CHAPTER 24: THE BETRAYAL
Ethan turned toward Dane.
The security chief stood at the top of the stairs with his pistol raised.
Behind him were twelve armed men.
“You said you were searching for the truth,” Ethan said.
“I was searching for this chamber.”
Ward raised the silver cane.
Dane fired.
The bullet shattered the cane and sent the hidden film spinning across the floor.
Arthur Bell threw himself toward the records.
A guard struck him down.
Bianca stood in front of Conrad.
“Do not come closer.”
Dane laughed.
“You still think you are a Vale.”
“I know I am not.”
“You are a Northstar replacement. Eleanor gave you a name because the original Bianca died.”
Bianca went pale.
Conrad looked at Dane.
“That is a lie.”
Evelyn spoke through the glass.
“It is true.”
Bianca turned toward her.
“Who am I?”
“Your original name was Lily Hart.”
Ava looked up sharply.
“My name?”
Evelyn’s face softened.
“Your mother chose it before you were born.”
Bianca staggered against the wall.
Dane moved toward the central computer.
“Open the survivor database.”
Samuel pulled one wire from his chest.
The chamber alarm screamed.
Evelyn grabbed him.
“You will die.”
“Not before I erase it.”
Dane aimed at Samuel through the glass.
Ethan struck his arm.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
They fought across the narrow control platform.
Dane slammed Ethan against the railing.
“You have no idea what your daughter can do.”
Ethan hit him again.
“She is eight years old.”
“She survived something no child was supposed to survive.”
Claire’s face changed.
Ethan saw it.
“What happened when Ava was born?”
Claire did not answer.
Dane smiled.
“She never told you.”
“Claire?”
Ava looked between her parents.
Claire began crying.
“You were born without a heartbeat.”
The room went silent.
“For eleven minutes,” Claire continued, “the doctors could not revive you.”
Ethan remembered being outside the operating room.
He had been told there were complications.
Claire held Ava tighter.
“Then Eleanor arrived with an experimental injection.”
Dane laughed.
“Northstar did not save Ava.”
He looked at the little girl.
“It activated her.”
Every light inside the chamber suddenly burst.
May you like
Ava screamed.
And Samuel’s heart monitor went flat.
