Chapter 10 - The Children Beneath the Road
The bus stopped inches from the burned building.
The doors opened automatically.
A message appeared on the dashboard screen.
REMOVE THE CHILDREN.
BRING MARA AND CLAUDIA BELOW.
Daniel guided the students through the emergency exit. Officer Ortiz and Isaac arrived with the pursuing vehicles and moved the children behind a concrete barrier.
Mara wanted to remain with them, but Claudia pointed to the building.
“If we don’t go, they will take Sophie again.”
They entered through the eastern corridor.
The underground door stood open.
Lights illuminated the staircase despite the fire damage above.
At the bottom, the steel corridor had changed. The room where Evan had been chained was empty. Beyond it, a second passage led beneath the road.
Cameras followed their movement.
Nia waited at the end.
She was taller than Mara expected, with dark braids falling over a black coat. A silver ring covered the first knuckle of her right index finger.
Claudia stopped.
“Nia.”
“Do not say my name like you know me.”
“I am sorry.”
“You were sorry after your daughter died. Before that, you were grateful.”
Claudia accepted the words without defending herself.
Nia looked at Mara.
“You resemble Thomas.”
“My father is alive?”
“He was taken last night.”
“Where?”
“With the Director.”
Mara studied the girl.
“Where is Adrian?”
Nia’s expression revealed nothing.
“Follow me.”
She opened a security door using the silver ring, which contained an electronic key.
Beyond it lay a massive underground facility.
Rows of dormitory rooms extended along a central corridor. Children’s drawings covered the walls. Classrooms, medical rooms, and kitchens formed a self-contained institution hidden beneath the industrial district.
Mara saw children behind several windows.
Not twenty-four.
Hundreds.
Some were toddlers. Others were teenagers.
“They told us the warehouse was empty,” Claudia whispered.
“The warehouse was a doorway,” Nia said.
Stop Zero was not merely a selection site.
It was a private school for stolen children.
Mara approached a classroom window. A boy looked up from a book. His face resembled one from Adrian’s ACTIVE TRANSFERS folder.
“They are all missing children.”
“Not all,” Nia said. “Some were surrendered. Some were purchased before birth. Some were created for specific families.”
“Created?”
Nia continued walking.
“Embryos selected for traits. Children raised to inherit companies. Donors matched to sick heirs. Replacements for children who died.”
Claudia gripped the wall.
“My daughter.”
Nia stopped.
“Your daughter was never treated.”
Claudia stared at her.
“Malcolm said—”
“Malcolm used her medical records to identify me as a match. He allowed you to believe my marrow would save her. Your daughter died before I was taken.”
“No.”
“The dates were changed.”
Claudia sank to the floor.
“They took me because the Carter battery patents were held in trust until I turned eighteen,” Nia continued. “The marrow story made you cooperate.”
Claudia began sobbing.
Mara felt anger toward her, but the cruelty of the deception was undeniable.
“They manipulated everyone,” Mara said.
Nia looked at her.
“Not everyone. Some came willingly.”
They reached an observation room overlooking a circular chamber.
Inside, Thomas Calder sat tied to a chair.
Beside him stood Malcolm Vale.
And behind the glass opposite Mara, a man in a dark suit watched from the shadows.
The Director.
Mara could not see his face.
Malcolm spoke through an intercom.
“Welcome, Mara.”
“Release my father.”
“Thomas is not your concern.”
“Where is Adrian?”
The shadowed man moved slightly.
Mara’s breath caught.
The height.
The posture.
The way he held his left shoulder lower than his right.
Adrian had broken that shoulder in university.
“No,” she whispered.
The Director stepped into the light.
He was older, thinner, and marked by a scar along his jaw.
But he was Adrian.
Mara pressed both hands against the glass.
He looked directly at her.
There was no surprise in his face.
No relief.
No love.
May you like
Malcolm smiled.
“Your husband has been waiting for you.”
