Chapter 7 - THE FOURTH CHOICE
The timer dropped to 10:32.
Nobody moved.
Victor stared at the three options glowing across the monitor.
SAVE NATALIE MERCER.
RESTORE MERCER CONTROL.
SECURE BENEFICIARY ETHAN MERCER.
Three choices.
One outcome.
Richard stood beside the terminal with blood soaking through his shoulder.
And he was smiling.
That smile bothered Victor more than the timer.
Richard was injured.
Cornered.
His files had already been transmitted to federal authorities.
His son had turned against him.
Serena had learned he had lied about her mother.
Evelyn was alive.
Adrian was alive.
Every secret Richard had buried was crawling back into the light.
Yet he was smiling.
Victor knew his father.
Richard smiled only when he believed everyone else was looking in the wrong direction.
Victor lowered the sun pendant.
“No.”
Richard’s smile faded slightly.
Victor looked at the monitor.
“This is another lie.”
Richard laughed.
“You have ten minutes to test that theory.”
Victor ignored him.
Serena stood with both palms pressed against the glass capsule.
Natalie Mercer lay motionless inside.
A breathing tube covered part of her face.
Thin wires ran from her chest to a medical monitor.
Her heartbeat was slow.
But steady.
Serena whispered through the glass.
“Mom.”
Natalie did not respond.
Serena turned toward Victor.
“Give him the key.”
Victor looked at her.
“Which option?”
“I don’t care.”
Her voice cracked.
“Save my mother.”
Adrian stared at her.
“And sacrifice Ethan?”
Serena’s face twisted.
“I didn’t say that.”
“That is exactly what you said.”
Serena stepped toward him.
“My mother has been imprisoned for fourteen years.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“And Ethan is nine years old.”
“He has nothing to do with what Richard did to any of us.”
Serena’s eyes burned.
“Neither does my mother!”
Evelyn stepped between them.
“Stop.”
Serena turned.
Evelyn looked through the glass at Natalie.
Her face broke.
For years, Evelyn had believed her aunt had abandoned the family.
Now she knew Natalie had been alive.
Hidden.
Used.
Just like her.
Evelyn touched the glass.
“Aunt Natalie.”
Serena watched her.
Something softened.
Only slightly.
Then Ethan spoke.
“Save her.”
Everyone turned.
Victor stared at him.
Ethan stood beside Lily.
His face was pale.
But his voice was steady.
“Ethan.”
The boy looked at Victor.
“She’s Serena’s mom.”
“I know.”
“She didn’t do anything.”
Victor crouched.
“You don’t understand what the choice means.”
Ethan looked at the screen.
“Yes, I do.”
Victor’s chest tightened.
Ethan continued.
“If you pick her, something bad happens to me.”
Nobody answered.
The silence told him enough.
Ethan swallowed.
“Will I die?”
Evelyn immediately crossed the room.
“No.”
She knelt beside him.
“No one is going to let that happen.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Then save Serena’s mom.”
Serena covered her mouth.
She turned away.
The child she had terrorized was willing to risk himself for her mother.
Richard laughed.
Everyone looked at him.
“You see?”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
Richard spread his hands.
“This is why children should never make adult decisions.”
Victor stepped toward him.
“And this is why you should never have been allowed to make decisions for anyone.”
Richard smiled.
“Yet here we are.”
Timer.
09:14.
Lily had said nothing.
Victor noticed.
She stood near the terminal.
Not looking at Richard.
Not looking at Natalie.
Looking at the cables.
Victor knew that expression now.
Lily was thinking.
He walked toward her.
“What?”
She pointed beneath the monitor.
“There.”
Victor followed her finger.
Three cables ran from the console.
One red.
One black.
One blue.
“What about them?”
Lily crouched.
“The screen says one choice.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are there four data lines?”
Victor frowned.
Richard’s expression changed.
Tiny.
Almost invisible.
Lily saw it.
So did Victor.
She looked toward him.
“There’s a fourth cable.”
Behind the console, partly hidden beneath the floor panel, was a white line.
Victor crouched.
Richard spoke.
“Don’t touch that.”
Victor looked up.
There it was.
Fear.
He smiled.
“Interesting.”
Richard moved toward them.
Adrian stepped into his path.
“Stay where you are.”
Richard looked at his injured arm.
“You can barely stand.”
Adrian smiled.
“Then imagine how embarrassing it will be when I still knock you down.”
Richard stopped.
Victor pulled the floor panel loose.
The white cable ran beneath the terminal.
Lily followed it.
“It’s connected to the same system.”
Evelyn joined them.
“What does it do?”
Lily shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Richard spoke sharply.
“It does nothing.”
Victor looked at him.
“You’re becoming very interested in something that does nothing.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
Victor followed the cable.
It ended at a small hidden switch beneath the desk.
No label.
Lily reached toward it.
Richard shouted.
“DON’T!”
Everyone froze.
Victor slowly looked at his father.
Richard realized his mistake.
Too late.
Victor smiled.
“Thank you.”
He pressed the switch.
Nothing happened.
For one second.
Then the monitor went black.
Richard’s face drained.
A new screen appeared.
ADMINISTRATIVE OVERRIDE.
Four options appeared.
SAVE MEDICAL SUBJECT.
RESTORE ESTATE CONTROL.
SECURE BENEFICIARY.
RELEASE ALL SUBJECTS AND ARCHIVES.
Serena stared.
Adrian whispered.
“You bastard.”
Victor looked at Richard.
“There was always a fourth choice.”
Richard said nothing.
Evelyn understood.
“You made us believe someone had to lose.”
Richard’s eyes hardened.
“Because someone always does.”
Victor looked at him.
“No.”
“That’s just how you built your world.”
Richard lunged toward the terminal.
Adrian grabbed him.
Richard drove his elbow into Adrian’s wound.
Adrian cried out.
Victor tackled Richard.
They crashed into a metal cart.
Serena ran toward the console.
“Which keys?”
Lily pointed.
“Both.”
Victor shouted.
“Evelyn!”
Evelyn grabbed the moon pendant from the floor where Richard had dropped it during the struggle.
Victor threw her the sun.
She caught it.
Richard saw.
“No!”
He shoved Victor away.
He ran toward Evelyn.
Lily stepped into his path.
Richard raised his hand.
Victor saw what was coming.
“LILY!”
Richard struck her.
Lily hit the floor.
Ethan screamed.
Victor’s expression changed.
He hit Richard so hard the older man crashed into the glass wall.
Victor grabbed his coat.
“You touch her again and the prosecutors will be the least of your problems.”
Richard spat blood.
“You still think prosecutors are coming?”
Victor froze.
Richard smiled.
“What did you do?”
Richard laughed.
“You released the files through my network.”
Victor’s stomach dropped.
Richard continued.
“My network.”
“My servers.”
“My routing.”
Victor looked at Adrian.
Richard smiled wider.
“You sent everything exactly where I wanted it to go.”
Adrian limped toward the console.
He checked the transmission history.
His face changed.
Victor saw it.
“What?”
Adrian said nothing.
“Adrian.”
He looked at Victor.
“The transfer was redirected.”
Evelyn went pale.
“To where?”
Adrian stared at the screen.
“Internal storage.”
Richard laughed.
“Congratulations.”
“You saved nothing.”
Timer.
07:51.
Victor looked toward Richard.
For one terrible moment, defeat entered the room.
Then Lily spoke from the floor.
“That’s not true.”
Victor turned.
She slowly pushed herself up.
Blood touched the corner of her mouth.
Richard stared at her.
Lily wiped it away.
“You forgot about my phone.”
Serena frowned.
“What phone?”
Lily looked at Victor.
“The recording.”
Victor understood.
The recording that started everything.
Serena’s voice.
Victor’s child has to disappear before the trust is activated.
Lily continued.
“When the lights went out, I thought someone might take my phone.”
“So before Victor went downstairs, I sent the recording.”
Victor stared.
“To who?”
Lily smiled faintly.
“Everyone.”
Richard’s face changed.
Lily looked directly at him.
“I scheduled it.”
“If I didn’t cancel the message within thirty minutes, the recording and copies of everything on my cloud account went to three people.”
Richard’s voice hardened.
“Which people?”
Lily counted.
“My sister.”
“A reporter I know from college.”
“And Daniel Cross.”
Victor stared.
The federal prosecutor.
Richard went completely still.
Lily looked at Victor.
“You told me to call him.”
“I couldn’t get through.”
“So I sent him everything instead.”
Victor almost laughed.
Richard did not.
The old man looked toward the locked door.
For the first time, he looked desperate.
Victor saw it.
“You can’t stop it now.”
Richard stared at him.
Victor smiled.
“You lose.”
Richard whispered.
“No.”
Then he reached inside his coat.
Victor saw the movement.
“Gun!”
But Richard did not pull a gun.
He pulled a phone.
He pressed one button.
The medical monitor beside Natalie’s capsule changed.
Serena screamed.
Natalie’s heartbeat began dropping.
Serena ran to the glass.
“What did you do?”
Richard smiled.
“Now we have a real timer.”
Natalie’s heartbeat fell to 31.
Evelyn rushed toward the console.
“Keys!”
Victor grabbed Richard.
Adrian helped hold him.
Evelyn inserted the sun.
Serena grabbed the moon.
Richard laughed.
“Serena.”
She looked at him.
“You activate that fourth option, you release every Mercer record.”
“I know.”
“Including your mother’s.”
Serena froze.
Richard smiled.
Evelyn looked at her.
“What is he talking about?”
Richard answered.
“Natalie wasn’t only a victim.”
Serena’s face went white.
“Shut up.”
Richard laughed.
“She worked for me.”
Evelyn stared at Natalie.
“No.”
Richard continued.
“For six years.”
“She gave me Mercer locations.”
“Bank accounts.”
“Names.”
“Safe houses.”
Serena screamed.
“SHUT UP!”
Richard looked delighted.
“She helped me destroy her own family.”
Evelyn slowly turned toward Serena.
Serena was crying now.
“I didn’t know.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You knew something.”
Serena shook her head.
“My mother told me she made mistakes.”
Richard laughed.
“Mistakes?”
“She delivered Evelyn’s parents to me.”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
The room went silent.
Richard looked at Evelyn.
“Your aunt gave me their route the night they died.”
Evelyn stared through the glass.
At Natalie.
Her aunt.
The woman she had just been prepared to save.
Serena looked at Evelyn.
“Please.”
Evelyn said nothing.
Timer.
06:12.
Natalie’s heart rate.
Richard smiled.
“Now choose.”
Evelyn’s hand hovered above the fourth option.
RELEASE ALL SUBJECTS AND ARCHIVES.
Serena whispered.
“Please.”
Evelyn looked at her.
Serena was shaking.
“She’s still my mother.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
Richard watched them.
He expected hatred to do the work for him.
Again.
Evelyn looked toward Ethan.
The boy stared back at her.
Then she remembered what he had said.
Save her.
Evelyn pressed the fourth option.
Richard screamed.
“NO!”
Serena turned the moon key.
Evelyn turned the sun.
The system flashed.
DUAL AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED.
Natalie’s capsule unlocked.
The archive transfer restarted.
The lab doors opened.
Every restraint in the room released.
And Richard Hale finally stopped smiling.
But before Victor could move, another message appeared.
EXTERNAL OVERRIDE DETECTED.
REMOTE USER CONNECTED.
Adrian stared at the screen.
“That’s impossible.”
Victor looked at him.
“Who?”
Adrian checked the connection.
Then his face changed.
The remote username appeared.
EVELYN_MERCER_PRIMARY.
Everyone slowly looked toward Evelyn.
She stared at the screen.
“That isn’t me.”
Then a woman’s voice came through the speakers.
Soft.
Older.
Calm.
“No.”
“It isn’t.”
Evelyn went completely white.
May you like
Because she recognized the voice.
“Mom?”
