Chapter 10 - THE CONTRACT BENEATH THE HOSPITALThe original contract was not at the Cross Institute.
It was in the hospital.
Hidden inside an old archive.
Dr. Vell found it after searching for three hours.
The document was marked:
PROJECT LANTERN.
James read the first page.
Then the second.
Then stopped.
“What is this?”
Dr. Vell took the papers.
The project had been funded by several private foundations.
One of them was the Hayes Children's Medical Fund.
James stared.
His foundation had not merely denied Lily treatment.
It had funded Project Lantern.
A research program designed to study memory transfer in children.
James felt sick.
“How much?”
Dr. Vell looked at the financial records.
“Millions.”
Anna looked at James.
“You funded this.”
James could not answer.
The contract listed several participants.
Case 31.
Lily Moore.
Case 47.
Oliver Hayes.
Case 12.
Unknown.
Case 13.
Unknown.
James stared.
“Where are Cases 12 and 13?”
Dr. Vell shook his head.
“No records.”
Eli stood behind them.
He looked at the document.
Then suddenly whispered:
“Case 12 was a girl.”
Everyone turned.
“How do you know?”
“She cried.”
“What?”
Eli touched his head.
“I remember her.”
“What was her name?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you see her?”
Eli shook his head.
“But I heard her.”
Dr. Vell looked at the list.
“Case 13?”
Eli closed his eyes.
“A boy.”
“Did he survive?”
Silence.
Then Eli said:
“He was taken away.”
James looked at the documents.
The project had not ended with Lily.
There were other children.
Other families.
Other forgotten cases.
And one of them might still be alive.
At the bottom of the contract was a signature.
Adrian Cross.
Below it was another.
A name James recognized.
His own father.
James stared.
“My father.”
Dr. Vell looked at him.
“What?”
James's father had died ten years earlier.
He had created the company James inherited.
He had also been the original donor to the Hayes Children's Medical Fund.
James suddenly remembered something.
His father had once told him:
“Some problems are too expensive to solve.”
James had thought he meant business.
Now he wondered.
The contract was dated twenty years earlier.
Before James had taken over the foundation.
Before Oliver was born.
Before Lily died.
His father had been involved.
And if that was true—
then the Hayes family had been connected to Project Lantern from the beginning.
James looked at the final page.
There was one handwritten note.
THE HAYES BLOODLINE IS THE KEY.
James stared.
Then looked at Oliver.
And suddenly understood why Adrian Cross had chosen his family.
But before he could speak—
the hospital lights went out.
May you like
A message appeared on every monitor.
BRING ME THE BOY.
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