Chapter 14 - Brooke’s Blood
Brooke stood frozen at the laboratory entrance.
Caleb clung to her hand.
Federal agents raised their weapons until Mills ordered them to lower them.
“How did you get here?” Ethan asked.
“Someone sent me the tunnel coordinates.”
“Who?”
Brooke held up her phone.
The message came from Lorraine’s number.
Miriam stepped toward her.
“The system identified you.”
Brooke shook her head.
“It’s wrong.”
Robert studied the genetic display.
“No. The childhood identities were not merely switched on paper.”
“What does that mean?” Ethan asked.
Robert looked at Brooke.
“Brooke may be Miriam’s biological daughter.”
Natalie stood inside the chamber.
The door opened.
She stepped out slowly.
“Then who am I?”
Miriam looked between the two women.
“I gave birth to one daughter.”
“Which one?” Natalie asked.
“I was unconscious after delivery. Elias took the baby.”
Brooke laughed nervously.
“This is insane.”
Dr. Vargas requested blood samples from both women.
The trust system had accepted Natalie through biometric and genetic verification, yet the laboratory identified Brooke as the primary subject.
It suggested that Havenbridge had intentionally divided one identity between two children.
Natalie possessed the legal history and portions of the genetic marker.
Brooke carried the core Ember Variant.
“Could they have transferred cells between them?” Ethan asked.
Dr. Vargas nodded.
“Bone-marrow transplantation in early childhood might create mixed DNA profiles. There are other experimental possibilities.”
Robert looked at Miriam.
“Elias created a paired system.”
Miriam’s face drained.
“Anchor and carrier.”
“What does that mean?” Natalie asked.
“One child stabilized the trust identity,” Miriam said. “The other carried the biological protocol.”
“So I was the anchor?”
“Possibly.”
“And Brooke is the carrier?”
The monitors displayed a new countdown.
FOUR HOURS UNTIL PROTOCOL AWAKENING.
Brooke stared at the number.
“No. Natalie is the one with cancer.”
Dr. Vargas looked at the new blood analysis.
“Not anymore.”
Everyone turned.
“What?” Brooke asked.
The doctor studied the screen.
“Your blood contains malignant cells.”
“I feel fine.”
“Early cancers can be asymptomatic.”
Brooke backed away.
“No.”
Caleb looked up at her.
“Mommy?”
She covered his ears.
“No. This is another lie.”
Natalie stepped toward her.
“You need a scan.”
“You want this to be me.”
“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
“You hate me.”
“I hated what you did.”
Brooke’s eyes filled with tears.
“I was trying to keep my son alive.”
“So was I.”
The sisters faced each other beneath the laboratory lights.
For months, one had been treated as disposable while the other lived in luxury. Yet both had been controlled through fear, money, and stolen identities.
Brooke’s phone rang.
Lorraine’s name appeared.
Mills activated the speaker.
A woman’s voice filled the room.
“My beautiful girls.”
Natalie stiffened.
The voice sounded exactly like Lorraine.
Brooke began shaking.
“Are you alive?”
“Which answer would comfort you?”
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“You said I had to keep Natalie from treatment.”
“I said the trust required stability.”
“You threatened Caleb.”
“I protected him.”
“You took him from me.”
“I gave him a purpose.”
Ethan stepped toward the phone.
“What purpose?”
“Caleb is the next carrier.”
Brooke pulled him against her.
“No.”
“The protocol did not end with one generation.”
Mills began tracing the call.
Lorraine continued.
“Brooke carries the awakened variant. Natalie carries the stabilizing sequence. Caleb carries both.”
Natalie looked at the boy.
“He’s a child.”
“He is the future.”
“You sound like Elias,” Miriam said.
The voice laughed.
“Elias lacked patience.”
“Are you Lorraine or Elaine?”
“I am the sister who survived.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“It is the only answer that matters.”
The monitors changed.
A red warning appeared.
PROTOCOL ACTIVATION ACCELERATED.
Brooke doubled over.
Caleb screamed.
Dark veins spread beneath Brooke’s skin.
Dr. Vargas rushed toward her.
“Get her onto the table!”
Brooke collapsed.
Natalie caught her before she hit the floor.
For a moment, the two women held each other like sisters rather than enemies.
Brooke gasped.
“It burns.”
Natalie looked toward the chamber.
“What happens if she goes inside?”
Robert read the diagnostic display.
“The chamber may stabilize the activation.”
“May?”
“Or complete it.”
Brooke began convulsing.
Caleb sobbed beside her.
“Save Mommy!”
Natalie looked at Ethan.
He knew she had made a decision.
“No,” he said.
“We don’t have time.”
“You don’t know what the chamber will do.”
“She’ll die here.”
“And you could die in there.”
Natalie looked at Brooke.
“The system needs the anchor and carrier together.”
Miriam understood first.
“No. Elias designed pairing procedures for synchronized subjects. Both of you would need to enter.”
Ethan stepped between Natalie and the chamber.
“I won’t let you.”
Her eyes hardened.
“You promised you would listen.”
“This is different.”
“It is always different when people want to control me.”
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“So was Lorraine.”
The comparison struck him silent.
Natalie touched his face.
“I love you. But this choice is mine.”
She and Dr. Vargas lifted Brooke.
They carried her into the chamber.
The door closed around both women.
Ethan pressed his hand against the glass.
Natalie placed hers against the other side.
The chamber filled with orange light.
Brooke screamed.
Natalie remained standing, holding her sister upright.
The countdown reached zero.
Every monitor went black.
Then a single line appeared.
PAIRING COMPLETE.
May you like
The glass filled with smoke.
Ethan could no longer see them.
