Chapter 13 - The Girl Who Could Stop HelixAnna was the key.
Not because she carried the genetic marker.
Because she could activate it.
My father had hidden her for years.
Sophie had protected her.
Richard wanted her.
Everyone wanted her.
I suddenly understood why the second pregnancy had been so heavily guarded.
Why Sophie had risked everything.
Why my father had lied.
Anna wasn't just another child.
She was the final stage.
The facility doors opened.
Richard's men surrounded us.
“Give me the child.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Then millions die.”
Sophie stepped forward.
“You don't understand her.”
“I understand exactly what she is.”
“No.”
Sophie looked at him.
“She isn't your weapon.”
Richard's expression hardened.
“She belongs to humanity.”
“No child belongs to humanity.”
She grabbed Anna.
I covered them.
Gunfire erupted.
We ran.
The platform shook.
Alarms screamed.
Water began flooding the lower deck.
Richard's men chased us.
My first daughter held my hand.
Anna was in Sophie's arms.
My father arrived with reinforcements.
“Ethan!”
We fought our way toward the extraction point.
Then a massive explosion rocked the platform.
The floor collapsed.
My first daughter slipped.
I caught her.
Sophie fell.
Anna disappeared from her arms.
“ANNA!”
I turned.
She was standing in the smoke.
Unharmed.
Then something impossible happened.
The lights around us went out.
Every monitor displayed the same message.
HELIX OVERRIDE.
Richard stared in horror.
“No.”
Anna looked at him.
She was crying.
But she wasn't afraid.
The entire facility began shutting down.
Doors opened.
Cells released.
Children ran into the corridors.
My father stared at Anna.
“What did she do?”
Sophie whispered:
“She stopped the system.”
Richard reached for her.
I tackled him.
We crashed into the floor.
He fought violently.
“You don't understand!”
“You're right.”
I pinned him.
“I don't need to.”
He smiled.
“You think this ends here?”
I looked toward the monitors.
“No.”
The countdown had vanished.
The release protocol was canceled.
For the first time in decades, Helix was silent.
Then Richard whispered:
“You still don't know who created the final sequence.”
I looked at him.
“Who?”
He smiled.
“Your mother.”
My blood froze.
“My mother died thirty years ago.”
Richard laughed.
“No.”
“What?”
“She disappeared.”
I stared.
Richard whispered:
“She has been running Helix from the beginning.”
Everything inside me went cold.
My mother.
Alive.
Somewhere.
Watching.
And suddenly Sophie screamed.
I turned.
A man stood behind her.
He had taken Anna.
My first daughter was on the ground.
Richard smiled.
“You thought I was the villain.”
He looked toward the stranger.
“I was only the messenger.”
The man lifted Anna into his arms.
Then he said:
“Hello, Ethan.”
I recognized his face.
May you like
It was my mother's doctor.
The man who had signed her death certificate.
