Chapter 10 - The Price of Saving Chloe
Kessler’s men entered the lower level from two directions.
Thomas led Audrey, Mara, Lawson, and the tactical officers through a maintenance tunnel behind the server chamber. Julian remained restrained, but his resistance had stopped.
He knew Kessler intended to kill everyone.
The tunnel opened into a hidden communications room. Thomas locked the steel door and activated an internal camera feed.
Twelve armed men moved through the facility.
One wore a gray suit beneath a body-armor vest.
Adrian Kessler.
He removed his helmet.
Audrey expected someone older.
Kessler appeared to be in his late forties, with close-cropped dark hair and a calm expression. He walked through the ruined laboratory as though inspecting property he already owned.
Evelyn stood beside him.
Audrey turned toward Thomas.
“She escaped custody?”
“She was never truly in custody.”
On the screen, the officers assigned to guard Evelyn lay unconscious near the control room.
Kessler handed Evelyn the prepaid phone taken from Chloe’s bedroom.
Evelyn connected it to the terminal.
“They copied Chloe’s neurological pattern onto that device,” Thomas said.
“Can they open the system with it?”
“Not fully. They still need the physical key.”
Audrey touched the silver key inside her jacket.
“And Julian’s genetic access,” Thomas continued.
Everyone looked at him.
Julian smiled bitterly.
“So now I matter.”
“You always mattered,” Thomas said. “That was the problem. Kessler knew he could use your anger.”
Julian looked away.
Mara studied the floor plan.
“Can we contact the hospital?”
“Communications are blocked.”
“What happens if they cannot access Project 314?”
“They will trigger a remote reset.”
“What does that mean for Chloe?”
Thomas hesitated.
Audrey stepped closer.
“What does it mean?”
“The implant will shut down.”
“Will she die?”
“Possibly.”
The word struck harder than any certainty.
Audrey pressed a hand over the wound in her shoulder.
“How long do we have?”
“The reset sequence can be delayed from this room, but not indefinitely.”
Thomas entered a command.
A countdown appeared.
01:59:58.
Less than two hours.
Audrey looked at the camera feed.
“Kessler needs the key and Julian.”
“Yes.”
“Then we use both.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
“We offer an exchange long enough to move officers into position.”
“Kessler will anticipate that.”
“He does not know we can see him.”
“He knows everything about this facility.”
“Not everything. Otherwise he would already be in this room.”
Julian laughed softly.
“You want me to be bait.”
Audrey faced him.
“You tried to carve the implant out of Chloe. You assaulted her for years. You stole her money. You helped Vale.”
“I did what Mother told me.”
“You are thirty years old.”
His smile disappeared.
Audrey continued.
“Help us save her, and I will tell the prosecutor you cooperated.”
“That isn’t immunity.”
“No.”
“What happens to me?”
“You stand trial.”
Julian shook his head.
“Then I have nothing to gain.”
Thomas spoke quietly.
“You gain one chance not to remain the worst thing you have ever done.”
Julian stared at him.
For a moment, he looked like the frightened fourteen-year-old boy Thomas had left behind.
Then his face hardened again.
“I want protection from Kessler.”
“You help us stop him,” Audrey said, “and protection becomes possible.”
Julian agreed.
A false transmission was sent through the facility intercom. Audrey claimed she had the silver key and was willing to exchange it for safe passage and the reset code.
Kessler answered immediately.
“Bring Julian to the central laboratory.”
“Stop the countdown first.”
“When I have the key.”
“I want proof Chloe is still connected.”
Kessler’s voice remained calm.
“Your sister is alive, Investigator Mercer. Whether she remains alive depends on how well you follow instructions.”
The exchange was scheduled for twenty minutes later.
Thomas opened a hidden weapons cabinet.
Inside were older Argus rifles, communications devices, and a black metal case.
Julian stared at the case.
“That’s it.”
Audrey looked at him.
“That’s Dad’s case?”
“Yes.”
Thomas unlocked it.
Inside was a collection of drives and handwritten files. One folder bore the title:
MERCER FAMILY COMPATIBILITY STUDY.
Audrey opened it.
The first page listed her name, Julian’s name, and Chloe’s subject number.
Beside each were neurological compatibility scores.
Julian’s score was the highest.
“Why?” Audrey asked.
Thomas did not answer.
Julian read the page over her shoulder.
“What did you do to me?”
“Nothing.”
“That is a lie.”
“You were tested without my permission.”
“By Mother?”
“By Kessler.”
Audrey turned another page.
The study proposed transferring Subject 314’s stored neurological pattern into a genetically compatible host.
Julian.
“They weren’t trying to preserve Chloe,” Audrey said.
Thomas’s face was filled with shame.
“They were trying to reproduce her.”
Julian stepped back.
“No.”
“Kessler does not need Chloe alive if he can transfer her pattern into you.”
Julian grabbed the file and read it again.
“What would happen to me?”
Thomas answered quietly.
“Your own identity might be erased.”
For the first time since Audrey entered the bloody kitchen, Julian looked completely defenseless.
The intercom activated.
Kessler’s voice filled the room.
“You have ten minutes.”
Then Chloe’s voice came through the speaker.
“Audrey?”
Audrey ran to the console.
“Chloe, can you hear me?”
“I can hear all of you.”
Thomas stared at the system.
“That isn’t possible.”
Chloe’s voice continued.
“I know where Kessler is.”
A camera feed appeared.
May you like
It showed the central laboratory from inside Kessler’s own tactical helmet.
Chloe had entered the network.
