Chapter 13 - THE PURGE
Emergency doors began sealing across the underground corridor.
Police officers tried to evacuate the nursery wing.
Dr. Carter refused to stop the surgery.
“We move Tiffany now, both she and the child die.”
Lisa looked toward the timer.
Three minutes, forty seconds.
I turned to Ethan.
“Find the shutdown system.”
He nodded and ran with Ramirez and Matthew.
I stayed beside Tiffany.
Her hand crushed mine through each contraction.
“You came here to expose him,” she gasped.
“I came here to stop losing.”
Dr. Carter made the incision.
The fetal monitor weakened.
Samuel’s voice continued through the intercom.
“Research must not leave this facility.”
Bradley shouted from the corridor.
“You’ll kill Matthew!”
Samuel replied calmly.
“Failed subjects are acceptable losses.”
Matthew heard him.
His face changed.
Every lie about family disappeared at once.
Ethan reached the control room.
The system required Samuel’s biometric confirmation.
Ramirez dragged Samuel inside under guard.
Samuel refused.
Matthew looked at him through the glass.
“You said I mattered.”
Samuel stared at the boy.
“You were useful.”
Matthew stepped backward as if struck.
Ethan grabbed Samuel’s hand and forced it onto the scanner.
The system requested a voice command.
Samuel smiled.
“You cannot force speech.”
Matthew picked up the intercom.
His voice trembled.
“Please.”
Samuel looked at him.
For one second, something human appeared.
Then it vanished.
“No.”
The timer reached ninety seconds.
Ethan struck Samuel across the jaw.
“Say it.”
Samuel laughed through blood.
Matthew looked at the control panel.
Then at the waveform display.
He understood something.
“He recorded commands.”
Ethan searched the console.
A file labeled PURGE REVERSAL appeared.
Matthew played Samuel’s stored voice.
“Terminate containment protocol.”
Access accepted.
The countdown stopped at twenty-three seconds.
Inside surgery, Dr. Carter lifted a tiny baby girl into the light.
She did not cry.
Tiffany began sobbing.
“Why isn’t she crying?”
The nurse carried the infant to the warmer.
Dr. Lisa cleared her airway.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Then the baby screamed.
The sound filled the room.
Tiffany closed her eyes in relief.
I touched the baby’s tiny foot.
Alive.
Police moved Vale, Bradley, and Samuel toward the elevators.
But Bradley broke free from one officer.
He grabbed a surgical scalpel and pulled Matthew against his chest.
“Everyone back!”
I turned.
Bradley pressed the blade beneath Matthew’s jaw.
His eyes were wild.
“You took everything from me.”
Matthew stood perfectly still.
I stepped forward.
“No, Bradley.”
“You did.”
“You never had us.”
His grip tightened.
“You were all mine.”
I looked directly at my son.
He looked back.
Then I tapped two fingers against my thigh.
A signal Ethan once taught me years ago.
Drop.
Matthew dropped instantly.
Ethan struck Bradley across the face.
The scalpel flew.
Police pinned him to the floor.
Bradley screamed my name.
I did not look at him again.
Then Dr. Carter opened Matthew’s newest medical scan.
His expression changed.
“The stem-cell treatment was never for his immune disorder.”
I stared at him.
“What was it for?”
May you like
He looked toward Samuel.
“Memory replacement.”
