CHAPTER 18: THE BROTHER’S HAND

Julian’s finger tightened around the trigger.

Adrian saw terror in his brother’s eyes.

The gun fired.

Adrian threw himself sideways.

The bullet struck the wheelchair.

Mason tackled Julian while the board members screamed and ran.

Julian’s body convulsed.

A small device beneath his collar flashed red.

“Remove it!” Adrian shouted.

Mason tore the wire from Julian’s neck.

The device sparked.

Julian went limp.

Adrian crawled across the floor and pressed two fingers against his brother’s throat.

A pulse remained.

Weak, but present.

Julian opened his eyes.

“I couldn’t stop my hand.”

“I know.”

“They put something inside me.”

“Who?”

Julian began crying.

“Father.”

Adrian froze.

“Our father is dead.”

“No. The man we buried wasn’t him.”

Before Adrian could ask more, alarms sounded throughout the tower.

Every elevator stopped.

The windows locked.

A message appeared across the boardroom screens.

WELCOME HOME, SONS.

An elderly man appeared on the screen.

He was thin, bald and connected to a breathing machine.

Adrian recognized the eyes.

“Father?”

Alistair Vale had supposedly died from heart failure sixteen years earlier.

Now he looked directly into the camera.

“I tried to destroy Helix,” Alistair said. “Sebastian punished me by keeping my mind alive inside a failing body.”

Julian stared at the screen.

“Where are you?”

“Below the city.”

Adrian struggled to stand using the damaged wheelchair.

“Tell me where Daniel is.”

Alistair’s expression filled with sorrow.

“Daniel is protecting the facility.”

“From whom?”

“From Sebastian. From me. Perhaps from you.”

The building shook.

Smoke poured beneath the doors.

Alistair spoke faster.

“The silver interface contains the route to the underground level. But do not connect it again until Eli is beside you.”

“Why?”

“Because the next memory will kill you unless he wakes you.”

The screen flickered.

A second figure appeared behind Alistair.

A man in a black coat with a silver ring.

Sebastian Cross leaned close to the camera.

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“Bring me my grandson, Adrian.”

Then he switched off Alistair’s breathing machine.