Chapter 12 - THE EMPTY COURTROOM
I entered the abandoned county courthouse wearing a wire beneath my torn blue shirt.
The same shirt Diane had ripped during the dining-room attack.
I wore it deliberately.
I wanted them to see what their tradition looked like on a human body.
Judge Mercer waited inside Courtroom Two.
The artificial womb stood beside the witness box.
Subject Twelve’s monitor beeped steadily.
Diane sat at the defense table.
She had escaped jail during a staged medical transfer.
Her wrists were unbound.
The judge had arranged everything.
“You came,” Diane said.
“For him.”
“For the family.”
“No.”
I stepped closer to the chamber.
“For a child.”
Judge Mercer placed documents on the table.
They gave Helix Crown custody of Subject Twelve and authorized collection of my daughter’s biological material after birth.
My forged signature already appeared.
“Sign voluntarily,” he said, “and both children receive care.”
“If I refuse?”
Diane looked toward the chamber.
“The boy dies.”
“You would let him die?”
Her face cracked.
For the first time, the grandson she worshipped existed beyond symbolism.
He was fragile.
Real.
Dying because adults turned children into plans.
I picked up the pen.
Diane smiled.
Then I snapped it in half.
Federal agents entered through the side doors.
Judge Mercer drew a gun.
Sarah triggered the courtroom fire suppression system remotely.
Water exploded from the ceiling.
The judge slipped.
Ortiz tackled him.
Diane grabbed the chamber’s emergency release handle.
“If I cannot have him, no one will.”
I seized her wrist.
We struggled beside the glass.
She looked into my eyes.
“You broke this family.”
“No.”
I pushed her hand away.
“I survived it.”
Agents restrained her.
Dr. Brooks stabilized the chamber.
Subject Twelve lived.
Diane was returned to custody.
Judge Mercer was arrested.
But the courthouse computers activated before agents could disconnect them.
A live video appeared from Helix Crown headquarters.
Linda sat inside a locked room.
A woman stood behind her holding the original Mercer ledger.
May you like
Sarah whispered, “That’s our grandmother.”
Diane’s mother had been alive the entire time.
