Chapter 13 - THE WRONG HUSBAND
Nobody moved.
Nathan stared at the screen.
Malcolm looked at Ava.
Eleanor smiled.
Slowly.
Triumphantly.
"There it is."
Ava turned toward her.
"You knew."
"Of course."
Malcolm's face hardened.
"You told me I was the match."
"You were compatible."
"That's not the same thing."
"No."
Nathan laughed bitterly.
"The spare wasn't the spare."
Eleanor looked at him.
"You were Samuel's preferred candidate."
Ava felt nauseated.
"Candidate for what?"
"Marriage."
"No."
"Reproduction."
"No."
"Succession."
Ava stepped toward Eleanor.
"I am not discussing which brother should have been assigned to my body."
Eleanor tilted her head.
"You still think ordinary morality applies."
"It applies more now than ever."
Malcolm looked at Nathan.
"Why didn't Samuel choose me?"
Nathan answered before Eleanor could.
"Because you were easier to control."
Malcolm's expression tightened.
Nathan continued.
"Samuel wanted someone resistant to Northstar."
Eleanor laughed.
"Nathan was rebellious. Samuel mistook disobedience for integrity."
Ava looked at Nathan.
"Did you know?"
"No."
"For seven years you worked beside me."
"I knew I was assigned to watch you. I didn't know why Samuel had marked me."
"Did you ever consider replacing Malcolm?"
Nathan said nothing.
Ava's stomach turned.
"Nathan."
"Once."
Malcolm stepped toward him.
Nathan raised the gun.
Ryan moved between them.
"Can everyone postpone the family murder until after we escape?"
An explosion shook the building.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Thomas checked the monitor.
"They're inside."
Ava looked at Samuel's video.
"Can we copy everything?"
Helen connected a drive.
"Trying."
The system displayed a transfer.
12 percent.
Gunfire grew louder.
Eleanor smiled.
"You won't get enough."
Ava looked at her.
"We already got enough to destroy you."
"No."
Eleanor's confidence returned.
"Because nobody believes secret fertility conspiracies without records."
Helen glanced at the transfer.
41 percent.
"She's right."
Ava turned to Eleanor.
"Then we'll keep you."
Eleanor laughed.
"You think I fear prison?"
"No."
Ava moved close.
"I think you fear irrelevance."
For the first time, Eleanor's smile faded.
Transfer: 58 percent.
Thomas shouted:
"Movement!"
Armed men appeared at the far corridor.
Nathan fired first.
Glass shattered.
Malcolm pulled Ava down behind the console.
Gunfire erupted.
Ryan dragged Marianne toward cover.
Helen protected the drive.
Transfer: 67 percent.
A bullet struck Malcolm.
He collapsed.
Ava grabbed him.
"Malcolm!"
Blood spread across his side.
He looked surprised.
"Apparently the dying thing wasn't fast enough for them."
"Shut up."
Ava pressed her hand over the wound.
Nathan fired toward the corridor.
"Thirty seconds!"
Transfer: 81 percent.
Eleanor suddenly moved.
She lunged toward the console.
Ava grabbed her.
They struggled.
Eleanor scratched Ava's face.
"You stupid girl! You have no idea what Evelyn carries!"
"Then tell me!"
"It isn't records!"
Ava froze.
Eleanor smiled.
"It's embryos."
Ava stared.
"What?"
"Thousands."
The word felt monstrous.
"Genetic material from every primary Northstar line."
Ava looked toward Samuel's recording.
Living custodian.
Not metaphorical.
Evelyn carried access to preserved embryos.
"The archive is biological."
Eleanor laughed.
"Now you understand."
Transfer: 93 percent.
Nathan shouted:
"Move!"
A second explosion rocked the hallway.
The screen reached 100 percent.
Helen pulled the drive.
"Got it!"
Ava dragged Malcolm upright.
They escaped through an emergency corridor.
Thomas forced Eleanor with them.
Ryan supported Marianne.
Nathan covered the retreat.
They reached a freight elevator.
The doors closed as armed men entered the chamber.
One fired.
Nathan jerked.
Blood appeared across his chest.
Ava screamed.
Malcolm caught his brother before he fell.
Nathan looked down at the wound.
"Well."
Malcolm pressed both hands against it.
"Stay with me."
Nathan laughed weakly.
"Now you care?"
"Shut up."
"You always were bossy."
The elevator rose.
Ava watched the brothers.
One dying from a disease created by Northstar.
The other bleeding from a bullet fired by its board.
Two children raised as tools.
The doors opened to the abandoned lobby.
Police lights flashed outside.
Thomas's contacts had arrived.
Eleanor smiled again.
Ava frowned.
"Why are you smiling?"
Eleanor looked through the windows.
"Those aren't Thomas's police."
Thomas went pale.
The officers outside raised rifles.
Then the loudspeaker activated.
"Ava Hayes, surrender Eleanor Hayes and the archive."
Thomas whispered:
"They own the response team."
Ava looked around.
Blocked exits.
Injured Malcolm.
Bleeding Nathan.
Marianne exhausted.
Ryan furious.
Helen holding the stolen data.
Then headlights appeared beyond the police line.
A white ambulance accelerated directly toward the building.
Officers shouted.
The ambulance crashed through a side barrier.
Rear doors opened.
Claire jumped out.
And behind her stood Evelyn.
Ava saw her sister for the first time without glass or surveillance footage between them.
May you like
Evelyn raised a rifle.
"Anybody who wants to live," she shouted, "get in!"
