Chapter 11 - THE ROOM BENEATH ST. VINCENT
At 11:47 p.m., Ava walked alone toward the abandoned St. Vincent Women's Clinic.
Snow had stopped.
The night was painfully clear.
A camera above the entrance rotated toward her.
A buzzer sounded.
The door unlocked.
Ava entered.
The lobby had been stripped years earlier.
Dust covered the old reception desk.
Plastic sheets hung from ceilings.
A single illuminated arrow pointed toward a stairwell.
Ava followed.
Down one level.
Then another.
At basement three, an elevator waited.
No buttons.
The doors opened automatically.
Ava stepped inside.
It descended for twenty-nine seconds.
Far deeper than any clinic basement.
When the doors opened, she entered a modern medical facility.
White corridors.
Glass labs.
Cold fluorescent lights.
Northstar had never closed.
It had simply gone underground.
Nathan waited.
No gun visible.
"Right on time."
Ava looked around.
"Where's my mother?"
"Safe."
"Show me."
Nathan smiled.
"You were always impatient."
"You knew me for seven years."
"I knew your calendar."
"You knew when I cried after fertility appointments."
His smile faded.
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
"Which part?"
"The appointments."
"Malcolm lied to me."
"Yes."
"And you helped."
Nathan looked away.
"Not everything I did was an assignment."
Ava studied him.
"Did you care about me?"
"More than I should have."
"Then prove it."
Nathan's jaw tightened.
"I can't."
"Because Eleanor owns you?"
His eyes flashed.
"Eleanor doesn't own anyone."
"That's exactly what owned people say."
He stepped close.
"You think Malcolm is different?"
"No."
That surprised him.
"I think you're all cowards who obeyed a system until it hurt you personally."
Nathan stared.
Ava continued.
"Now take me to my mother."
He led her through two security doors.
Marianne sat inside a glass room.
Alive.
A bruise marked her cheek.
Ava moved toward her.
Nathan blocked the door.
"After the archive."
"No."
"Ava."
"Open the door."
A woman's heels clicked behind them.
Eleanor Hayes approached.
White suit.
Pearls.
Perfect posture.
As though arriving at a fundraiser rather than an underground prison.
"My difficult daughter-in-law."
Ava turned.
"My fraudulent mother-in-law."
Eleanor smiled.
"I always admired your vocabulary."
"You sterilized me."
"Malcolm did."
"You ordered it."
"I recommended it."
Ava lunged.
Nathan caught her.
Eleanor didn't flinch.
"Temper has always been the Mercer flaw."
"Let my mother go."
"When the archive opens."
"What archive?"
Eleanor gestured toward a steel door.
"You'll see."
They entered a circular chamber.
At its center stood a biometric console.
No keyboard.
Only a glass plate.
Ava looked at it.
"What happens if I refuse?"
Eleanor nodded toward Marianne's room.
"You won't."
Ava pressed her palm to the glass.
Nothing.
Eleanor frowned.
"Blood."
Ava didn't move.
Nathan handed her a sterile lancet.
She pricked her finger.
A drop of blood touched the sensor.
The console activated.
SAMUEL MERCER SUCCESSION PROTOCOL.
IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
AVA ELIZABETH MERCER HAYES.
Ava's stomach turned.
The screen displayed:
SECONDARY FAMILY AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED.
Eleanor looked toward Nathan.
Nathan stared.
"It shouldn't require me."
Ava understood.
"Ryan."
Eleanor's expression sharpened.
Ava smiled.
"You didn't know."
Eleanor slapped her.
Ava tasted blood.
"Bring Ryan."
Nathan didn't move.
Eleanor turned.
"I said bring him."
Nathan slowly smiled.
"No."
For the first time, Eleanor looked uncertain.
Nathan removed his earpiece.
"You spent thirty-three years telling me I was the spare."
Eleanor's face became cold.
"Don't be emotional."
"You sent me to watch Malcolm."
"Yes."
"Then Ava."
"Yes."
"You told me if Malcolm failed, I would replace him."
Ava stared.
Replace him.
As her husband?
As a biological match?
The thought made her sick.
Nathan continued.
"But Samuel's system doesn't recognize me."
Eleanor said nothing.
"All those years," Nathan whispered. "I was never the spare."
A gunshot echoed somewhere above.
Eleanor turned sharply.
Alarm lights flashed.
Thomas's team had entered.
Nathan grabbed Eleanor's arm.
"Open Marianne's room."
"No."
He pressed a gun against Eleanor's side.
"Open it."
Eleanor smiled.
"You won't shoot me."
Nathan's voice broke.
"You should have learned more about the children you raised."
He fired.
Not into her.
Into the console beside her.
Sparks erupted.
Eleanor screamed.
The glass door to Marianne's room unlocked.
Ava ran.
She reached her mother and pulled her out.
Marianne hugged her.
"Go!"
More gunfire sounded.
Ryan's voice echoed from the hallway.
"Ava!"
He appeared with Thomas and Helen.
Eleanor stared at them.
Then at Ryan.
Something about Ryan's face changed her expression.
Recognition.
"No," she whispered.
Ryan stopped.
"What?"
Eleanor stepped toward him.
"No."
Thomas raised his weapon.
"Stay back."
Eleanor ignored him.
She stared at Ryan as though seeing a ghost.
Then she whispered a name.
"Michael."
Ryan frowned.
"My name is Ryan."
May you like
Eleanor's face lost all color.
"Who told you that?"
