Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN IN THE CONTROL ROOM
Natalie reached Lake Mercer at 11:43 p.m.
Three patrol cars followed her through the abandoned service road. Mason sat in the passenger seat studying old engineering plans on a tablet.
“There should be an access tunnel beneath the eastern spillway,” he said.
“Should be?”
“The facility was removed from county maps after 1994.”
“Who removed it?”
“Private contractors connected to Hartley Medical Foundation.”
Natalie looked at him.
“The foundation still exists?”
“Under a different name. Vale Research Initiative.”
“Current directors?”
“Most records are hidden behind shell corporations.”
“Most?”
Mason turned the tablet toward her.
“One director is listed.”
Natalie read the name.
RACHEL VALE.
“That’s impossible,” she said.
“Her digital signature was used three months ago.”
Andrew believed Rachel had died in the Hartley fire.
Malcolm had spoken of her in the past tense.
But someone using Rachel’s authorization had just shut down the underground facility.
They reached the eastern spillway.
A steel door stood open beneath the concrete structure.
Fresh tire tracks disappeared inside.
Natalie stopped the vehicle.
“Body armor. No sirens.”
The team entered the tunnel.
Water ran along the floor. Old lights flickered overhead, activated by an unseen system.
They passed rooms filled with rusted hospital beds, broken cabinets, and wall restraints sized for children.
Mason swore under his breath.
Natalie felt the same rage but kept moving.
A speaker crackled.
“Officer Brooks.”
The voice belonged to a woman.
Natalie aimed toward the ceiling.
“Identify yourself.”
“There is no time.”
“Where is Ashley Carter?”
“Second level. Laboratory Three.”
“Who are you?”
A pause.
“Someone who failed her before she was born.”
Natalie’s heart accelerated.
“Rachel Vale?”
The speaker went silent.
Then a door opened at the end of the corridor.
Natalie and Mason descended a spiral staircase.
Gunfire erupted below.
One deputy was struck in the vest and fell backward.
Elias fired from behind a steel cabinet.
Natalie returned fire.
Mason moved along the opposite wall.
Elias retreated through a laboratory door.
Natalie followed.
She found Ashley strapped to a bed.
Malcolm Vale stood behind her holding a scalpel against her throat.
Elias leaned against the wall, one hand pressed to a wound in his abdomen.
“Drop your weapons,” Malcolm said.
Natalie kept hers aimed at him.
“You won’t hurt her.”
“You don’t know what I will do.”
“I know you need her alive.”
Malcolm smiled.
“Andrew told you more than he should have.”
Ashley looked at Natalie.
“He said Mommy is alive.”
Malcolm’s hand tightened.
“Your mother has always been weak.”
The laboratory monitors flashed.
A live camera feed appeared.
Andrew lay unconscious in a hospital operating room.
Natalie’s confusion showed.
Malcolm looked at the screen.
“Andrew will die whether you rescue the child or not.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. His injuries are sufficient.”
A heart monitor sounded from the video.
Doctors worked around Andrew’s body.
Ashley began to cry.
“Daddy.”
Malcolm leaned closer to her.
“He lied to you.”
“He saved me.”
“He kidnapped you.”
“He loves me.”
“Love is merely possession given a noble name.”
The woman’s voice came through the speaker again.
“No, Father. That was always your mistake.”
A hidden door opened behind Malcolm.
A woman stepped into the room.
She wore dark clothing. Her hair was streaked with gray. Burn scars covered the right side of her neck and disappeared beneath her collar.
Ashley stared at her.
Malcolm’s face twisted.
“Rachel.”
The woman held a pistol.
“Move away from my daughter.”
Malcolm laughed softly.
“You have no right to call her that.”
“I gave birth to her.”
“And then you gave her to a criminal.”
“I gave her to the only man who tried to save those children.”
“You destroyed decades of work.”
“I exposed murder.”
“You started the fire.”
Silence followed.
Natalie looked at Rachel.
Ashley stopped moving.
Even Elias seemed surprised.
Rachel’s pistol remained aimed at Malcolm.
“I started a fire in the records room,” she said. “The suppression system was supposed to contain it.”
“But it didn’t,” Malcolm said.
“You disabled the doors.”
“You forced my hand.”
“Eight children died because you locked them in.”
“Eight children died because Andrew Carter failed to complete his job.”
Rachel’s eyes changed.
“What job?”
Malcolm smiled.
“You never knew?”
Rachel looked toward Natalie.
A warning tightened in Natalie’s chest.
Malcolm continued.
“Andrew was not hired merely to repair Hartley House.”
“Shut up,” Rachel said.
“He was sent there to kill me.”
Ashley stared at the screen showing Andrew in surgery.
“No.”
May you like
Malcolm’s smile widened.
“Ask your hero what he was before he became your father.”
