Chapter 13 - The Founder’s Daughter
Lucy backed away from everyone.
“No.”
Edward struggled to sit higher in the hospital bed.
His fingers moved desperately.
D.
A.
D.
“I am your father,” Daniel interpreted. “He is saying he is your father.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“He raised her. That does not change the blood.”
“It changes everything,” Daniel said.
Lucy looked at Edward.
“Did you know?”
Edward tapped once.
Yes.
Her face crumpled.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
His hand shook as he spelled against the sheet.
L.
O.
V.
E.
Daniel spoke softly.
“He loved you.”
“That is why he lied?”
Edward struck the bed rail, frustrated by the limits of his body.
Daniel understood more than the letters.
“He was afraid the Cradle would claim you if they knew you carried founder access.”
Lucy looked toward the rows of sleeping people.
The countdown reached 10:58.
Patel touched her shoulder gently.
“Your blood may allow us to disable the detonation.”
She pulled away.
“I don’t want their blood.”
“You do not belong to them,” Oliver said.
Adrian stood beside him.
“They used our blood too.”
Oliver held out his hand.
“We can choose what it means.”
Lucy looked at him.
Then at Edward.
She approached the console.
“What do I do?”
Eleanor pointed toward a small genetic scanner.
“A drop of blood.”
Daniel stayed close.
Lucy pressed her thumb against the sensor.
A needle punctured the skin.
The system activated.
FOUNDER LINE CONFIRMED.
A list of commands appeared.
MASS AWAKENING.
FACILITY RELEASE.
ARCHIVE PURGE.
DETONATION OVERRIDE.
Lucy selected detonation override.
SECOND AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Oliver placed his hand on the left scanner.
Adrian placed his hand on the right.
The screen changed.
HEIR KEYS CONFIRMED.
THIRD AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Daniel looked around.
“Who else?”
The system displayed a symbol.
A circle divided into three parts.
Founder.
Heirs.
Witness.
Judge Holt approached.
“The original guardianship society required judicial oversight.”
She placed her hand on the center panel.
WITNESS CONFIRMED.
The countdown stopped at 09:47.
A breath moved through the room.
Then the screen displayed another message.
REMOTE DETONATION OVERRIDE TEMPORARY.
PHYSICAL CHARGES MUST BE DISARMED WITHIN THIRTY MINUTES.
“We bought time,” Holt said.
“Not enough,” Patel replied.
A map showed twelve explosive devices spread throughout the facility.
Marcus’s voice suddenly came through the room’s emergency radio.
“Daniel, answer.”
Daniel seized the receiver.
“Marcus?”
“I am with Dr. Kessler. We reached the sanatorium through the western entrance.”
“You survived.”
“Disappointingly for several people.”
Despite everything, Daniel almost smiled.
“We need twelve charges disarmed.”
“Send the locations.”
Eleanor transmitted the map.
Marcus and Kessler would handle the upper six. Daniel, Holt, and Eleanor would take the lower levels. Patel would remain with Edward and prepare Catherine’s chamber for transport.
The children refused to stay alone.
Daniel assigned Oliver and Adrian to help identify biometric locks while Lucy remained beside Edward.
Vanessa sat against the wall under Holt’s watch.
“You could help,” Daniel told her.
“No matter what I do, you will send me to prison.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would I help?”
Adrian answered.
“Because for once, you could do something that isn’t about what happens to you.”
Vanessa looked at him.
The boy she had shaped through fear no longer needed her approval.
Something inside her collapsed.
She stood.
“I know where three hidden charges are. Sebastian installed them after the hospital breach.”
Daniel handed her a toolkit.
“One wrong move and Holt stops you.”
Holt showed her the weapon.
They separated.
Daniel and the twins entered the western maintenance wing.
As they moved, Oliver studied Adrian.
“What name do you want?”
Adrian frowned.
“What?”
“Vanessa gave you that name. Do you want to keep it?”
The boy considered.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to decide now.”
“Did Mom name me?”
Daniel looked through the records on a wall terminal.
Catherine’s original delivery file contained two handwritten names.
Oliver Arthur.
Elliot Daniel.
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“She named you Elliot.”
The boy repeated it quietly.
“Elliot.”
Oliver smiled for the first time.
“I like it.”
Elliot looked away, but Daniel saw the small change in his face.
They reached the first charge.
Daniel opened the casing.
Three wires connected to a digital trigger.
Oliver studied the pattern.
“Cut the middle wire after the light flashes twice.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw the design in the map.”
Daniel followed his instruction.
The charge deactivated.
At the second location, Elliot’s wristband automatically unlocked a security cabinet.
Inside was another explosive.
Daniel realized the twins had been prepared as complementary tools.
Oliver remembered systems.
Elliot opened them.
Together, they could access almost anything the Cradle built.
That was why every faction wanted control of both.
They disabled three charges.
At the fourth, a guard attacked from behind.
Elliot saw the reflection in a metal panel and shouted.
Daniel turned in time to block the strike.
Oliver activated an emergency door, trapping the guard between security barriers.
The brothers moved without discussing it.
One recognized the pattern.
The other acted.
They had been separated for ten years, yet their instincts aligned.
Daniel understood what Helen had intended.
Not keys to an empire.
A safeguard against anyone controlling the entire system alone.
The radio crackled.
Marcus had disabled four charges.
Eleanor found two.
Vanessa reported one.
One device remained.
Its location flashed directly beneath the collection room.
Daniel returned with the twins.
Patel had prepared Catherine’s chamber for movement. Lucy sat beside Edward.
Holt guarded Vanessa.
“Where is the final charge?” Daniel asked.
Eleanor examined the map.
“Inside the power core.”
“Can it be removed?”
“No. If we disconnect it incorrectly, every suspension chamber will fail.”
A new video appeared on the main screen.
Sebastian stood inside a control room aboard an aircraft.
Behind him, Helen Cross lay unconscious in a medical transport capsule.
“You have performed better than expected,” he said.
Lucy ran to the screen.
“Mom.”
Sebastian looked at her.
“You resemble Augustus.”
“Where are you taking her?”
“Home.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Give us the deactivation code.”
“I do not have it.”
“You installed the charges.”
“I installed eleven.”
Everyone looked toward the final device marker.
“Who installed the last one?” Eleanor asked.
Sebastian smiled.
“The Founder.”
“Augustus?”
“No.”
The room fell silent.
Sebastian continued.
“Augustus did not create the Cradle. He merely believed he did.”
“Who did?”
“The woman who designed the original guardianship system. The woman whose death allowed every later faction to rewrite history.”
Eleanor whispered, “My mother.”
Sebastian nodded.
“Margaret Vale.”
Daniel remembered portraits of his grandmother. She had died before he was born.
Another convenient death.
“Is she alive?” he asked.
Sebastian looked toward someone outside the camera frame.
An elderly woman entered view.
She appeared nearly a hundred years old, but her posture was upright and her eyes were clear.
She wore a white dress and a black key around her neck.
Eleanor gripped the console.
“Mother.”
Margaret Vale looked into the camera.
“You have all made a terrible mess of my work.”
The final charge timer activated.
05:00.
Margaret continued.
“Bring Oliver, Elliot, and Lucy to the island, and I will transmit the code.”
Daniel said, “You are threatening every person in these chambers.”
“I am protecting the Cradle from people who confuse mercy with freedom.”
“They are not property.”
“They are history.”
The timer reached 04:41.
“Send the code,” Daniel demanded.
Margaret smiled.
“Agree to my terms.”
Oliver stepped toward the screen.
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
The boy’s bruised cheek remained visible, but his voice did not shake.
“You kept children hidden because you thought no one would stop you.”
Margaret studied him.
Oliver continued.
“Someone always comes through the door eventually.”
Margaret’s smile disappeared.
May you like
The screen went black.
The timer continued.
