Chapter 11 - THE PRICE OF A LIFE
The government located the transport vehicle outside an abandoned airfield.
Pike was dead.
The refrigeration unit was empty.
A message had been written on the inside wall:
BRING THE GIRL WHEN SHE IS BORN.
The network planned to use my daughter as treatment material.
Diane had not scheduled the termination because she hated the baby.
She used the forged form to frighten and control me.
The true plan was to keep my daughter alive, take her after delivery, and use her cells for Subject Twelve.
The bamboo attack had erupted because I found the ultrasound sex report before Diane was ready to explain.
She needed me terrified enough to obey.
Sarah contacted Rebecca from a burner phone.
She and Eleanor had escaped with the artificial womb.
Subject Twelve was unstable.
They wanted medical help without surrendering the child to Helix Crown.
I agreed to meet them at a remote clinic under federal protection.
When I saw the chamber, I felt grief before connection.
The fetus floated behind curved glass, small hands moving in pale fluid.
He was genetically mine.
But he had been created through violation.
Both truths existed at once.
Dr. Brooks examined the system.
He could survive if transferred to a specialized hospital.
Cell therapy from my daughter might help later, but no treatment could be taken without medical necessity, ethics review, and consent.
Sarah looked at me.
“Would you help him?”
“If it can be done without hurting her.”
That was the difference between us and Diane.
We would not save one child by sacrificing another.
Federal agents secured the clinic.
Then the power failed.
Backup systems activated.
A masked team entered through the loading bay.
They took the artificial womb.
Eleanor was shot in the shoulder.
Sarah recognized one attacker.
Judge Samuel Mercer.
He had escaped federal custody.
The judge was not protecting Diane.
He was protecting Helix Crown’s investors.
May you like
He left behind a message.
COURTHOUSE. MIDNIGHT. BRING CLAIRE ALONE.
