CHAPTER 29 — THE SIEGE
Explosions shook the mountain.
The outer defense systems failed one by one.
Helena remained calm.
“Alexander always preferred direct entrances.”
Evelyn turned toward Mara.
“Release Daniel and Celeste.”
“They may attack us.”
“They probably will.”
Nathan broke the restraints.
Daniel immediately reached for a weapon.
Evelyn aimed at him.
“Try it.”
He lowered his hand.
Julian confronted Gabriel.
“You are not leaving until this is over.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I don’t expect to.”
Beatrice stood beside Evelyn.
For the first time, mother and daughter faced the same direction.
“You should hate me,” Beatrice said.
“I do.”
“Good. Hatred is clearer than love.”
Evelyn glanced at her.
“That sounds like something Daniel would say.”
Beatrice’s face tightened.
The main doors exploded inward.
Smoke filled the chamber.
Armed soldiers entered but did not fire.
They formed two lines.
A silver-haired man walked between them.
Alexander Vance.
He looked at Evelyn the way a man might look at a memory he had spent years trying to forget.
“My daughter.”
Evelyn raised her weapon.
“Prove it.”
Alexander removed a chain from around his neck.
A broken silver locket hung from it.
Evelyn had carried the matching half since childhood.
She took it from beneath her dress.
The pieces fit.
That proved he possessed the locket.
Not that he was her father.
“Why did you leave me?” she asked.
“I didn’t.”
“Everyone says that.”
Alexander looked toward Helena.
“She took you before I could reach Beatrice.”
Helena laughed.
“You disappeared.”
“I was hunting the Choir.”
“You became the Choir’s executioner.”
“Because courts failed.”
Evelyn nearly laughed at the familiar words.
They all believed brutality became justice when they were the ones using it.
Alexander extended his hand.
“Come with me. We can end Nightingale tonight.”
“What happens to the children?”
“They will be freed.”
“And the people who built it?”
His eyes moved across Daniel, Celeste, Gabriel, Beatrice, Helena, and Julian.
“They die.”
Julian stepped beside Evelyn.
Alexander’s face hardened.
“That man hurt you.”
“Yes.”
“And you protect him?”
“No. I decide what happens to him.”
Alexander smiled faintly.
“You are my daughter.”
“No. I am myself.”
A soldier approached Alexander and whispered something.
His expression changed.
“What is it?” Evelyn asked.
He looked at Wren.
“The children are not missing.”
“Where are they?”
Alexander turned toward the control screens.
“They are inside this facility.”
Mara checked the building map.
“There are no life signs.”
“Because they’re not in the rooms.”
Wren suddenly screamed.
She collapsed.
One by one, hidden screens activated.
Dozens of children appeared on camera.
Each was sitting in a different city.
A hospital.
A school.
A police station.
May you like
A government building.
Helena whispered, “The next generation has already been placed.”
