Chapter 13 - The Price of Freedom
The emergency tunnel led to an abandoned mine shaft.
Claire carried Lily while the others climbed through smoke and falling dust.
They emerged into the forest half a mile from the cabin.
Behind them, black smoke rose from a concealed opening in the mountain.
Jordan tried the metal drive on his laptop.
Encrypted.
Dr. Warren examined Lily beside the car.
Her vital signs were stable.
“What did they do to you?” Claire asked.
“They took pictures of my blood.”
“Did they inject anything?”
Lily shook her head.
“Rose stopped them.”
Rebecca looked toward the mountain.
“She stayed behind.”
“She said Helena would hurt everyone if she left.”
Claire held the encrypted drive.
“Then we go back.”
“The facility is collapsing,” Jordan said.
“We cannot leave her.”
“We also cannot help her by dying in a mine.”
Sirens approached from the town.
Not police sirens.
Private security vehicles.
They drove out through an old logging road before the vehicles reached the cabin.
At the nearest city, Elena arranged a secure medical examination for Lily.
Federal agents took statements but found the Hollow Creek facility abandoned by the time they arrived.
No bodies.
No staff.
No Rose.
No Helena.
The underground hospital had been cleared with military efficiency.
Officials recovered damaged equipment but little usable evidence.
Jordan attempted to publish the story.
His newspaper refused.
Editors claimed they could not verify the mountain facility.
The Meridian scandal remained in the news, but public attention shifted toward Daniel’s upcoming trial.
Daniel offered prosecutors a deal.
He would identify Meridian directors in exchange for reduced charges.
Claire attended the preliminary hearing.
Daniel entered the courtroom wearing a gray suit.
He looked smaller without his expensive office and private guards.
When he saw Lily, his eyes moved toward her feeding tube.
Not with concern.
With calculation.
During a recess, he asked to speak with Claire.
She refused.
Then he told his lawyer to deliver a message.
Rose Ellison will die in seventy-two hours.
Claire met Daniel in a guarded interview room.
He sat behind thick glass.
“You know where she is,” Claire said.
“I know what Helena needs.”
“What?”
“Lily’s reversal response.”
“She already took blood.”
“Not enough.”
“Where is Rose?”
“First, I want protection.”
“You tried to destroy my life.”
“I protected you for years.”
“You allowed Meridian to experiment on Lily.”
“I delayed the final phase.”
“You expect gratitude?”
Daniel leaned closer to the glass.
“Your mother wanted to expose everything. Meridian ordered me to kill her.”
Claire’s hands went cold.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Evelyn arranged the crash.”
Claire stared at him.
“My grandmother killed Anna?”
“She believed one death would save the rest of us.”
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No. I expect you to understand that Evelyn’s confession is incomplete.”
Daniel slid a piece of paper against the glass.
A set of coordinates was written on it.
“Rose will be moved through this location tomorrow night.”
“Why tell me?”
“Because Helena plans to erase every remaining subject after obtaining Lily.”
“Including you?”
“Especially me.”
Claire took the paper.
“What do you want?”
“A new identity and immunity.”
“You deserve prison.”
“Perhaps. But Rose deserves to live.”
Claire left without agreeing.
Outside, Evelyn waited in a wheelchair under federal supervision.
She had requested the meeting.
Claire nearly walked past.
“Daniel told you I killed Anna,” Evelyn said.
“Did you?”
Evelyn’s face looked older than before.
“I arranged the car.”
Claire stopped.
Evelyn continued before Claire could speak.
“I intended to help Anna escape. The vehicle was supposed to take her to Canada.”
“The car crashed.”
“It was struck by a truck owned by the foundation.”
“You still lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“For eighteen years.”
“Yes.”
Claire’s voice broke.
“You let me believe my mother was dead.”
“I believed she was.”
“Now you don’t?”
Evelyn reached into her coat and removed a folded hospital bracelet.
The name had nearly faded.
ANNA MERCER
Admission date: six months after the reported crash.
Location: Meridian Central.
Claire stared at it.
“Where did you get this?”
“Daniel kept it in his safe.”
“He said Anna was dead.”
“Daniel says what helps him survive.”
Claire thought of the red folder Evelyn would one day bring to her door, the bruise on her face, and the black sedan in the rain.
The future seemed to tighten around them.
“Why should I believe you now?”
Evelyn looked at Lily across the courthouse lobby.
“Because I spent my life protecting a family name that deserved to die.”
She placed another object in Claire’s hand.
A tiny brass key.
“Anna’s private deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Mercer National Bank.”
The bank belonged to Daniel.
Evelyn’s eyes filled with tears.
“He never knew she had it.”
Inside the deposit box, Claire found no money.
Only a map, a photograph, and an unopened birthday card addressed to Lily.
The photograph showed Anna standing beside a hospital window.
It had been taken recently.
On the back were two sentences.
May you like
Rose knows where I am.
Do not trust the rescue route.
