Chapter 10 - What Daniel Was Protecting
Daniel pointed the gun toward Noah.
Sarah stepped between them.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Sarah, you don’t understand.”
“I understand that you lied about my baby’s death.”
Daniel’s eyes shifted to the photograph in her hand.
“Where did you get that?”
“Noah gave it to me.”
Daniel looked at Noah.
“You should never have come here.”
Noah moved closer to Ethan’s bed.
“They found me.”
“You contacted them.”
“I wanted to know why I was raised in a cage.”
Daniel’s hand shook.
Sarah spoke slowly.
“Put the gun down.”
“I’m trying to save Ethan.”
“By using Noah without consent?”
“The procedure requires a genetic bridge. Noah is the only match.”
“Then wake Ethan and explain it to both of them.”
“There is no time.”
“There is always time to ask someone before cutting into their body.”
Daniel’s face twisted.
“You think morality will keep Ethan alive?”
“I think you stopped caring about morality fourteen years ago.”
Daniel flinched.
Sarah saw that the words had struck deeper than a slap.
“What happened to my son?” she demanded.
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“We cannot discuss this here.”
“You brought a gun into a laboratory. We are discussing it here.”
The door behind him opened.
Victor Mercer entered with Dr. Reeves and two security guards dressed in blue.
Elena’s warning.
Trust no one wearing blue.
Mercer looked at Daniel’s weapon.
“This is becoming embarrassing.”
Daniel aimed the gun at Mercer.
The guards raised theirs.
Sarah stood between three lines of fire.
Mercer sighed.
“Daniel, give me the weapon.”
“You promised Subject Seven would be safe.”
Sarah’s heart lurched at the name.
Mercer’s eyes settled on her.
“Your husband has always struggled with selective loyalty.”
Daniel shouted, “Tell her where he is.”
Mercer smiled.
“You know where he is.”
Daniel’s face drained of color.
Sarah turned toward him.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel did not answer.
Mercer walked farther into the room.
“The child you delivered possessed a rare genetic trait. His cells could adapt rapidly to certain therapies. Halcyon was created to study children like him.”
“You experimented on my baby.”
“We preserved his life.”
“You stole him.”
“Daniel signed the transfer.”
Sarah looked at her husband.
“No.”
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.
“They said he would die without treatment.”
“You signed him away?”
“I believed it was temporary.”
“You gave me Rebecca’s baby so I wouldn’t look for mine.”
“I gave you Ethan because you were dying from grief.”
“I had not even been told my child was gone.”
Daniel lowered the gun slightly.
“I was twenty-nine. Victor controlled everything. The clinic, the doctors, the records. He told me I could save one child or lose both.”
Mercer corrected him.
“I offered you a career and a family.”
Daniel fired.
The bullet struck Mercer in the shoulder.
Chaos erupted.
The guards tackled Daniel.
Sarah pulled Noah and Ethan’s bed behind a metal cabinet.
Dr. Reeves activated an alarm.
Red lights flashed.
Mercer fell against a counter, blood spreading across his suit.
He looked not frightened, but furious.
“Begin the transfer,” he ordered.
Dr. Reeves pressed a control on the wall.
The laboratory doors sealed.
Mechanical locks engaged around Ethan’s bed.
A panel opened in the floor.
The entire bed began descending.
Sarah grabbed the railing.
“No!”
Noah seized Ethan’s other arm.
Daniel fought beneath the guards.
Mercer watched as Ethan disappeared below the floor.
Sarah clung to the rail until the narrowing gap crushed her fingers.
May you like
She was forced to let go.
Ethan vanished into the darkness beneath the laboratory.
