{"id":11192,"date":"2026-09-15T16:09:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T16:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=11192"},"modified":"2026-09-15T16:09:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T16:09:44","slug":"part-17-daniels-missing-sister-was-the-first-child-saved-with-claires-stolen-cells-and-she-had-been-hiding-from-creston-for-twelve-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=11192","title":{"rendered":"PART 17 \u2013 Daniel\u2019s Missing Sister Was the First Child Saved With Claire\u2019s Stolen Cells\u2014and She Had Been Hiding From Creston for Twelve Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas did not look at Daniel when he said it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer name is Rebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stood at the far end of the hospital corridor as though the name had struck him physically.<\/p>\n<p>Emma looked between the adults.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have a sister?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel did not answer.<\/p>\n<p>I turned to Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStart at the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas rubbed one hand across his mouth. For once, he seemed less like the man who had spent decades anticipating questions and more like an old man who had finally reached the secret he could not organize into a useful explanation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRebecca was born eighteen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat part we know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe wasn\u2019t Robert\u2019s child.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel finally moved.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour mother remarried after you left Creston. Rebecca was her daughter with her second husband.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel\u2019s face changed at the mention of his mother. He had always told me she died when he was young.<\/p>\n<p>Another lie, though perhaps not his.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was alive?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil Rebecca was born.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel leaned against the wall.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas continued.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca was premature. Her liver was failing. Her kidneys followed. Doctors expected her to live hours, perhaps days.<\/p>\n<p>Robert Vale learned about the baby.<\/p>\n<p>Of course he did.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe offered treatment,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith my cells,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow did he have them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the material collected after your crash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I had known that already.<\/p>\n<p>Hearing it connected to an actual infant changed the violation.<\/p>\n<p>Something stolen from my unconscious body had been carried across state lines and put into a dying newborn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid it save her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen what happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe response was unlike anything Robert expected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca did not merely recover.<\/p>\n<p>Her failing organs repaired themselves rapidly enough that physicians initially thought the tests had been mislabeled.<\/p>\n<p>Within weeks, the newborn who had been expected to die was feeding normally.<\/p>\n<p>Within months, nearly every measure of organ function had entered ordinary ranges.<\/p>\n<p>Emma listened from the conference-room doorway.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo she was like me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot exactly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike Mom?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCloser.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause the treatment came directly from my cells.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s biology had not inherited the adaptive trait. Creston had introduced a limited version through treatment during infancy.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike Emma\u2019s forced activation, Rebecca\u2019s response stabilized naturally.<\/p>\n<p>That made her important.<\/p>\n<p>Vale wanted her monitored indefinitely.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas wanted her hidden.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho raised her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stared at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou raised my sister and never told me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was trying to keep her away from Robert.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou could have told me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were already connected to Claire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was exactly why I needed to know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas lowered his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel laughed once, bitterly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou taught me secrets were protection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas accepted the accusation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then you\u2019re surprised I became good at them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No one answered.<\/p>\n<p>I understood Daniel a little better in that moment.<\/p>\n<p>Not enough to forgive him.<\/p>\n<p>Enough to see where some of the damage had been planted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened twelve years ago?\u201d Morales asked.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas explained that Rebecca discovered the truth at six.<\/p>\n<p>Not all of it.<\/p>\n<p>Enough.<\/p>\n<p>She learned that doctors were collecting blood without telling her why. She overheard Vale discussing her as a surviving treatment model.<\/p>\n<p>Then someone tried to take her from school.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas moved her.<\/p>\n<p>Changed her name.<\/p>\n<p>Created records suggesting she had left the country.<\/p>\n<p>After that, even he maintained only indirect contact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou let an eighteen-year-old disappear when she was six?\u201d Sarah asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. She lived with people I trusted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>Eve answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everyone turned.<\/p>\n<p>Eve stood near the window.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou raised Rebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor six years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stared at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you said nothing to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t trust you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The sentence was brutal because it required no elaboration.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel looked away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is she now?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Eve folded her arms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou lost contact?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRebecca ended it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause she wanted a life where no one knew what her blood could do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I understood immediately.<\/p>\n<p>No surveillance.<\/p>\n<p>No secret guardians.<\/p>\n<p>No adults measuring her worth through Creston.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was twelve,\u201d Sarah said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was also very good at disappearing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat isn\u2019t normal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eve\u2019s voice softened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing about her childhood was normal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca had eventually contacted Eve twice through anonymous channels.<\/p>\n<p>The last message came three years ago.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m safe. Stop looking.<\/p>\n<p>Eve obeyed.<\/p>\n<p>I asked whether Rebecca knew about me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmma?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eve hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProbably.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That answer made my skin tighten.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe followed Creston too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom where?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morales opened the Oregon records.<\/p>\n<p>The hospital had retained old identifiers.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s treatment file contained a photograph from infancy, then another from age six.<\/p>\n<p>Dark hair.<\/p>\n<p>Gray-green eyes.<\/p>\n<p>A narrow face that resembled Daniel more than me.<\/p>\n<p>Emma moved closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe looks like Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel touched the screen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother named her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRebecca Elise Vale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel closed his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>He had lost a sister without knowing he had one.<\/p>\n<p>Emma studied the picture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo she\u2019s my aunt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Biologically, yes.<\/p>\n<p>Creston made every family sentence require qualification.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe is,\u201d Daniel said.<\/p>\n<p>The certainty in his answer surprised me.<\/p>\n<p>No codes.<\/p>\n<p>No caveats.<\/p>\n<p>His sister.<\/p>\n<p>Emma\u2019s aunt.<\/p>\n<p>Then Morales\u2019s analyst called.<\/p>\n<p>A recent match had appeared.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s childhood fingerprints were in federal records because of an old passport application.<\/p>\n<p>A partial print from Margaret\u2019s safe house matched.<\/p>\n<p>I turned toward Eve.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eve looked genuinely surprised.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe night we found the archive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The warm coffee.<\/p>\n<p>The second mug.<\/p>\n<p>Someone had been waiting with Eve.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou didn\u2019t know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morales checked the recovered prints.<\/p>\n<p>Another partial appeared on the wooden bird puzzle.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca had handled it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe led us to Mom\u2019s archive,\u201d Sarah whispered.<\/p>\n<p>Not Eve alone.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca.<\/p>\n<p>A girl saved with stolen material from my body had spent years helping expose the system that created her strange connection to us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy not stay?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Eve answered quietly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause staying means being known.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I understood that too.<\/p>\n<p>Then Daniel\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators had returned it temporarily under monitored conditions because several Creston contacts recognized only his number.<\/p>\n<p>Unknown caller.<\/p>\n<p>Morales authorized him to answer on speaker.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel said hello.<\/p>\n<p>A young woman answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou found Oregon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stopped breathing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>Emma covered her mouth.<\/p>\n<p>The woman finally said, \u201cThomas told you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel sat down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would have looked for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His eyes filled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor not knowing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca was silent for several seconds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat one isn\u2019t yours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel lowered his head.<\/p>\n<p>It might have been the kindest thing anyone had said to him all week.<\/p>\n<p>I moved closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRebecca?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, Claire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hearing my name from her felt strange.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were at the safe house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo make sure Eve wasn\u2019t walking into a trap.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy leave?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Vale\u2019s people were still watching federal communications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRobert is in custody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe doesn\u2019t need to be free.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morales leaned toward the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRebecca, we can protect you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The young woman laughed softly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve heard that sentence since I was six.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morales did not push.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy call now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Mark took the wrong coolers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Phoenix material wasn\u2019t the complete sequence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel leaned forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was missing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRegulatory memory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eve\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know what I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eve sat.<\/p>\n<p>I did not.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is regulatory memory?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel answered slowly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBiological response data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca corrected him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot data. Living cells conditioned through repeated adaptation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emma.<\/p>\n<p>Samples taken after specific stresses.<\/p>\n<p>Infection.<\/p>\n<p>Surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Inflammation.<\/p>\n<p>Creston had been building a library of how her body learned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone removed it before the Phoenix raid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVale?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAdrian?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMercer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That left too many people.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe buyer didn\u2019t steal Emma\u2019s adaptation. Someone gave it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stared at the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho had access?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His face hardened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen who?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour credentials were cloned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morales asked whether Rebecca could prove it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sent the logs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A file arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel opened it.<\/p>\n<p>Access entries appeared from the night of Emma\u2019s appendectomy.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel\u2019s credentials.<\/p>\n<p>But another field showed biometric authentication.<\/p>\n<p>Fingerprint.<\/p>\n<p>Not Daniel\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas leaned closer.<\/p>\n<p>Then froze.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know that identifier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked at Eve.<\/p>\n<p>Eve already understood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I demanded an answer.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMargaret\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother\u2019s biometric identity had been used three months ago.<\/p>\n<p>Impossible.<\/p>\n<p>She had been dead for decades.<\/p>\n<p>Unless someone had recreated it.<\/p>\n<p>Creston had her tissue.<\/p>\n<p>Her fingerprints could have been reconstructed from old records.<\/p>\n<p>But Rebecca rejected that explanation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe authentication included live vascular response.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel looked at her data.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother\u2019s identity had been authenticated as a living person.<\/p>\n<p>Sarah went pale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat can\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s voice came through the speaker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s one more thing Thomas never told you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas whispered, \u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I turned on him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo more secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour mother\u2019s body was never cremated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sarah stared at Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>We had always been told she was.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was an urn.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas looked sick.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ashes weren\u2019t hers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt the room tilt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to her body?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVale took it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sarah stepped backward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas\u2019s eyes filled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause when Margaret reached the hospital after the poisoning, she wasn\u2019t dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe had no measurable cortical activity. Her organs were failing. The doctors declared the situation irreversible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRobert transferred her before legal death was certified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My hands went numb.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas could barely speak.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe maintained her body.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor how long?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwenty-nine years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emma whispered, \u201cGreat-Grandma?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re saying my mother is alive?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s answer came carefully.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m saying her body may still be biologically alive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That distinction was horrifying.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo consciousness?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNone documented.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen who used her fingerprint?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca paused.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s why I called.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause three months ago, Margaret\u2019s neurological monitors changed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My heart began pounding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey recorded activity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCreston thought so too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind of activity?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOrganized.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sarah grabbed the edge of the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you saying she woke up?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s voice lowered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut somebody accessed Emma\u2019s activation trial using Margaret\u2019s living biometric signature within six hours of the change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stared at the logs.<\/p>\n<p>A location appeared.<\/p>\n<p>Not Phoenix.<\/p>\n<p>Not the safe house.<\/p>\n<p>Not any site we had raided.<\/p>\n<p>A long-term biomedical storage facility registered under a hospice research foundation.<\/p>\n<p>Morales was already calling federal teams.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca interrupted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t send them yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Creston has a destruction protocol there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImplants?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLife support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The room went silent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the facility detects unauthorized entry, Margaret\u2019s support system terminates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sarah started crying.<\/p>\n<p>I could not.<\/p>\n<p>Not yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you want us to do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing until I disable it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A pause.<\/p>\n<p>Then the first location she had willingly given anyone in twelve years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAcross the street from the facility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m coming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca said nothing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m your brother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not asking you for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another silence.<\/p>\n<p>Then she said, \u201cBring Claire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause if Margaret really is responding, there\u2019s one voice she may still recognize.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I knew before she said it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd Sarah?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBring her too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sarah wiped her face.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas moved toward us.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s voice hardened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He stopped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve helped enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The call ended.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas stood alone beside the table.<\/p>\n<p>For once, nobody comforted him.<\/p>\n<p>An hour later Sarah and I were in another federal vehicle with Daniel and Morales.<\/p>\n<p>Emma remained with Eve, Maya, Lily, Ethan, Sophie, and Dr. Patel.<\/p>\n<p>Before I left, Emma hugged me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs she alive?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you want her to be?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I could not answer.<\/p>\n<p>Emma understood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Children had become better at uncertainty than the adults around them.<\/p>\n<p>The storage facility appeared beyond the windshield shortly after sunset.<\/p>\n<p>A low white building behind landscaped hedges.<\/p>\n<p>Across the street stood a young woman in a dark jacket.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel saw her.<\/p>\n<p>His hand moved toward the door.<\/p>\n<p>Then stopped.<\/p>\n<p>He waited.<\/p>\n<p>She crossed the street herself.<\/p>\n<p>When Daniel stepped out, they stared at each other.<\/p>\n<p>Brother and sister.<\/p>\n<p>Strangers.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca looked at me next.<\/p>\n<p>Then Sarah.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou both have her eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sarah\u2019s mouth trembled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is she?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca turned toward the building.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBelow us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan we get in?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan we get her out?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat depends on what you mean by her.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=11193\">Click here to continue reading: PART 18: Margaret\u2019s Body Had Been Kept Alive for Decades, but the Message Hidden in Her Neural Activity Was Not What Claire Expected<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas did not look at Daniel when he said it. \u201cHer name is Rebecca.\u201d Daniel stood at the far end of the hospital corridor as though the name had struck &hellip; 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