Chapter 8 - SUBJECT E
Ashley woke in darkness.
Her wrists were secured by soft straps to the sides of a narrow bed. A plastic tube ran into her arm. Machines hummed around her.
She smelled disinfectant.
Not a hospital.
Something older.
Water dripped behind the walls.
A light came on above her.
Dr. Malcolm Vale stood beside the bed wearing a clean white coat. His shoulder had been bandaged.
“You shot my daddy,” Ashley said.
Malcolm adjusted the tube.
“Andrew Carter is not your father.”
“He is.”
“Repetition does not transform fiction into truth.”
“You’re a liar.”
Malcolm smiled faintly.
“You sound like Rachel.”
“My mommy?”
“Your biological mother.”
“Is she alive?”
For the first time, Malcolm’s expression became difficult to read.
“What did Andrew tell you?”
“That she died.”
“He believes she did.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Malcolm looked almost impressed.
“No. It isn’t.”
Elias entered the room carrying a metal case.
Blood stained the side of his shirt where Andrew had injured him on the bridge. His limp was worse now.
“You should not have brought her here,” Elias said.
“This is the only facility with the necessary equipment.”
“The police know about Mercer.”
“Andrew knows. That is not the same thing.”
“He told the officer.”
Malcolm’s calm expression hardened.
“You were supposed to ensure he never spoke again.”
“I threw him into a flooded river.”
“And yet he walked out of a hospital with a gun.”
Elias placed the metal case on a table.
“He was always difficult to kill.”
Ashley watched them.
“You hurt him at the bridge.”
Elias glanced at her.
“He hurt me first.”
“My daddy is stronger than you.”
Elias stepped closer.
Malcolm raised a hand.
“Do not frighten her.”
“She watched us shoot him.”
“Fear alters the blood.”
Elias opened the metal case.
Inside were glass tubes, needles, and old paper files.
Ashley pulled against the straps.
“What are you doing?”
Malcolm sat beside her.
“Your mother carried a rare genetic variation.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It means her body reacted differently to certain illnesses. It repaired damage more efficiently.”
“Like a superhero?”
“No.”
His voice became almost tender.
“Like an answer.”
He removed one of the empty tubes.
“At Hartley House, we attempted to reproduce that response.”
“You hurt children.”
“We tried to save millions.”
“You killed them.”
Malcolm’s hand stopped.
“Who told you that?”
“My daddy.”
“He was a maintenance worker. He understood nothing.”
“He understood they were scared.”
For an instant, anger broke through Malcolm’s calm.
“Fear is temporary. Discovery is permanent.”
Ashley looked directly into his gray eyes.
“Then why are you afraid of my daddy?”
Elias turned away to hide a smile.
Malcolm rose.
“Take the sample.”
Elias approached with a needle.
Ashley kicked, but the straps held her.
“Stop!”
The needle entered her arm.
She screamed.
Far above the underground room, thunder rolled across Lake Mercer.
Beneath it, another sound began.
A slow metallic alarm.
Elias looked toward the ceiling.
“What is that?”
Malcolm frowned.
“The west access door.”
“Police?”
“Impossible.”
The alarm repeated.
Then every screen in the room went black.
Words appeared in green letters.
SUBJECT E EXTRACTION INTERRUPTED.
Malcolm stared.
A second line appeared.
RACHEL VALE AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED.
Ashley stopped crying.
“My mommy?”
Malcolm’s face became pale.
“That authorization was deleted.”
A woman’s voice came through the overhead speaker.
“No, Father.”
Malcolm stepped backward.
May you like
The voice continued.
“You only thought it was.”
