"Hey Cherry, you coming down?" Steve called from the gloom at the bottom of the metal stairs.

Squaring her shoulders, Cherry slowly descended into a stone basement; flexing her hands hanging at her side, she inhaled and looked around.

"What is this place?" she whispered.

"Looks like a communications station over here," Tyron called from the back wall before moving to the left, "sleeping quarters on this side."

"We have a kitchen and bathroom in here," Steve called, "you guys need to see this."

Cherry moved toward Steve's voice taking in the state-of-the-art equipment, brand-new furniture and filing cabinets. Lots of filing cabinets.

"What is it?" Tyron asked, moving into the space behind Cherry.

Cherry looked in the direction Steve was pointing. A small chapel-like room off the kitchen could be seen, but instead of the décor leaning towards a type of pulpit or alter and chairs, there were two bean bags, and the wall was covered in pictures. Some were new and some old, but all the photographs were in colour. Moving into the gloomy room, Cherry noticed a light switch. Flicking it, the lights blinked on, illuminating the space.

"Oh my ..." Cherry gasped, starting at the door and wandering around the room, "these are of ... myself, my...parents ...but ..." she shook her head, "the date and time were two months ago ... that's impossible."

"This wall has people from the town," Steve said, frowning, "people who have gone missing ... or apparently left," he looked at his Dad, "Mavis' sister. Wasn't she part of the group who stood against what happened up here all those years ago?"

"She was," Tyron nodded, "and she is a trustee of the trust fund set up by Cherry's parents."

"They aren't dead," Cherry said, her voice catching as the truth of what she was seeing sank in, "all these years, I thought I was on my own, but they have been kept away from me."

"That doesn't make sense," Steve said, "why would they stay away?"

"They wouldn't," Tyron said, "according to this, they have been kept away. The last check-in, those men told whoever they checked in with that Cherry was here and were told to terminate her if she doesn't leave within a week."

"Why a week?" Steve asked, "what happens in a week?"

"No idea," Tyron said, "but I'm guessing it depends on how long the family are off the land or away from the house."

"My mother was adamant we had to come back here every year for at least a month," Cherry whispered, staring at the photos on the wall, "is there anything that tells you where they are?"

"Not that I'm seeing," Tyron said, activating a laptop, "open and unprotected."

"What is this ..." Steve muttered, pulling at a file under a pile of papers and other documents, "Proxecto Manipulado ... what does that mean?"

"Project Tampered," Cherry said absently.

"There is a file here with that name on it," Steve said, "what language is that?"

"I believe it's Galician," Cherry said, moving toward him, "what's in the file?"

"How do you know what language it is?" Tyron asked.

"I minored in languages, specifically old ones," Cherry said, smiling, "what is in the file?"

Steve said nothing for a moment, lifting pages one after another. Cherry watched him pale and swallow hard.

"Steve, what is it?" Cherry asked.

"This ..." he swallowed again, "this is ..." he shook his head, "... cruel."

"Steve, we need sentences," Tyron said, taking the file from Steve and leafing through it.

Cherry watched Tyron pale and frown as he read the information.

"Apparently, this project is designed to tamper with the genetic structure of an unborn child, and then ...." Tyron shuddered. "When the child has grown into an adult ... over eighteen ... to tweak the genetic structure again to design them into a being that will benefit ...." his words trailed off as he read quickly. "Ah, here it is ... the Tenderhook brothers."

"Who are they?" Cherry asked.

"Leeches," Tyron said, "two brothers who take what they want, any way possible and use whoever to ensure they get what they want."

"Why did they want my mother's land and home?" Cherry asked.

"I have no idea, but we need to shut this operation down," Tyron said, closing the file and looking around, "everything needs to go offline."

"But we need to know what they know to make sense of everything," Cherry said.

"Okay, take what they have lying around," Tyron said, "Steve ... you need to get it together."

"On it," Steve said, nodding his head, "I don't think I'll be able to forget what I read."

"Who said you would?" Tyron said, "just don't let it affect the outcome of your actions."

Steve began gathering everything he could see lying around.

"I'm seeing a lot of monitoring of the town and the people," Cherry said, shaking her head, "we need to stop everyone being handled. Turn everything off," Cherry said, "pull everything from the walls, plugs and the like."

"Agreed. If necessary, cut cables. Let's get to it," Tyron said.

The three moved around the room, shutting off computers and disconnecting links to the town's security cameras no one knew they had. Finally, they rose from the ground. The sun was directly overhead.

"It has gotten hotter since we arrived," Tyron said, "at least that is done. Hopefully, we have thrown a spanner in the works for anyone on the other end."

"Silas said something about getting rid of anything that looked automated," Cherry said, frowning. "Honestly, I don't know what I'm looking for. Could you ..." she spluttered, "would you ... would the two of you mind helping me?"

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"It would be our pleasure," Steve grinned, "I have a four-pound hammer in our truck."

"We'll stack it out the back," Tyron smiled, "if anyone is watching, they won't see us destroying it. That way, whoever is monitoring this cabin, land, and the town will no longer be able to, and they won't know why."

Nodding, the trio set to work. Cherry emptied every cupboard, unhinged every door and even cleaned the fireplace. At the end of an exhaustive day with night falling, they sat around a giant pit of electronic items broken and now burning in a huge bonfire. Cherry looked across at the men smiling.

"What?" Tyron asked, "this is the fourth time you've looked our way."

"I was just remembering my parents and me sitting around the bonfire at night," Cherry said, smiling, "it's nice to have company at the end of a long day."

"It's wonderful to be here," Tyron said, returning the smile, "thank you for the dinner and drinks."

"I can hardly call a plate of sandwiches and wine dinner, but you're welcome," Cherry said, "it was nice to feed more people. After being alone for so long, I never realised I was lonely and longed for others to be around me."

"Is that why you came back?" Steve asked.

"No, I received an offer on the place," Cherry said, frowning, "I was coming here to spend one last holiday before selling it, but when I got here ..." she paused, "... it was like coming home."

"Home?" Tyron asked, watching the expressive face try to make sense of the sensation.

"Yes," Cherry nodded, "as though I was returning to where I should be, was meant to be ..." she sighed, "I'm not explaining it properly."

"I think I understand what you're trying to say," Tyron said, "Your mom used to say the same thing."

"Really?" Cherry asked, smiling, "I wonder why that is?"

"She used to say it was in the DNA," Tyron whispered, "what happened after the accident?"

"What do you mean?" Cherry asked, frowning.

"The Trust was activated before your mother left," Tyron said. "But it was after the accident the land and house were put into your name ... and only your name."

"What are you talking about?" Cherry asked, "I don't understand what you just said."

"Before the accident, the land and cabin had three names on the deed," Tyron said, "apparently, it's the way the estate is laid out."

"Estate?" Cherry asked, straightening in the chair, "what estate?"

"Your parents never told you anything about your heritage?" Tyron asked.

"I barely remember being here with my parents," Cherry shook her head, "the things I found here meant nothing to me. It was as if they belonged to another family ... a family I never knew."

Tyron and Steve looked at each other, their expressions making Cherry feel cold to the bone.

"What?" she asked, looking between them.

"You have to tell her," Steve said, "it's only right."

"I made a promise," Tyron whispered, "you want me to break the promise."

"But who did you make that promise to?" Steve muttered, "you saw the pictures ... if that is her parents, then who were you speaking to?"

Tyron rubbed his hands over his face, "We don't know who her parents are any more or if they are even alive. Those pictures could be doctored."

"What if they're not?" Steve asked, "what if they are real ... do you know, without a doubt, it was her parents you spoke to before?"

Tyron opened his mouth, paused ...frowned, and closed his mouth, "Damn, why do you have to be so right?"

"How long have you doubted they were Cherry's parents?" Steve asked, frowning.

"A while," Tyron sighed, "since then, there have been things that weren't right ... certain things I knew her mother would never say or do. But Cherry's return was the clincher."

"Then?" Steve asked.

"Are either of you ready to add me to the conversation?" Cherry asked.

"A family was living here," Tyron said, glancing at Steve, "they looked like the three of you but were different. It's hard to explain. Those who had grown up with all of you around knew something was ...off. Others ignored the difference, and eventually, we had to run the family out of town when they went off the rails."

"All that destruction was them?" Cherry asked.

"Yes," Steve said, "we discovered some of the townspeople, who are no longer with us ... accepted payment to have a substitute family take your place. Some company from up north introduced an engineered family with the few accepting you as the real deal."

"So everything that I found was not mine ... not ours," Cherry said, shaking her head, "no wonder I felt nothing toward the photos ... it looked like us, but it really wasn't. I couldn't even remember when they had been taken."

"Nothing was," Tyron said, "the "lightning strike" was the child trying to blow up the mountain."

"What?" Cherry frowned, "how? Why? That doesn't make sense."

"Not really," Steve said, smiling, "that was when we came across the Tenderhooks relations living in the area of the cabin. We believed they were monitoring and handling the family. We thought they had left until one of the woodsmen came across them a few months ago."

"How long ago did that all happen?" Cherry asked.

"They lived there for ..." Tyron looked at Steve, "four years? The place was empty after that."

"Yeah," Steve nodded, "no one has been up there ever since."

"Then where did all our things go?" Cherry asked.

"Someone from a storage facility rolled into town," Tyron said, leaning back in the chair, "rolled up to the cabin without a word to anyone. When they left, the cabin was empty. I know because that was when I returned to town and came to visit. I saw them leaving, and the cabin was empty, and all of you were gone. It was a week later that ... the other family arrived."

"Storage company?" Cherry muttered, her mind flashing through thoughts, "what was the name of the storage company?"

"No idea," Steve said, "I never even saw the trucks."

"I did. Brownstones ..." Tyron muttered, "I think it was Brownstones and Partners."

Cherry closed her eyes as flood gates rattled, "What is it I'm trying to remember?"

"Oh, remember you said you wouldn't say that phrase," Steve said to Tyron.

"Phrase?" Tyron asked, looking at Steve.

"Yeah, the woman said you could and should never say a specific phrase around Cherry," Steve said, "I remember cause you couldn't understand why it would upset her."

"That's true," Tyron said, "it was something about tampering ... or untampered ..." Tyron paused, thinking, ".... oh yes, Desactivación de manipulación."

"That's also Galician," Cherry smiled, "it means tamper deactivation. Did anyone say those words around the child?"

"We don't know," Steve said, "we were happy to see them go."

"I can only imagine," Cherry shook her head, "if the side of the house is anything to go by ... I'd be happy to see them go as well."

Tyron glanced at his watch, "It's getting late," glancing at Steve, "we could come back in the morning and help you get the side room done."

"You wouldn't mind?" Cherry asked.

"Not at all," Tyrone smiled, "besides, my wife wouldn't be happy if we let a lady do all the heavy lifting."

"She'd starve us for a week," Steve said, grimacing, "or make us do all the chores."

"I think I'd like her," Cherry chuckled.

"She'd definitely like you," Tyron grinned, pushing from the chair. "I've put a new padlock on the outside door to the bunker, so they won't be able to get in even if they are in the area."

"Thanks so much," Cherry said, standing and receiving a hug from Tyrone and Steve.

"See you tomorrow," Steve said smiling, "latch your door and windows tonight ... as a precaution."

"I will," Cherry said, watching Tyrone kick sand into the pit covering the fire and automation equipment.

The men walked through the cabin, latching the windows and ensuring everything was secure before driving away. Cherry walked inside and locked the front door. It was time to sleep; too exhausted to shower or change, Cherry picked up a lantern and wandered into the room she was using. Lying on the bed, she pulled a blanket over her and sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Under the cabin floor, a whirring started before clicking and the sounds of machines and electronics turning off ... followed by silence ... deafening silence.