Chapter 14 - Distribution Center Three
Distribution Center Three looked abandoned from the outside.
Its windows were covered with dust. Weeds grew through cracks in the parking lot. A faded Bennett logo remained above the loading entrance.
Inside, the facility was alive.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Security doors opened and closed under the Covenant Protocol.
Claire, Nathan, Mara, and two rescued adults entered through a maintenance corridor.
Eleanor remained behind with the children and the unconscious captives.
Before Claire left, Eleanor grabbed her hand.
“Adrian is not the highest authority.”
“Who is?”
Eleanor’s lips trembled.
“The person William protected you from.”
“Margaret?”
Eleanor released her.
Claire could not tell whether that meant yes.
The group reached the training wing.
Behind a row of false hospital rooms stood a perfect recreation of the blue room.
Daniel remained tied to the chair.
The masked guard was gone.
Claire entered first.
Daniel looked at Lily, then lowered his eyes.
“You came.”
“Do not confuse this with forgiveness.”
Mara cut the restraints.
Daniel struggled to stand.
Nathan blocked him from approaching Claire.
“Where is Adrian?”
“He left when the lockdown started.”
“Which exit?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Tell me about Lily.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“What did they tell you?”
“That you are not her biological father.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“You knew.”
“I found out two months ago.”
Claire felt the words strike her physically.
“You knew while I was pregnant.”
“I didn’t believe it at first.”
“Who is her father?”
“Adrian never gave me a name.”
“Then what did he tell you?”
Daniel sat back in the chair.
“He said the embryo had been selected because of its genetic compatibility with the Bennett line.”
Claire stared.
“That makes no sense.”
Nathan spoke quietly.
“Unless the biological father was related to you.”
Claire turned.
“You mean Jonah?”
“No,” Daniel said. “Adrian called the donor the original heir.”
Nathan’s face went pale.
Claire noticed.
“Who is the original heir?”
Nathan did not answer.
Claire moved closer.
“Who?”
A siren sounded outside the room.
Mara checked the corridor.
“Someone triggered the purge system.”
Nathan looked toward the ceiling vents.
“This facility stored medical waste. The purge system incinerates sealed zones.”
The door locked.
A countdown appeared on the wall monitor.
05:00.
Claire searched for an override.
Daniel pointed toward the desk.
“Adrian used a control panel there.”
Nathan removed the panel.
Wires had been cut.
04:31.
Mara fired at the lock.
No effect.
Claire scanned the room.
The replica had been built according to the original blue room’s dimensions.
William had always hidden more than one exit in sensitive facilities.
She looked at the floorboards.
The steel case beneath them had been removed.
But the cavity extended toward the wall.
Claire pulled away additional boards.
A narrow service shaft appeared.
04:02.
“Go,” Nathan said.
Claire lowered Lily’s carrier into the shaft.
Mara followed.
Daniel hesitated.
Claire looked at him.
“Move.”
He climbed inside.
Nathan entered last.
They crawled as heat began building behind them.
At the end of the shaft, Mara kicked open a ventilation grate.
They emerged inside a records room.
The countdown reached zero.
A blast shook the building.
Flames roared through the replica behind them.
Sprinklers activated.
Daniel collapsed against a shelf.
Claire looked through rows of paper files.
Each box carried a date and code.
One box contained her name.
CLAIRE BENNETT: SUCCESSION PROJECT.
She opened it.
Inside were photographs of Claire from infancy through adulthood.
Medical reports.
School records.
Psychological evaluations.
Relationship predictions.
A document dated twenty-nine years earlier described the birth of two female children.
Subject A: Claire Elizabeth Reed.
Subject B: Elise Margaret Reed.
Claire looked at Jonah’s daughter’s name.
Elise was not merely her half-sister.
They were twins.
Nathan sat down heavily.
“You knew?” Claire asked.
“I suspected.”
The file listed different placements.
Claire was transferred to William Bennett.
Elise remained with Jonah and Margaret.
A final page described the succession plan.
PRIMARY BENNETT HEIR: ELISE REED.
SECONDARY REPLACEMENT: CLAIRE REED.
Claire read the words again.
Replacement.
She had not been raised as William’s chosen daughter.
She had been the substitute for someone else.
Daniel found another file.
“Claire.”
He handed it to her.
The document was recent.
LILY BENNETT GENETIC ORIGIN.
Maternal source: Claire Reed.
Paternal source: classified.
Below it was a photograph of a man Claire recognized.
Her father.
William Bennett.
Claire dropped the file.
“That is impossible.”
Nathan picked it up.
The date of the stored genetic sample was seven years before William’s death.
Daniel looked sick.
“They used your father’s genetic material.”
“He raised me.”
“He wasn’t biologically related to you,” Nathan said.
Claire stared at him.
“That does not make this less monstrous.”
“No.”
A printer activated across the room.
One page emerged.
Then another.
Claire approached.
The first page contained an address.
The second contained a message.
BRING LILY TO MARGARET.
COME WITHOUT JONAH, NATHAN, OR DANIEL.
THE TRUTH ABOUT WILLIAM IS WAITING.
At the bottom was a live photograph of Margaret standing beside a hospital bed.
A young woman lay unconscious beneath white sheets.
May you like
She looked exactly like Claire.
Elise.
