CHAPTER 17 — THE FOURTH OPTION
Evelyn looked at the five people trapped beneath the red lights.
Mara was already trying to access the system.
Nathan fired at the glass control booth.
The bullets did nothing.
Celeste remained strangely calm.
Gabriel watched Evelyn, waiting to see whom she would sacrifice.
Daniel had designed the test around the person he believed she was.
A weapon.
A strategist.
Someone willing to lose people for victory.
Evelyn refused the choices.
She punched Julian.
Hard.
He fell against the floor panel.
“What are you doing?” he shouted.
“Trust me for once.”
The impact triggered a pressure sensor.
One of the gas vents closed.
Evelyn struck the second panel with a metal chair.
Another vent shut down.
Mara understood.
“The room is reading body weight under each light.”
Nathan dragged server cabinets onto two sensors.
Gabriel threw equipment onto another.
Within seconds, all five vents stopped.
Daniel stared through the glass.
“You cheated.”
Evelyn looked up at him.
“I adapted.”
The chamber doors unlocked.
Nathan aimed at Daniel.
“Release the transfer.”
Daniel pressed another control.
A steel barrier dropped between them.
“You think you won because no one died?”
His voice came through the speakers.
“Midnight is still coming.”
Mara reached a terminal.
“I can stop the collapse, but someone built a second command node.”
“Where?” Evelyn asked.
Mara looked at the location.
“The Thorne mansion.”
Julian stood.
“My mother.”
Daniel smiled through the glass.
“Beatrice always needed to believe she was my enemy.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“She worked for you.”
“She worked for herself. That made her predictable.”
The countdown reached thirty-seven minutes.
Evelyn turned toward the elevator.
Daniel called after her.
“You came here to find your father.”
She stopped.
“I found him.”
“And?”
She looked back.
“He wasn’t worth saving.”
For the first time, Daniel’s calm expression cracked.
Evelyn entered the elevator with the others.
As the doors closed, an alarm sounded.
Mara checked the system.
“Someone activated a containment protocol.”
The underground level began sealing section by section.
Daniel’s image disappeared behind steel walls.
Julian looked at Evelyn.
“Did we just leave your father to die?”
A final message appeared on the elevator screen.
THANK YOU FOR COMPLETING THE TEST, EVELYN.
May you like
Then Daniel’s voice said:
“Now go kill Beatrice for me.”
