Chapter 12 - The Man Who Chose Too Late
Emily handed Maisie to Beck.
“Take her.”
“No.”
“Marcus, take my daughter.”
Beck saw the determination in her face.
He accepted Maisie and ordered two agents to escort them toward the surface.
Emily ran toward the gunshot.
The corridor descended into a massive laboratory filled with glass cylinders and cryogenic tanks.
Peter lay near the central platform, blood spreading across his shirt.
Helen stood above him holding a pistol.
She aimed at Emily.
“He never had the courage to finish anything.”
Emily raised her weapon.
“Drop it.”
Helen laughed.
“You still think you are in control.”
“Your files are being uploaded.”
“Some files.”
A countdown echoed overhead.
Five minutes until sterilization.
Helen moved toward the central console.
“The real Eos archive has never been connected to this network.”
“Where is it?”
“Inside the only place Elaine knew I could not reach.”
Emily understood.
“Maisie.”
“Not exactly.”
Helen pressed a button.
A screen illuminated.
It displayed a genetic sequence divided into three sections.
E-17.
E-19.
M-1.
“Elaine split the activation key across three biological generations,” Helen said. “Herself, the embryo and the child.”
“Then you cannot complete it with Maisie alone.”
“I already have Elaine’s blood.”
“You do not have E-19.”
Helen smiled.
“The tissue used in your fertility treatment was not completely consumed.”
A cryogenic cylinder rose from beneath the floor.
Inside was a tiny suspended mass of preserved tissue.
Emily felt horror and grief for something she had never known how to name.
Helen aimed the gun at Peter.
“Give me Maisie’s blood bag.”
Emily remembered the sample inside her jacket.
“You already collected it.”
“The sample you took is the only complete one. Peter damaged the others before you arrived.”
Even wounded, Peter had tried to protect Maisie.
Emily slowly removed the blood bag.
Helen held out her hand.
“If the facility sterilizes, the tissue dies.”
“Then let it die.”
“This treatment could save every soldier you have ever sent into battle.”
“Not if it requires murdering my daughter.”
“It requires a few cells.”
“You said the same thing about the trial patients.”
The countdown reached four minutes.
Peter moved weakly.
Helen looked down.
Emily threw the blood bag toward the opposite side of the laboratory.
Helen turned instinctively.
Peter grabbed her ankle.
She fired.
The bullet struck the floor beside his head.
Emily rushed forward.
Helen fired again.
Pain burned across Emily’s upper arm, but she did not stop.
She collided with Helen and drove her into the console.
The gun slid across the floor.
Peter reached for it.
Helen kicked him in the wound.
Emily struck her twice.
Helen grabbed a broken glass instrument and slashed Emily’s shoulder.
They fell against the cryogenic controls.
Warning lights flashed.
The cylinder containing E-19 began to thaw.
Helen screamed.
“What did you do?”
The preserved tissue darkened inside the chamber.
Emily stared at the controls.
“I ended it.”
Helen attacked her with desperate fury.
Peter raised the pistol.
“Mother.”
Helen froze.
Peter was pale, barely conscious.
“Move away from Emily.”
Helen looked at him with contempt.
“You would choose her after everything she has done?”
Peter’s hand shook.
“She gave me a family.”
“I gave you everything.”
“You gave me fear.”
Helen stepped toward him.
“You do not have the courage to shoot me.”
Peter’s eyes filled with tears.
“You’re right.”
He lowered the gun.
Helen smiled.
Then Peter struck the emergency release.
A steel containment door dropped between Helen and the exit.
She spun toward the sealed barrier.
The countdown reached two minutes.
Emily pulled Peter to his feet.
“What did you do?”
“The sterilization system divides the sectors.”
“Helen is trapped.”
“So are we.”
A secondary door began closing at the far end.
Emily dragged Peter through it seconds before it sealed.
Helen pounded on the glass behind them.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
“Peter!”
He turned back.
She pressed both palms against the barrier.
“I am your mother.”
Peter stared at her.
“No. You are the reason I never understood what that word meant.”
The corridor filled with white vapor.
Emily pulled him away.
They reached the emergency lift with thirty seconds remaining.
May you like
The doors opened.
Calvin Shaw stood inside holding a gun.
