Chapter 8 - THE VAULT
Samuel ordered me to place my hand on the biometric panel.
Lenora told me not to.
She wanted control of the evidence before he destroyed it.
Jonah stood between them, breathing hard.
I looked at him.
“You’re coming home.”
He stared at me as if the word home belonged to another language.
Samuel tightened his grip.
“You do not know him.”
“He is my son.”
“He is a failed subject.”
Jonah’s face changed.
Not fear.
Recognition.
He had heard those words before.
I placed my palm on the panel.
The scanner accepted my blood.
Then I entered Caroline’s code.
The steel door opened.
Rows of shelves filled the room.
Files.
Hard drives.
Biological samples.
Children’s photographs.
Samuel shoved Jonah aside and rushed toward the central computer.
Lenora followed.
Federal agents entered through both tunnels.
Samuel grabbed a fuel canister.
“If I burn this, no one proves anything.”
Lenora pointed a pistol at him.
“You will destroy the family name.”
He laughed.
“You destroyed it when you became sentimental about Julian.”
She had favored Julian because he resembled Caroline as a child.
Samuel favored Jonah because his mutation produced stronger data.
Even their cruelty contained competition.
Jonah crawled toward me.
I pulled him behind a steel cabinet.
Lenora fired.
The bullet struck Samuel’s shoulder.
He dropped the canister.
Ortiz tackled Lenora.
Agents restrained Samuel.
The vault survived.
Jonah did too.
But the treatment files revealed Julian’s condition was worse than Samuel admitted.
The bone drug had affected his heart.
He needed a cellular therapy within twelve hours.
Only one matching donor existed.
Jonah.
The procedure was medically safe if performed ethically.
But after a lifetime of being used, Jonah had the right to refuse.
Everyone looked at him.
He whispered, “Do I have to?”
I said, “No.”
Even if the answer cost Julian’s life.
“No one will ever use your body without your choice again.”
Jonah looked through the vault window toward his unconscious brother.
May you like
Then he asked Dr. Reed one question.
“Will it hurt me?”
