Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO BUILT THE ROOMS
Dr. Evelyn Cross appeared on the security monitor.
Nathan and Daniel’s mother.
She was supposed to be living in assisted care with advanced dementia.
Instead, she stood inside a laboratory wearing a white coat.
Clear-eyed.
Controlled.
“Daniel,” she said. “You always choose the wrong woman.”
I looked at him.
He could not meet my eyes.
Nathan stepped toward the camera.
“Mother, unlock the doors.”
“You brought federal agents into my facility.”
“You imprisoned children.”
“I protected research subjects.”
Lily clung to my shirt.
Dr. Cross saw her.
“Patient Six must be returned.”
“She has a name,” I said.
The doctor studied me.
“So do you, Sarah.”
Her calm recognition chilled me.
“You planned my pregnancy.”
“No. Jason did.”
Jason shouted from upstairs.
“You told me to!”
Dr. Cross ignored him.
“He was instructed to observe you. His emotional failures complicated the schedule.”
Jason’s face changed.
He had believed he mattered.
To her, he was equipment.
I stepped closer to the monitor.
“Why my baby?”
“Because Daniel altered your records before his accident.”
Daniel looked at me.
“I tried to remove you from the program.”
Dr. Cross continued.
“Instead, he made you valuable.”
My prenatal tests.
My unexplained appointments.
The pills Jason gave me.
Every part connected.
“What is special about my child?”
Dr. Cross smiled faintly.
“Nothing yet.”
The answer frightened me more than any diagnosis.
A mechanical alarm sounded.
The lower level ventilation fans stopped.
Lily began coughing.
Nathan struck the locked door.
“Restore airflow.”
“Return the girl and surrender Daniel’s files.”
“No.”
“Then oxygen levels will continue falling.”
Daniel opened the wall panel.
“I can bypass it.”
“You designed it,” Nathan said.
“Mother changed the system.”
Michael found a manual release cable near the floor.
Tyler helped him pull it.
The first door opened several inches.
Federal agents forced it wider.
We moved Lily into the stairwell.
The ventilation restarted suddenly.
Not because we succeeded.
Because Dr. Cross wanted us upstairs.
The bay door began opening.
Black SUVs entered the workshop.
Armed private guards stepped out.
Nathan’s federal team aimed weapons.
Dr. Cross’s voice filled the room.
“Everyone has thirty seconds to leave Sarah and Daniel behind.”
Jason laughed.
“She came for me.”
Dr. Cross replied,
“No, Jason.”
A pause.
“You are no longer useful.”
May you like
One private guard raised his rifle toward Jason.
Jason stopped laughing.
