Chapter 11 - Stage Four
The room was colder than any hospital room Natalie had known.
There were no windows.
No clocks.
Only white walls, steel equipment, and the glowing Marrow symbol above the door.
Natalie pulled against the restraints.
Her arms felt heavy from the drug.
Mark watched from behind the glass.
He had changed into blue medical clothing.
Diane stood beside Natalie, arranging instruments.
“You had me kidnapped from a hospital,” Natalie whispered.
Diane selected a syringe.
“You were transferred according to your husband’s authorization.”
“The police saw him attack me.”
“The correct police saw a distressed man trying to restrain his delusional wife.”
Natalie looked through the glass.
Mark would not meet her eyes.
“Where are we?”
“The institute.”
“The one with no public address?”
Diane pushed air from the syringe.
“Privacy is essential.”
Natalie tested the straps again.
“What is in that?”
“A sedative.”
“No.”
Diane inserted the needle into Natalie’s IV line.
Warmth spread through her arm.
Natalie fought to remain alert.
A second person entered.
A female doctor in her fifties, wearing a surgical cap.
She checked the monitors.
“Her temperature is elevated,” the doctor said.
“Proceed,” Diane replied.
“We should delay.”
“We have delayed for twelve years.”
Natalie turned her head.
“Who are you?”
The doctor ignored her.
Diane opened a metal container.
Inside were three thin capsules.
They resembled short hollow needles.
Natalie recognized the shape from Anna’s file.
“Those were inside me.”
“Earlier versions.”
“You drugged me for years.”
“I corrected your moods.”
“My moods?”
“You were anxious. Defiant. Suspicious.”
“Because you were abusing me.”
Diane smiled.
“Cause and symptom are often confused.”
The female doctor adjusted an ultrasound device near Natalie’s abdomen.
Natalie tried to raise her head.
“What are you doing?”
“Preparing for transfer.”
“I do not consent.”
Diane leaned over her.
“Consent is a social convenience. Biology has no interest in it.”
Natalie looked toward Mark.
“Mark.”
He finally faced her.
“Tell them to stop.”
He stepped closer to the glass.
“You need to calm down.”
“You know this is wrong.”
“This is bigger than us.”
“They are putting something inside me.”
“A child.”
“Not our child.”
His jaw tightened.
“It will be mine.”
“No. It will belong to your mother.”
Diane’s eyes flashed.
Mark pressed the intercom button.
“You said you wanted a family.”
“Not like this.”
“You made me feel broken.”
“I did not make you infertile.”
He flinched.
Natalie continued.
“You let her punish me because you hated what you were.”
“Shut up.”
“You needed me to be the failure.”
“Shut up.”
“You watched her hurt me because every bruise proved you were still the powerful one.”
Mark struck the glass.
“Shut up.”
The female doctor turned toward Diane.
“She is too agitated.”
“Then increase the dose.”
Natalie’s vision blurred.
She forced herself to focus on the room beyond the glass.
A security monitor showed several hallways.
On one screen, two guards escorted Rebecca through a corridor.
Her hands were bound.
“Rebecca,” Natalie whispered.
Diane followed her gaze.
“She was foolish enough to return for you.”
“What will you do to her?”
“What should have been done years ago.”
Another screen showed Ethan being pushed into a holding room.
Lena was not visible.
Natalie’s hope narrowed to almost nothing.
Diane positioned the instrument between Natalie’s legs.
The female doctor attached a catheter.
Natalie began to shake.
“Please.”
Mark looked away again.
Diane smiled.
“Some things never change.”
The procedure-room door opened.
Calvin entered, breathing heavily.
“We have a problem.”
Diane did not look up.
“What?”
“Ortiz escaped.”
“Find her.”
“She took the hospital server copy.”
Diane’s hands stopped.
“What copy?”
“The emergency-room scan.”
Natalie watched fear appear in Diane’s face.
Only for a moment.
But it was real.
Ethan had scanned the capsule inside Natalie before the blackout.
If the image reached someone outside Marrow, it could prove the abuse and the illegal drug-delivery system.
Calvin continued.
“She sent it to the state medical examiner.”
Diane turned toward the female doctor.
“Begin now.”
“The patient is unstable.”
“Begin.”
The doctor hesitated.
Diane pulled the pistol from beneath her coat.
“Begin.”
The catheter advanced.
Natalie screamed.
Then every monitor in the room displayed the same message.
EXTERNAL SECURITY OVERRIDE.
The locked doors opened.
Alarms began to sound.
On the surveillance screens, armed state officers flooded the hallways.
Diane aimed the pistol at Natalie.
May you like
“If I lose everything,” she whispered, “you lose it first.”
A gunshot shook the room.
