CHAPTER 28: THE BOY’S DECISION

Adrian ordered an evacuation of every building connected to Vale technology.

It was not enough.

The implants had been sold under hundreds of different names for more than two decades.

Some were inside soldiers.

Some were inside newborn children.

Some were inside world leaders.

Nathan could reach all of them.

Eli sat beside Daniel’s bed.

“Can I heal him?”

Daniel looked at his son.

“You don’t know what Nathan has become.”

“He said he wants to feel human.”

“He may kill you the moment you touch him.”

Eli looked at his hands.

“Maybe he’s telling the truth.”

Emma entered.

“You are not going.”

“Mom—”

“No. I spent nine years running so you could have a life.”

“This is my life.”

“You are a child.”

“I’m the child they’re threatening everyone for.”

Emma turned to Adrian.

“Tell him he can’t go.”

Adrian remembered the first moment inside the restaurant.

The dirty boy offering a miracle while an entire room laughed.

Adrian had treated him like a strange little performer.

Now nations were waiting for his decision.

“I won’t force you,” Adrian said.

Emma stared at him in disbelief.

“But I won’t lie to you either. Nathan may kill thousands if we do nothing.”

Eli swallowed.

“Then I’m going.”

Daniel pushed himself upright.

“So am I.”

Grace stepped forward.

“And me.”

Adrian shook his head.

“Nathan wants all of you in one place. That is exactly why we cannot give him what he wants.”

Alistair’s voice sounded from the doorway.

The old man had survived the hospital collapse.

He sat in a motorized chair, his breathing mask covering half his face.

“There may be another way.”

He held a sealed envelope.

It was addressed to Adrian in Elena’s handwriting.

“Where did you get that?” Adrian asked.

“She gave it to me twenty-three years ago.”

Adrian opened the envelope.

Inside was a map and a short message.

NATHAN CANNOT CONTROL WHAT HAS NO MEMORY.

Below the sentence was a drawing of a coastal mansion Adrian recognized.

It had belonged to Elena’s family.

Alistair looked toward Grace.

“Beneath that house is the machine that erased Daniel’s childhood.”

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Daniel went still.

“And it may be the only machine capable of erasing Nathan.”