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Chapter Twenty-Nine: The First Recording
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2026-08-06 00:02:52The room remained silent.
The monitor waited.
CONTINUE?
YES
NO
No timer.
No countdown.
Just two words that somehow carried the weight of twenty-four years.
Inspector Mara Voss stepped toward the screen.
"We're not touching anything."
Mr. Rowan remained perfectly calm.
"If you leave now, you'll spend the rest of your life wondering what Sebastian Vale wanted you to see."
"We're not leaving," I replied.
"Good."
"But I'm also not taking orders from you."
A faint smile crossed his face.
"I expected as much."
I walked slowly toward the monitor.
Every instinct warned me to be careful.
My father had left the key.
He had hidden the notebook.
He had guided me here.
If this recording existed...
He wanted me to see it.
Not because someone else suggested it.
Because he chose it.
Ronan quietly moved beside me.
"You don't have to decide alone."
I looked at him.
"This affects both of us."
"It affects more than that."
He glanced at the frozen image of our fathers.
"It affects everyone who has spent twenty-four years living with their choices."
He wasn't wrong.
I raised my hand.
Then stopped.
Something caught my eye.
The fingerprint scanner beneath the screen was covered with tiny scratches.
Not random scratches.
Attempts.
Dozens of them.
Someone had tried to activate this recording many times.
And failed.
I crouched for a closer look.
One scratch was fresh.
Less than a day old.
Someone had been here before us.
Very recently.
"Ronan."
He knelt beside me.
"What is it?"
I pointed.
"These aren't old."
His expression sharpened.
"They tried every finger."
Inspector Voss looked over our shoulders.
"Meaning?"
"The recording isn't unlocked by any authorized employee."
I slowly stood.
"It was waiting for one person."
Mr. Rowan gave a quiet nod.
"Correct."
"For me."
"Yes."
Marcus frowned.
"How can a twenty-four-year-old system know Adrian?"
"It couldn't."
The answer came from Dr. Dawson.
Everyone turned toward him.
"It was upgraded."
"When?" I asked.
He looked ashamed.
"I don't know."
"I thought no one had been here."
"I said I stayed."
He sighed heavily.
"I never said I was alone."
Another piece of the puzzle.
Another unknown visitor.
Another unanswered question.
I finally placed my thumb against the scanner.
A blue light swept across my fingerprint.
The room became silent.
Then—
IDENTITY CONFIRMED
The frozen image moved.
Sebastian Vale looked directly into the camera.
Not at the people in the room.
At me.
He knew exactly where I would be standing one day.
"If you're watching this..."
His voice filled the office.
"...then I've already failed to protect you."
My throat tightened.
The room disappeared.
For a moment, there was only my father's voice.
"I hoped this recording would never be necessary."
Victor Ashcroft leaned forward.
"If Adrian is seeing this..."
He looked toward my father.
"...then Ronan probably is too."
Ronan inhaled sharply.
The two men exchanged a long glance before Sebastian continued.
"There are truths you deserve to know."
He paused.
"But not all at once."
Mr. Rowan quietly folded his arms.
Almost as if he had expected those exact words.
Sebastian looked back into the camera.
"The world believes Genesis existed to change children."
He slowly shook his head.
"It didn't."
"It existed because powerful people were already changing them."
Silence.
Dr. Evelyn Mercer spoke next.
"When we began Project Genesis..."
She opened a folder.
"...children were disappearing."
Inspector Voss immediately straightened.
"What?"
On the screen, Dr. Mercer continued.
"Officially they died."
She turned another page.
"In reality..."
Another pause.
"They were purchased."
Marcus looked sick.
"Purchased?"
No one answered him.
The recording continued.
Victor Ashcroft stood and walked toward a large map mounted on the wall.
Colored pins marked dozens of cities.
"These are only the confirmed cases."
The camera zoomed in.
There weren't dozens.
There were hundreds.
My heartbeat slowed.
Hundreds of missing children.
Across the entire country.
Sebastian spoke again.
"We created Genesis because the authorities refused to investigate."
"We thought we could protect them."
Dr. Dawson lowered his head in the present.
"We were wrong."
The recording suddenly distorted.
Horizontal lines flashed across the screen.
Static filled the speakers.
Sebastian's image froze.
Then returned.
Only now...
He looked frightened.
Someone off-camera had entered the conference room.
The camera couldn't see them.
Only their shadow stretched across the floor.
My father slowly stood.
"So."
His voice was calm.
"You found us."
The shadow moved closer.
Dr. Mercer quietly reached beneath the table.
Victor Ashcroft stepped between her and the unseen visitor.
Then—
The recording stopped.
The monitor went black.
Across the screen appeared a single message.
PART ONE COMPLETE
NEXT RECORDING LOCKED
Marcus stared.
"That's it?"
"No," Mr. Rowan replied.
"That's all Sebastian wanted you to see today."
I turned toward him.
"You knew."
"I've watched it before."
Ronan's eyes narrowed.
"How many recordings are there?"
Mr. Rowan looked at the dark screen.
"Five."
"And each one tells more of the story?"
"Yes."
"Can we access the next one?"
He slowly shook his head.
"Not today."
"Why not?"
"Because your father designed the archive to prevent exactly that."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Dr. Dawson answered quietly.
"Each recording only unlocks after you solve the question left by the previous one."
I looked back at the blank screen.
"The question is..."
Ronan finished it.
"Who was buying children?"
"No."
Mr. Rowan's voice remained calm.
"That's the obvious question."
He looked directly at me.
"The real question is..."
He paused.
"...who told them where to find the children in the first place?"
The room fell silent.
Because for the first time...
Our enemy wasn't just whoever bought Project Genesis.
It was someone who had been standing close enough to every family...
To know exactly which children to take.
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