Chapter 15 - THE DEAD HOUSE
Daniel woke inside a body bag.
For one horrifying second he believed he was back at Claire’s funeral.
Then he heard breathing beside him.
He tore the zipper open.
Rows of black bags filled a cold room.
Noah emerged from another.
Julian from a third.
Rebecca.
Samuel.
Claire.
All alive.
Margaret was not there.
Neither was Lily.
Evelyn was gone.
Edward was gone.
Claire staggered upright.
“Lily.”
Daniel caught her.
“We’ll find her.”
The door opened.
Agent Ortiz entered wearing an oxygen mask.
Federal teams had breached the lower level.
Most staff were unconscious.
Several had escaped through underground tunnels.
Edward among them.
The facility contained records spanning forty years.
Thousands of pages.
Hundreds of subjects.
Not all voluntary.
Claire searched the nursery wing.
Empty.
Then Noah found Lily’s backpack.
Inside was a notebook.
The girl had drawn maps of the facility.
One page showed a tunnel ending at a lake.
Rebecca recognized it.
“Boathouse.”
They ran.
A helicopter rose beyond the trees.
Too late.
Evelyn, Edward, Margaret, and Lily were aboard.
Claire screamed her daughter’s name.
Lily appeared at the window.
Her hand pressed against the glass.
Then the helicopter disappeared north.
Daniel looked at Ortiz.
“Track it.”
“We are.”
Minutes later the signal vanished.
Samuel stared toward the mountains.
“He’ll take them somewhere cold.”
“Why?”
“Suppression works better at low temperatures.”
Rebecca remembered another property.
A decommissioned research station near Lake Superior.
The Mercer family trust once owned it.
Samuel believed it had been sold.
Julian checked corporate records.
A shell company still held it.
They drove through the night.
Snow began before sunrise.
Claire barely spoke.
Daniel knew what she was thinking.
She had lost sixteen years with Lily.
She refused to lose another hour.
At the research station they found the helicopter.
Empty.
Tracks led inside.
The station extended into an old iron mine.
Temperature near freezing.
Edward had built his final laboratory underground.
Margaret lay inside a pod.
Lily sat beside her.
Evelyn stood nearby.
Claire raised her hands.
“Lily.”
The girl ran toward her.
Evelyn did not stop her.
That surprised everyone.
Claire held her daughter.
Evelyn turned toward Daniel.
“I’m done.”
Edward appeared behind her.
“No.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“You lied to me.”
Edward’s expression remained calm.
“You knew the terms.”
“You said Lily would never be tested.”
“She already has been.”
Claire tightened her hold.
Evelyn went pale.
“What?”
Edward smiled.
“The aerosol at Alder Ridge.”
Evelyn stared.
“You exposed her?”
“A controlled dose.”
Evelyn struck him.
Edward stumbled.
Samuel stepped forward.
“Enough.”
His father looked at him.
“You always lacked vision.”
Samuel answered.
“And you always confused terror with ambition.”
Edward pulled a gun.
Before anyone could move, Margaret’s pod opened.
She stepped out.
Weak.
Barefoot.
Awake.
Edward turned.
Margaret looked at the man who had stolen twenty-four years from her.
Then she said one sentence.
“You should have let me die.”
Edward’s hand shook.
That tiny movement changed everything.
Evelyn grabbed the gun.
A shot fired.
Edward fell.
No one moved.
Daniel looked at him.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Samuel knelt beside his father.
Edward stared upward.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
“Save me.”
Samuel looked toward the Orpheus equipment.
The technology could probably do it.
Everyone knew.
Edward whispered.
“Samuel.”
“Save me.”
Samuel held his father’s gaze.
Then reached for the emergency medical kit.
Not the Orpheus compound.
Ordinary medicine.
He applied pressure.
Called for help.
Edward stared at him.
“You could stop death.”
Samuel answered quietly.
“No.”
May you like
“I can delay it.”
“And I’m done pretending that makes me God.”
