Chapter 10 - The Tunnel Beneath the Clinic
The tunnel was barely wide enough for Claire to crawl while carrying Lily.
Concrete scraped her palms.
Every movement reopened the pain in her body.
She could hear gunshots behind her, muffled by walls and distance.
Lily began to cry.
Claire whispered to her, repeating the same words again and again.
“I have you. I have you. I have you.”
The tunnel sloped downward.
Water covered the floor.
After several minutes, Claire reached a metal junction door.
Nathan’s key opened it.
Beyond lay a larger maintenance passage with old electrical lines running along the ceiling.
An arrow painted on the wall pointed east.
Claire followed it.
Her mind replayed everything she had learned.
Jonah was her biological father.
Margaret might be her mother.
Nathan had hidden evidence.
Eleanor was alive.
Adrian Cross had married Claire’s unknown half-sister.
Northstar had used Bennett Medical Logistics to transport people.
And Daniel, the man who had abandoned Claire hours after childbirth, now stood somewhere inside the old family house bargaining with criminals.
Claire almost laughed at the absurdity.
Then she heard footsteps ahead.
She turned off her flashlight.
A narrow beam appeared around the bend.
Someone was approaching.
Claire searched for a place to hide.
A corroded metal ladder led upward to a maintenance hatch.
She climbed slowly, one hand supporting Lily’s carrier.
Below, the footsteps came closer.
Claire pushed the hatch.
It opened beneath a cluster of dead shrubs.
She emerged into freezing rain.
The clinic stood several hundred yards behind her.
Smoke rose from one side of the building.
A vehicle waited near the drainage field.
Its headlights were off.
The driver’s door opened.
Claire stepped backward.
A woman emerged.
She had short dark hair and wore a paramedic jacket.
“Claire Bennett?”
Claire turned toward the woods.
The woman raised empty hands.
“My name is Mara Ellis. Nathan sent me.”
Claire did not move.
“Prove it.”
Mara removed a necklace.
A small silver key hung from the chain.
Claire recognized it.
Her father had owned the matching key.
“What does it open?”
“A storage room beneath Bennett Distribution Center One.”
“What is inside?”
“I was told only you would know.”
Claire did know.
William had taken her there when she was twelve.
The room held emergency records that were never entered into the company’s digital systems.
Claire approached cautiously.
“Did Nathan tell you about Lily?”
“No.”
That answer made Claire trust her slightly more.
If Mara belonged to Adrian, she would have known about the child.
Claire entered the vehicle.
Mara drove east on an unmarked service road.
“Where are we going?”
“To an airfield.”
“No.”
Mara glanced at her.
“Nathan’s instructions—”
“Change them.”
“Claire, the clinic is compromised.”
“So is every location Nathan selected.”
Mara tightened her grip on the wheel.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Distribution Center One.”
“That building was closed years ago.”
“Exactly.”
They drove in silence.
Claire found a secure phone inside the glove compartment.
She called the Bennett corporate emergency line and entered a code known only to trustees.
A computerized voice responded.
IDENTIFY PRIMARY BENEFICIARY.
“Claire Elizabeth Bennett.”
VOICE CONFIRMATION ACCEPTED.
“Activate Covenant Protocol.”
Mara looked at her sharply.
“What is that?”
Claire ignored her.
The system continued.
COVENANT PROTOCOL REQUIRES TWO-FACTOR AUTHORIZATION.
Claire entered a sequence of numbers from memory.
AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED.
ALL BENNETT LOGISTICS OPERATIONS WILL ENTER PROTECTIVE SUSPENSION IN THIRTY MINUTES.
Mara nearly swerved.
“You just shut down the entire company.”
“I shut down any vehicle or facility Northstar may be using.”
“That includes emergency medical deliveries.”
“Verified hospital shipments will be transferred to independent carriers.”
“How long have you planned this?”
“Since my father died.”
Claire opened the trust management portal.
Every account connected to Daniel remained frozen.
But one new transaction appeared.
A transfer of twelve million dollars had been initiated from an inactive subsidiary.
Destination: Mercer Strategic Consulting.
Daniel’s nonexistent company.
The transfer required final approval from a Bennett trustee.
Someone had forged Claire’s authorization.
Claire traced the request.
It originated from Distribution Center One.
The place they were heading.
She looked at Mara.
“Who knew we would go there?”
“No one.”
Claire turned toward the road behind them.
A black sedan appeared in the distance.
Its headlights flashed twice.
Mara increased speed.
The sedan accelerated.
Claire’s phone rang.
The caller identification displayed Daniel’s name.
She answered.
His voice was barely audible.
“Claire, don’t go to the distribution center.”
“How do you know where I am going?”
“Because they want you there.”
“Who?”
Daniel breathed heavily.
There was fear in his voice.
Real fear.
“They showed me the records.”
“What records?”
“The baby records.”
Claire looked down at Lily.
May you like
Daniel continued.
“Lily’s birth was arranged before you ever met me.”
