Chapter 12 — Doreen's Last Weapon
Chapter 12 — Doreen's Last Weapon
The photograph remained on the screen.
My mother stood beside Lucas's bassinet.
Alive.
Close enough to touch him.
Close enough to take him.
My hands went cold.
"Lock the maternity ward," my grandfather ordered.
Security moved immediately.
Mae pulled Lucas against her chest.
The other mothers were escorted into a protected conference room.
Nathan stood frozen beside the evidence table.
Arthur stared at the photograph.
He looked terrified.
Not surprised.
Terrified.
I noticed.
"You knew."
Arthur shook his head.
"No."
"You knew she was alive."
"No."
"Then why are you afraid?"
He didn't answer.
My grandfather turned toward him.
"Because you know what she is capable of."
Arthur looked at him.
"So do you."
My grandfather's jaw tightened.
"Enough."
I stepped between them.
"Who is my mother?"
Neither answered.
I raised my voice.
"Who is she?"
Finally, Arthur spoke.
"Her name is Evelyn."
I stared.
"I know her name."
"No."
He looked at me.
"You know the name your mother gave you."
My grandfather closed his eyes.
Arthur continued.
"That isn't her real name."
A security officer rushed into the room.
"Sir."
My grandfather turned.
"We have a problem."
"What?"
"Doreen is gone."
My stomach dropped.
"What?"
The officer looked embarrassed.
"She was transferred from the holding area twenty minutes ago."
"Transferred where?"
"We don't know."
My grandfather's face hardened.
"Show me."
We followed him through the corridor.
The temporary holding room was empty.
One chair.
One table.
One overturned cup.
No Doreen.
No officer.
No explanation.
Nathan stared at the empty room.
"She can't disappear."
My grandfather looked at him.
"She just did."
Then we found the first clue.
A small envelope on the table.
My name was written across it.
I opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Doreen stood beside a younger woman.
My mother.
Behind them was a hospital nursery.
On the back:
THE TWO WOMEN WHO STARTED IT.
I looked at my grandfather.
"Started what?"
He didn't answer.
Then the hospital lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the corridor.
Someone screamed.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Red.
Then off.
Red again.
Mae grabbed my arm.
"Stay with me."
Lucas began crying.
I pulled him close.
A loud metallic bang came from somewhere downstairs.
Then another.
Security radios exploded with overlapping voices.
"North entrance compromised."
"Lock pediatric."
"Where is the backup team?"
"Power failure in the east wing."
My grandfather looked at Arthur.
"This is coordinated."
Arthur nodded.
"Doreen."
"No."
My grandfather's voice was cold.
"Not Doreen."
He looked at me.
"Evelyn."
The hospital doors slammed shut.
Automatic locks engaged.
No one could enter.
No one could leave.
Then every television in the hallway turned on.
A woman's face appeared.
My mother's face.
Older than I remembered.
But unmistakable.
Her eyes were the same.
Her mouth.
Her expression.
I had spent my entire life imagining her as a ghost.
Now she was speaking directly to me.
"Hello, Leah."
I couldn't move.
The screen showed her sitting in a dark room.
Behind her was a wall covered with photographs.
Children.
Dozens of them.
"Mom?"
She smiled.
"I knew you'd recognize me."
"Where are you?"
"You already know."
"No."
"Yes."
She leaned closer to the camera.
"I'm in the building."
My grandfather stepped forward.
"Where?"
She looked at him.
"Hello, Father."
He froze.
"You..."
She smiled.
"You thought you buried me."
"You were never supposed to survive."
Her smile disappeared.
"And yet here we are."
My mother looked directly at me.
"I know what they told you."
I whispered:
"Why?"
"Because you deserved the truth."
"Then tell me."
She paused.
"You weren't supposed to be born."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"Doreen changed the order."
My grandfather stared at the screen.
Evelyn continued.
"Your birth was supposed to be the end of the Carver line."
I looked at Lucas.
"But you survived."
"Why did she want me dead?"
"Because your blood carried something she couldn't control."
"What?"
"The original trust."
My mother smiled sadly.
"Your grandfather didn't create it."
She looked toward my grandfather.
"He inherited it."
My grandfather said nothing.
"And I stole it."
The room went silent.
"You stole it?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To destroy it."
My mother began telling the story.
Thirty years earlier, she had discovered the research program.
The children.
The genetic experiments.
The trust.
She had tried to expose it.
Doreen stopped her.
Then my mother made a decision.
She disappeared.
She took the original trust documents.
And she hid them.
But she couldn't destroy the system.
So she created another plan.
A child.
Me.
"The trust needed a descendant from all three bloodlines."
My mother said.
"You were the only way."
I felt sick.
"So I was born because of the trust?"
"No."
Her voice softened.
"You were born because I loved you."
"But you left."
"I left to protect you."
"You abandoned me."
"I know."
"Why didn't you come back?"
"Because they were watching you."
I laughed bitterly.
"They were watching me anyway."
"Yes."
She lowered her eyes.
"I was wrong."
Then the screen changed.
A second video appeared.
Doreen.
She was sitting in an unfamiliar room.
Her hands were cuffed.
She looked directly into the camera.
"Leah."
My blood ran cold.
"Doreen?"
She smiled.
"You think Evelyn is your enemy."
My mother appeared again.
"Doreen, stop."
Doreen laughed.
"She hasn't told you the most important part."
My mother stood.
"Don't listen to her."
Doreen continued.
"Your mother didn't disappear to protect you."
I looked at my grandfather.
He looked devastated.
Doreen's voice continued.
"She disappeared because she was the one who ordered the first transfer."
I couldn't breathe.
"No."
Doreen smiled.
"Ask her about Child Seven."
My mother went silent.
I turned toward the screen.
"Mom?"
Nothing.
"What's Child Seven?"
She looked at me.
"Leah..."
"What's Child Seven?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"It was you."
The world seemed to stop.
I stepped backward.
"What?"
"You were the first child."
"First what?"
"The first child transferred through the program."
My mother shook her head.
"You were a baby."
"I don't understand."
"Your genetic material was used to identify the others."
I looked at Lucas.
"Then why did they need him?"
"Because he's the second complete match."
My mother looked at my son.
"And that makes him more valuable than you ever were."
I felt sick.
"To whom?"
She didn't answer.
Doreen did.
The screen changed again.
Her voice echoed through the hallway.
"To the people who own the research."
My grandfather stepped forward.
"Who?"
Doreen smiled.
"Your family."
He froze.
"What?"
"The Bell family."
Arthur went pale.
Doreen laughed.
"Arthur isn't the protector."
She looked at me.
"He's the architect."
I turned toward Arthur.
He didn't deny it.
The silence was unbearable.
I looked at Arthur.
"Is it true?"
He closed his eyes.
"Yes."
My grandfather grabbed him by the collar.
"You bastard."
Security separated them.
Arthur didn't resist.
"I built the original database."
My heart shattered.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You knew about the mothers."
"Yes."
"You knew about the children."
"Yes."
"You knew about me."
"Yes."
"And you let Doreen control everything."
"No."
His voice cracked.
"I tried to stop her."
"By doing what?"
"Creating the trust."
I stared at him.
"The trust was designed to take control away from the Bell family."
"Then why did you hide it?"
"Because the Bell family wasn't the only family involved."
My grandfather whispered:
"Whitmore."
Arthur nodded.
"The Whitmores funded the research."
My mother appeared on the screen.
"And the Carvers provided the children."
I couldn't breathe.
"What?"
My mother cried.
"Leah, I'm sorry."
"Provided?"
"Your grandmother was part of the program."
I felt as if the floor had disappeared.
"My grandmother?"
"She believed she was saving children."
"By doing what?"
"By allowing them to be monitored."
My mother swallowed.
"She thought the research would cure disease."
"And when did she find out?"
"Too late."
A door slammed somewhere nearby.
Then the screen went black.
Security officers rushed into the corridor.
"We found Doreen."
"Where?"
"Lower level."
My grandfather turned.
"Take us there."
"No."
The officer shook his head.
"You don't understand."
"What?"
"She's not alone."
We reached the lower level.
The door to the research wing was open.
Inside were dozens of monitors.
Files.
Medical equipment.
Photographs.
And at the center of the room stood Doreen.
She wasn't restrained.
She held a small device in one hand.
A detonator.
Nathan whispered:
"Mom."
Doreen smiled.
"Hello, son."
My grandfather stepped forward.
"Put it down."
"No."
"What did you do?"
"I activated the purge."
Arthur's face went white.
"The servers."
Doreen nodded.
"All of them."
"You'll destroy the records."
"Exactly."
"And the children?"
Doreen smiled.
"Some records are connected to life-support systems."
My blood ran cold.
"You wouldn't."
She looked at Lucas.
"You'd be surprised what a mother will do for her family."
I stepped forward.
"Leave the children out of this."
Doreen laughed.
"You still don't understand."
She pressed the button.
Alarms erupted.
Somewhere deep beneath the hospital, machines began shutting down.
The monitors flashed red.
My grandfather shouted:
"Get the children out!"
Security scattered.
Mae grabbed Lucas.
I ran toward the control panel.
Doreen watched me.
"Choose, Leah."
I turned.
"What?"
"Save the children."
She pointed toward the servers.
"Or save your son."
My heart stopped.
"What did you do?"
She smiled.
"The system has only enough backup power for one."
My grandfather shouted:
"She's lying!"
Arthur looked at the monitors.
"No."
He went pale.
"She's not."
Doreen smiled.
"And now you finally understand."
I looked at Lucas.
Then at the screen.
Twenty-seven heartbeats.
One after another.
Twenty-seven children.
And my son.
I couldn't choose.
I wouldn't.
I looked at Mae.
"Take Lucas."
"Where?"
"Anywhere safe."
Then I looked at Arthur.
"You built this system."
He nodded.
"Then shut it down."
"I can't."
"You can."
"It requires the original key."
My grandfather stepped forward.
"Which is where?"
Arthur looked at me.
He didn't answer.
Doreen laughed.
"The key is inside Lucas."
I froze.
"What?"
"The genetic key."
She smiled.
"That's why I needed him."
My mother screamed through the remaining monitor.
"LEAH, DON'T LET HER TOUCH HIM!"
Doreen pressed another button.
The entire research wing began counting down.
09:59
09:58
09:57
Arthur stared at the timer.
My grandfather looked at me.
"What are you going to do?"
I looked at Lucas.
Then at the twenty-seven children whose lives were connected to the machine.
For the first time, I understood what my mother had been fighting for.
Not money.
Not the trust.
Not power.
The children.
I stepped toward the control panel.
"I’m going to end it."
Doreen's smile disappeared.
"How?"
I looked at Arthur.
"Give me the key."
He shook his head.
"Leah—"
"Now."
He hesitated.
Then reached into his jacket.
He removed a small metal object.
A key.
But before he could hand it to me, a gunshot rang out.
Arthur staggered.
The key fell.
Doreen stared toward the doorway.
My mother stood there.
Holding a gun.
She looked at me.
"I'm sorry, Leah."
Then she looked at Doreen.
"But this time..."
May you like
Her finger tightened around the trigger.
"...I'm not running."
