Chapter 13 - THE MAN BEFORE ORPHEUS
Edward Mercer had supposedly died in 1994.
Daniel remembered photographs, not memories.
A stern man.
Silver hair.
Military posture.
Samuel rarely discussed him.
Rebecca arrived under federal protection.
Noah saw his mother through the interview-room glass.
He stopped walking.
Rebecca looked older.
Her hair had silver in it.
A scar crossed her cheek.
But she was alive.
She saw Noah.
Her face collapsed.
Noah did not move.
Rebecca stood.
“Noah.”
He stared.
Three years of anger disappeared beneath one expression.
He crossed the room.
Rebecca held him.
Both cried.
Daniel looked away.
Some reunions were too private to watch.
An hour later Rebecca told them everything.
Edward Mercer designed the earliest metabolic suppression compounds during classified military research in the 1980s.
Samuel inherited fragments of the work after Edward’s death.
At least Samuel thought he did.
Edward had actually staged his death and continued research privately.
He later recruited Evelyn Shaw.
Evelyn did not take control of Orpheus.
She inherited it.
Samuel looked devastated.
“My father used me.”
Rebecca nodded.
“He used everyone.”
“Where is he?”
“Northstar owns a private medical campus in Michigan.”
Ortiz frowned.
“We searched Northstar properties.”
“Not this one.”
Rebecca wrote a name.
Alder Ridge Recovery Institute.
Daniel knew it.
Luxury neurological rehabilitation center.
Privately owned.
Evelyn had hidden the research behind legitimate medicine.
Samuel whispered.
“My father is ninety-seven.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Physically.”
Claire caught the distinction.
“What does that mean?”
“His biological aging slowed.”
Samuel stared.
“No.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Not stopped.”
“Slowed.”
Edward had spent years cycling through suppression.
Months unconscious.
Weeks awake.
Chronologically ninety-seven.
Biologically closer to seventy.
Daniel felt the room go quiet.
Noah said, “Why keep doing it?”
Rebecca answered.
“Because he thinks Orpheus can make death optional.”
Samuel laughed.
“My father was terrified of dying.”
“And now?”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Now he’s terrified someone else will own the cure.”
They prepared a federal raid.
Then Alder Ridge called them first.
A video link appeared on Ortiz’s secure laptop.
Evelyn sat beside an elderly man.
Edward Mercer.
Alive.
His voice was thin but clear.
“Samuel.”
Samuel stared.
“Father.”
Edward smiled.
“You always were sentimental.”
Daniel felt hatred immediately.
Edward looked toward him.
“My grandson.”
Daniel said nothing.
Edward continued.
“You have Margaret back because of my work.”
Samuel answered.
“She lost twenty-four years because of your work.”
“Time she would not have had otherwise.”
Evelyn placed a tablet on the table.
It showed Claire’s medical chart.
“Here is the offer.”
“The archive for the stabilization formula.”
Samuel frowned.
“I already know the formula.”
Evelyn smiled.
“Not anymore.”
She had changed the compound.
Margaret’s current medication would lose effectiveness within weeks.
Without the updated formulation, her nervous system would fail.
Daniel looked toward his mother.
Edward spoke.
“Bring the archive.”
“Come to Alder Ridge.”
“Bring Samuel.”
“No federal agents.”
Ortiz muted the connection.
“Absolutely not.”
Samuel looked at Margaret.
“I’m going.”
Daniel said, “So am I.”
Claire shook her head.
“This is what they want.”
Daniel looked at her.
“They have Mom’s life in their hands.”
Rebecca interrupted.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
She opened her bag.
Inside were three vials.
Blue label.
“I stole the new formula.”
Daniel stared.
“Then why does Evelyn think she has leverage?”
Rebecca looked toward the screen.
“Because she doesn’t know I switched the samples.”
Noah almost smiled.
Samuel did.
For the first time, Evelyn had made a mistake.
They did not need to trade.
They could attack.
But when Ortiz unmuted the connection, Edward was holding something new.
A photograph.
A little girl.
Around eight years old.
Claire stood.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You know her?”
Claire’s face went white.
“That’s Lily Shaw.”
“Evelyn’s daughter?”
Claire shook her head.
“Evelyn never had children.”
Edward smiled through the screen.
“No.”
“She didn’t.”
Claire whispered.
“Then whose daughter is she?”
May you like
Edward answered.
“Yours.”
