Chapter 24 - The Choice the System ExpectedVictor smashed the syringe compartment with a chair.
The glass cracked but did not break.
A timer appeared.
Five minutes.
Mara examined the shutters.
“The system expects one identity to die.”
“It will wait forever,” Victor said.
Celeste wrote on the wall.
NOT DEATH.
TRANSFER.
She pointed toward the medical console.
Adrian opened its access panel.
“The system wants biological confirmation.”
Mara understood first.
“It needs one identity marked inactive. The syringe is a sedative.”
Victor looked at her.
“How long?”
“In the original protocol? Long enough to move the body.”
Marcus fired into the nearest shutter. The bullets left shallow dents.
Ethan approached the screen.
“Why do they have the same name?”
Victor pulled him back.
“Because someone believed names belonged to them.”
Ethan looked at the two women.
He pointed at the silent Celeste.
“You are Mommy.”
Then he pointed at Mara.
“And you kept me safe.”
The screen flickered.
CHILD WITNESS STATEMENT RECORDED.
New options appeared.
IDENTIFY PRIMARY MATERNAL GUARDIAN.
IDENTIFY SECONDARY MATERNAL GUARDIAN.
Mara stared.
“Celeste changed the protocol.”
Ethan pressed the first option and placed Celeste’s hand on the scanner.
He pressed the second and placed Mara’s hand beside it.
The timer stopped.
The shutters rose.
Before anyone moved, the lights went dark.
A man stepped into the ward.
He was tall, silver-haired and carried no weapon.
Victor recognized the face from the photograph.
August Hale.
He looked no older than sixty.
“You always needed a child to solve what adults complicated,” he said.
Marcus aimed his pistol.
August ignored him.
He looked at Celeste.
“You should have stayed voiceless.”
May you like
Then he pressed a switch inside his sleeve.
Celeste collapsed.
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