Chapter 10 - THE DEAD MAN IN CELL 27
The abandoned medical wing smelled of rust and damp concrete.
Rows of glass rooms lined the corridor. Old hospital beds stood beneath sheets of dust. Children’s drawings remained taped to the walls, their colors faded after decades underground.
Emma held Clara’s hand.
Alessandro wanted the child taken to a safe room, but Clara refused to let her out of sight.
Marcus moved ahead with his weapon raised.
At the end of the wing, they found three recently used cells.
The first was empty.
The second contained medical equipment and blood collection tubes labeled with Emma’s name.
Clara felt a wave of rage so intense that her vision blurred.
The third cell was marked 27.
Marcus forced the lock.
Inside, a man sat chained to the wall.
His beard was untrimmed. His body was thin beneath a stained shirt. Bruises covered his arms, and a bandage wrapped his left side.
Clara saw his face.
Every emotion inside her shattered at once.
“Gabriel.”
His eyes opened.
For a moment, he looked confused.
Then he saw Clara.
“No.”
His voice was weak.
“No, you shouldn’t be here.”
Clara ran to him.
She dropped to her knees and touched his face.
He was warm.
Alive.
Real.
She struck him across the chest.
Then wrapped her arms around him.
“You let me bury you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You let Emma believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“I thought Vivian would leave you alone if she believed I had taken the key with me.”
Emma stepped into the cell.
“Daddy?”
Gabriel looked up.
His entire face changed.
Emma released Clara’s hand and ran toward him.
He caught her with his free arm, despite the chain.
“My little star.”
“You came back.”
“I tried.”
She pressed the blue rabbit against his chest.
“Blue waited for you.”
Gabriel stared at the toy.
“Did Vivian open it?”
“No,” Clara said. “But she knows Emma is the final key.”
Gabriel looked at Alessandro.
“Of course you told them.”
“I told Clara the truth.”
“You told her enough truth to make yourself appear innocent.”
Alessandro’s face tightened.
“This is not the time.”
“It was never the time for you, Father.”
Marcus broke the chain.
Gabriel struggled to stand.
“The rabbit is not my key.”
“We know,” Clara said.
“No. Vivian does not know what the rabbit really contains.”
“What is it?”
“A map.”
Gabriel opened the damaged ear and removed a second layer of fabric.
Inside was a narrow strip of transparent material covered in microscopic lines.
“The map leads to the original Lazarus registry.”
Alessandro stared at it.
“I believed it was destroyed.”
“Isabella hid it.”
A speaker crackled above them.
Vivian’s voice filled the medical wing.
“How touching. The dead man reunited with his family.”
Steel shutters dropped over every exit.
Clara pulled Emma close.
Vivian continued.
“Bring the child to the vault, and I will allow Clara to leave alive.”
Gabriel looked toward the camera.
“You will never touch her.”
“I already have.”
Emma cried out.
A tiny red spot appeared on her neck.
Clara saw a needle embedded beneath the collar of Emma’s sweater.
The tracking bracelet had contained more than a transmitter.
May you like
It had injected something into her.
Emma collapsed.
