask's facility," I reminded her. "She chose us over him. That has to count for something."
Flora looked at me for a long moment. "You really think we should just walk away?"
"I think we should go back to Jakarta," I said. "Contact Catherine and Marco. Make sure they're safe. Figure out our next move. And then decide if we're going to chase Lucia or not."
Flora didn't respond. She just started walking.
I followed her.
It took us two hours to reach civilization. A small village on the outskirts of the mountains. We called Catherine from a payphone and told her what happened.
"Kask is dead?" Catherine asked. "You're sure?"
"The entire facility collapsed," I said. "There's no way he survived."
Catherine was quiet for a moment. "Come back to Jakarta. We'll figure out what to do next."
She sent a car for us. We arrived back at the safe house three hours later.
Marco was there. He looked relieved to see us. "We thought you were dead."
"Almost," Flora said. "But we got lucky."
"Lucky," Marco repeated. "You call this lucky?"
"We're alive," I said. "That's lucky enough."
Catherine was on her laptop. Pulling up files. "I've been trying to track Lucia," she said. "But she's very good. No credit card usage. No phone pings. No digital footprint at all."
"She's been trained for this," Flora said. "Kask raised her to be invisible when she needed to be."
"So we can't find her," Marco said. "Great. What's plan B?"
"We go home," I said. "Back to the States. Rebuild our lives and move on."
Flora stared at me. "Move on? Are you serious?"
"What else can we do?" I asked. "We've been running for months. At some point, we have to accept that maybe this is over."
"It's not over," Flora said. "Not while those children are out there."
"Those children are safe," I said. "With someone who will protect them. That's all we ever wanted."
"We wanted them to have normal lives," Flora said. "Not be raised by another genetic experiment in hiding."
"Maybe that's the closest thing to normal they'll ever get," I said.
Flora's phone buzzed. She pulled it out and looked at the screen. Her face went pale.
"What is it?" I asked.
She showed me the phone. A text message from an unknown number.
"Meet me. Tonight. At Jakarta harbor. Come alone. I'll explain everything."
"It's Lucia," Flora breathed.
"It's a trap," Marco said immediately.
"Maybe," Catherine agreed. "Or maybe she really does want to talk."
"Why would she want to talk?" I asked.
"I don't know," Flora said. "But I'm going to find out."
"Absolutely not," I said. "We just escaped from one trap. We're not walking into another."
"This is different," Flora said. "Lucia saved us. She's not the enemy."
"Then what is she?" Marco asked.
"I don't know," Flora admitted. "But I need to find out."
"I'm coming with you," I said.
"The message says come alone," Flora pointed out.
"I don't care," I said. "You're not going to meet her by yourself."
"Rafael is right," Catherine said. "It's too dangerous."
"Fine," Flora said. "Rafael can come. But we go armed. And we have backup nearby. Just in case."
Catherine nodded. "I'll have Marco positioned a hundred yards away with a sniper rifle. Any sign of trouble, he takes the shot."
"You'd shoot Lucia?" Flora asked.
"To save you?" Catherine said. "In a heartbeat."
That night, we drove to Jakarta harbor. It was a massive port. Shipping containers everywhere. And a very few people walking around.
"This is a terrible place to meet," Marco said through our earpieces. "Too many hiding spots. Too many angles."
"Stay sharp," I said.
Flora and I walked through the containers. Following the coordinates Lucia had sent.
We reached a clearing near the water. A single shipping container sat in the center. The door was open.
"She's inside," Flora whispered.
We approached carefully. Guns drawn.
I went in first. Flora followed.
Inside, the container had been converted into a small living space. A cot, a table and supplies.
And sitting at the table was Lucia.
She looked tired and scared. Nothing like the confident woman from the van.
"You came," Lucia said.
"You asked us to," Flora said. "So here we are. Where are the children?"
"Safe," Lucia said. "Far from here. I'm not telling you where."
"Then why did you want to meet?" I asked.
Lucia stood up. "Because I need your help. Because I made a mistake. The Benefactor found me."
"The Benefactor?" Flora asked.
"The person I mentioned," Lucia said. "The puppet master behind Project Genesis. They've been waiting And now they want the children."
"Who are they?" I demanded.
Lucia pulled out a folder and set it on the table. "I'll show you. But first, you need to understand something. Everything we thought we knew about Project Genesis is wrong. Kask wasn't the mastermind. He was just a tool. The real architect has been hiding in plain sight for thirty years."
"Who?" Flora asked.
Lucia opened the folder and pulled out a photo.
I looked at it. My blood ran cold.
Because the person in the photo was someone we knew. Someone we trusted.
Someone who'd been helping us all along.