Chapter 20 - Eleanor Cross Was Still AliveThe train moved beneath Briarwood without appearing on any municipal plan.
Bell tried his radio.
Nothing.
One of the agents examined the doors, searching for an emergency release.
Miriam sat opposite me with the C-14 folders on her lap.
“Eleanor Cross was not our mother,” I said.
“Biologically, she was your source.”
“Cora said we killed her.”
“She was taught a constructed history.”
“What history?”
Miriam hesitated.
I took Cora’s folder from her.
“Tell me before she does.”
“Eleanor discovered the project and tried to remove both embryos from Halcyon.”
“Before we were born?”
“Yes.”
“Leonard stopped her.”
“Nathan stopped her.”
I looked toward the dark tunnel outside.
“How?”
“He reported her plan.”
“Why?”
“He believed Continuity would save the family.”
“From what?”
“Financial ruin. Prosecution. Exposure.”
Miriam’s voice was nearly lost beneath the train.
“Leonard had used Marrow Foundation clinics to conduct illegal fertility research. Eleanor collected evidence. If she released it, hundreds of people would have gone to prison.”
“They deserved to.”
“Yes.”
“But Nathan chose the project.”
“He was seventeen.”
“He had thirty-four years to change his mind.”
Miriam did not defend him.
The train slowed.
A monitor displayed old security footage.
Eleanor Cross ran through a medical corridor carrying a metal container.
She was younger than in the recording from the drive.
Nathan appeared behind her.
He blocked the exit.
Eleanor shouted something the silent footage did not capture.
Nathan reached for the container.
They struggled.
A security guard struck Eleanor from behind.
She fell.
The container rolled across the floor.
The image froze.
Text appeared.
MATERNAL SUBJECT ATTEMPTED TERMINATION OF C-14 SERIES.
Cora’s voice filled the train.
“She tried to kill us.”
The footage resumed.
Eleanor lay unconscious.
Nathan lifted the container and returned it to a technician.
The screen changed to a hospital room.
Eleanor was strapped to a bed.
Leonard stood beside her.
The date was eight months before my birth.
The date of her supposed death.
“She didn’t die,” I said.
“No,” Miriam whispered.
“Where did they take her?”
“I never knew.”
The monitor responded.
SOURCE RETAINED IN ORIGINAL VAULT.
I stopped breathing.
My father’s warning returned.
Who is inside the vault?
Not just Cora.
Eleanor.
Our biological mother had been held underground for more than three decades.
“Is she alive?” Bell asked.
Miriam stared at the screen.
“She would be in her sixties.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
“I don’t know.”
The train entered a circular station.
The doors opened.
Beyond them waited a white corridor.
A speaker announced:
“Primary claimant must proceed.”
Bell stepped out before me.
A red light flashed.
“Unauthorized escort detected.”
Metal barriers dropped between us.
Bell landed on the opposite side.
I remained inside the train with Miriam.
“Claire!” Bell struck the barrier. “Do not move.”
A second door opened behind us.
Miriam stood.
“They expected me.”
“Why?”
“Because the source verification requires a Marrow witness.”
“You?”
“Leonard named me custodian by blood.”
“You said you betrayed the project.”
“I did.”
“Then why did the key respond to you?”
“Because systems do not understand regret.”
The speaker repeated its command.
I stepped into the corridor.
Miriam followed.
The doors closed behind us, separating us from Bell and the agents.
We walked until the corridor divided.
One direction was marked PRIMARY.
The other CUSTODIAN.
Miriam stopped.
“This is where we separate.”
“No.”
“I have to disable the witness authorization.”
“You don’t know what’s waiting for you.”
“Yes, I do.”
For the first time, fear broke through her calm expression.
“Nathan.”
I looked at her.
“He wants you to authorize the transfer.”
“He wants me to choose between you and Cora.”
“Will you?”
“No.”
“What happens if you refuse?”
“The trust enters permanent lock.”
“Then refuse.”
Miriam gave a sad smile.
“Leonard designed a penalty for custodial refusal.”
“What penalty?”
“All living claimants are terminated.”
The overhead lights dimmed.
A door opened at the end of her corridor.
Nathan stood there.
He wore a dark suit.
No hospital gown.
No oxygen tube.
No weakness.
He looked at his mother.
“You always arrive when the damage is already done.”
Miriam faced me.
“Find Eleanor.”
Then she walked toward her son.
A door sealed between us.
My corridor remained empty.
At the end was a nursery.
Two cribs stood beneath soft yellow lights.
One was labeled CLAIRE.
The other was labeled CORA.
Between them sat an elderly woman in a wheelchair.
Her white hair fell across her shoulders.
A faded scar rested beside her right eyebrow.
She looked up as I entered.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then she whispered, “Which one are you?”
“Claire.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“They told me Claire died.”
I knelt before her.
“I’m alive.”
She touched my face with shaking fingers.
Behind us, the nursery door locked.
A camera activated above the cribs.
Julian Cross’s voice spoke through a hidden speaker.
“One source recovered.”
The elderly woman gripped my wrist.
“You have to kill the system before Cora arrives.”
“How?”
May you like
Eleanor looked toward the empty cribs.
“You must prove neither of you is me.”
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