She tapped the touchscreen. The digital model zoomed in twenty-thousand times, revealing the microscopic architecture of the synthetic pellet that had been encapsulated within my uterine wall.
“This is not merely a progestin-releasing abortifacient casing,” Dr. Salinas explained, pointing to an intricate geometric array of micro-etched platinum and gallium-nitride filaments embedded in the outer shell. “The Progest-X-Nine compound was designed as a delivery vehicle for a bio-molecular extraction mechanism. It was engineered to bind to the unique epigenetic markers of your fetal stem cells, copy the mitochondrial DNA sequences into a localized quantum storage cache, and then induce an artificial miscarriage so the bio-capsule could be recovered post-expulsion.”
My jaw tightened until the muscles along my cheekbones ached.
“They didn’t just want to kill my baby to steal the real estate trust,” I said, the words falling like blocks of dry ice into the quiet room. “They wanted to harvest the child’s genetic code.”
“Precisely,” Marcus Vance said, opening the classified DARPA file on the table. “In 1996, thirty years ago, your grandfather, **Don Emilio Vazquez**, was not simply an international commercial shipping magnate operating out of the Port of Miami. Emilio was the Chief Cryptographic and Metallurgical Architect for the United States Navy’s Submarine Warfare Directorate.”
Marcus turned the parchment pages, displaying historical blueprints stamped with the highest level of national defense classification:
“`
# ==================================================================
UNITED STATES NAVY // SPECIAL PROPULSION & CIPHER COMMAND
# PROJECT TITLE: ‘CHRONOS-ROOT’ (1992–1996)
LEAD RESEARCHER: DON EMILIO VAZQUEZ, PH.D.
CO-DIRECTOR: BRIGADIER GENERAL ARTHUR CALDWELL, USA
OBJECTIVE: DECENTRALIZED QUANTUM-BIOLOGICAL LAUNCH CIPHERS FOR
THE COLUMBIA-CLASS NUCLEAR BALLISTIC SUBMARINE FLEET
CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET // ORCON // SPECIAL ACCESS REQUIRED
