Chapter 7 - The Prototype Files
The words on the computer monitor glowed with a harsh, merciless light. Detective Vance holstered his sidearm, marching over to the desk and leaning down to inspect the terminal. He tapped a few keys, trying to trace the IP address or kill the process, but the screen locked instantly, displaying a spinning loading wheel framed in blood red.
"Encrypted source," Vance muttered, glancing sideways at Elena. "Care to explain why a computer terminal in your private study is receiving automated death threats from an unknown bio-engineering firm, Mrs. Miller?"
Elena clutched the baby tighter, feeling the walls of her carefully constructed life crumbling into dust. "I told you, my family worked for a private firm called Genesis Bio-Tech. They weren't just researchers. They were pioneers in cellular regeneration and somatic cloning. I was their primary subject."
Marcus recoiled as if he had been physically struck. "Cloning? Elena, are you insane? You're telling me you're a clone?"
"No!" Elena snapped, tears of frustration springing to her eyes. "I'm the original! That's why the imposter wanted me. She isn't a ghost, Vance. She's a secondary generation copy grown from my tissue samples when the lab was raided fifteen years ago. They didn't destroy all the specimens like the government report claimed."
Vance rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking between the married couple as if trying to calculate the odds of them both losing their minds simultaneously. "Let me get this straight. You're telling me a rogue biotech conspiracy sent a genetically engineered assassin who looks exactly like you to break into your house, drop your baby, and leave threatening messages on your desktop?"
"Sounds absurd when you say it out loud, doesn't it?" a cool, feminine voice echoed from the hallway doorway.
All three of them spun around. Standing in the threshold, leaning casually against the doorframe, was a woman dressed in a grey trench coat over dark tactical gear. She held a suppressed pistol pointed lazily at the floor, her dark hair pulled back into a neat military bun. She looked entirely calm amidst the chaos, as if she strolled into crime scenes every day before breakfast.
Marcus immediately stepped in front of Elena and the baby, raising his hands defensively. "Who the hell are you? Get out of my house!"
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"Agent Miller, FBI Special Projects Division," the woman replied smoothly, flashing a leather badge case for a fraction of a second. She stepped into the room, stepping carefully over the broken glass. She ignored Marcus and locked her eyes directly on Elena. "Put the baby down in the crib, Elena. You need to come with us right now. The facility down the road just suffered a major security breach, and your genetic signature just tripped every alarm within a fifty-mile radius."
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