Chapter 22
Chapter 22: The Geneva Logbook
Instead of running, Daniel went on the offensive. He plugged Sarah’s blood-stained flash drive into an encrypted satellite terminal. He needed to find out exactly what the other option meant in Clara's note.
As the decryption algorithms parsed through Aethelgard's deepest archives, a hidden folder materialized: Project Lazarus-Mendoza: Counter-Measures.
Daniel clicked through the files. His jaw tightened. The microchip inside Alejandro wasn't just a tracking device. It was a dual-phase biometric regulator. It was designed to slowly release a synthetic enzyme that stabilized Alejandro’s hyper-selected genetic sequence. Without it, the child’s accelerated cellular development would collapse, causing fatal organ failure by his first birthday.
Clara hadn't left the tracker inside the baby to betray him. She had left it inside to keep him alive.
Tomás’s note from prison had been a weaponized lie—a psychological trap engineered by the syndicate to trick Daniel into killing his own son out of fear.
Suddenly, a knock echoed at the cabin's front door. Not a frantic bang, but a slow, rhythmic three-part rap. The Mendoza family signal.
May you like
Daniel drew his Glock, stepping silently toward the entryway, keeping his body low. "Who’s out there?"
"The brother you thought was rotting in a cage," a voice rasped from the shadows of the porch.
