Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO REFUSED TO DIE
Luka shot the vent controls.
Nothing happened.
Derek smashed the glass of a fire cabinet.
Inside was an emergency oxygen mask.
Only one.
He handed it to me.
“No.”
“Put it on Grace.”
“What about you?”
“DO IT.”
I pressed the mask over my daughter's face.
My vision blurred.
Luka kicked at a maintenance panel.
Once.
Twice.
It opened.
“Inside!”
We crawled into the narrow duct.
The gas followed.
Derek collapsed halfway through.
I grabbed his arm.
“Derek!”
Luka pulled him.
We emerged into another laboratory.
I slammed the vent closed.
Derek coughed violently.
Then Grace started crying.
The sweetest sound I'd ever heard.
“She can breathe.”
Luka checked her.
“She seems okay.”
I looked around.
Rows of refrigerated cabinets lined the room.
One stood open.
Inside were blood samples.
M-17.
My blood.
Samples had been collected every year of my childhood.
Age two.
Age five.
Age nine.
Age thirteen.
Age sixteen.
I felt violated.
“My father brought me here.”
Luka shook his head.
“Maybe not willingly.”
Derek found a computer.
“Look.”
Security footage showed Evelyn entering the building months earlier.
Then Charles.
They weren't enemies.
They were partners.
The attack on the house had been theater.
Designed to drive us here.
“They wanted us inside.”
Luka's face hardened.
“Why?”
A lock clicked behind us.
Charles Calloway entered.
Derek stared at his father.
Charles looked exactly as he always did on television.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
Warm grandfatherly smile.
Except now there were no cameras.
“Hello, son.”
Derek raised his gun.
“You lied about Mom.”
Charles shrugged.
“It was necessary.”
“You told me she was dead.”
“She was unstable.”
Evelyn entered behind him.
“Careful, Charles.”
Charles ignored her.
His eyes found Grace.
For the first time, his smile became genuine.
“There she is.”
I stepped behind Luka.
“You're never touching her.”
Charles chuckled.
“You misunderstand.”
“I don't need to touch her.”
“We already have what we need.”
“The blood.”
“Yes.”
“Then why bring us here?”
“Because blood isn't enough.”
His eyes moved to me.
“We need the mother.”
My heart pounded.
“For what?”
Charles walked toward a glass chamber.
Inside stood a medical table.
Restraints hung from its sides.
“The M-17 mutation behaves differently after pregnancy.”
“We need your postnatal marrow.”
Derek aimed directly at his father's head.
“You're not touching her.”
Charles smiled.
“You disappoint me.”
“You were supposed to deliver both.”
“I changed my mind.”
“No.”
Charles looked at me.
“He changed it years ago.”
Derek froze.
Charles continued.
“That's why I paid Brittany.”
“To determine whether my son had become emotionally compromised.”
I looked at Derek.
He swallowed.
“I loved her.”
Charles sighed.
“Exactly.”
Derek's gun shook.
“You made me marry her.”
“I instructed you to approach her.”
“You chose marriage.”
That hurt differently.
I looked at Derek.
He met my eyes.
“That part was me.”
Charles laughed.
“How touching.”
Then Evelyn spoke.
“Enough.”
She pointed a gun.
Not at us.
At Charles.
Everyone froze.
Charles slowly turned.
“Evelyn.”
“You promised me the child.”
Charles smiled.
“You were always sentimental.”
“You promised.”
“You're obsolete.”
The gunshot was deafening.
Charles stumbled backward.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Derek screamed.
“Dad!”
Charles collapsed.
Evelyn lowered the smoking gun.
Then every alarm in Facility Nine began screaming.
She looked at Luka.
“Take Emma.”
“Take the child.”
“Go.”
Luka stared at her.
“Why?”
Evelyn looked at Grace.
“Because Charles was never the person you should have been afraid of.”
May you like
The lights went out.
And somewhere beneath our feet, something enormous unlocked.
