CHAPTER 23: ELENA’S DECISION

Adrian stepped toward the screen.

“Elena, stop the demolition.”

Her face did not change.

“You should have stayed away.”

“I thought you wanted me to find Daniel.”

“I wanted you to find the truth.”

“We found him. Now let us leave.”

Elena looked toward Daniel.

“My son knows why this place cannot survive.”

Daniel lowered his eyes.

“What is she talking about?” Adrian asked.

Daniel did not answer.

Alistair spoke from the tunnel.

“Beneath this level is the archive.”

“What archive?”

“The neurological patterns of every Helix subject,” Elena said. “Memories, pain responses and biological controls. If Sebastian escapes with it, he can rebuild everything.”

Sebastian had reached a second console.

“Your sentiment has made you predictable, Elena.”

He entered a code.

Steel doors sealed the escape tunnel.

Eli and Emma were trapped on the other side.

“Mom!” Eli shouted through the glass.

Daniel rushed to the door.

It did not move.

The countdown reached four minutes.

Adrian turned toward Sebastian.

“Open it.”

Sebastian laughed.

“You still think you are giving orders.”

Elena’s image flickered.

“There is another exit through the archive, but only Daniel can open it.”

“Then tell us where.”

“No.”

Adrian stared at her.

“You would sacrifice Eli?”

Tears finally appeared in Elena’s eyes.

“I sacrificed Daniel once because I believed saving the world mattered more than saving my child. I will not make that mistake again.”

“That makes no sense.”

Daniel looked at the floor.

“She isn’t trying to kill us.”

He pointed toward the locked tunnel.

“She is forcing me to open the archive.”

“Why?”

“Because she believes something is alive inside it.”

The floor split open.

A circular staircase descended into darkness.

Cold air rose from below.

Eli touched the glass separating him from Daniel.

“Dad.”

Daniel looked at his son.

It was the first time Eli had called him that.

The building shook again.

Daniel placed his palm against the floor scanner.

The staircase lights turned on.

Far below, hundreds of glass capsules began glowing.

Inside each capsule was a sleeping child.

One of them opened her eyes.

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She looked directly up at Daniel.

And smiled.