Chapter 9 - The word repeated inside Natalie's head.Daughter.
Her daughter.
A child she had never remembered having.
“No.”
She pushed through the corridor.
Ward followed.
“Natalie, stop!”
“Where is she?”
“We don't know.”
“You said you knew everything!”
“I don't!”
Briggs caught up.
“Natalie!”
She spun.
“You knew.”
He looked away.
“You knew I had a daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
Natalie shoved him.
“You lied to me.”
“I was ordered to.”
“By whom?”
“Your mother.”
Natalie froze.
Briggs pulled a photograph from his pocket.
A little girl.
Brown hair.
Seven years old.
Standing beside a hospital bed.
Natalie stared.
“She looks like me.”
“She is yours.”
“How?”
Briggs swallowed.
“After Night Glass, they believed you were too dangerous to remain free.”
“So they took my daughter.”
“They used her as leverage.”
Natalie stared at the photograph.
“What is her name?”
“Lily.”
Natalie's heart cracked.
A memory surfaced.
A tiny hand.
A child's laugh.
A yellow dress.
“Mommy.”
Natalie covered her mouth.
More memories flooded back.
She had carried Lily through a house.
She had kissed her forehead.
She had promised to come back.
Then soldiers arrived.
Her mother had taken Lily.
Natalie had begged.
She had screamed.
Then someone injected her.
Her memory disappeared.
Natalie collapsed against the wall.
Ward knelt beside her.
“I remember,” Natalie whispered.
“What?”
“Everything.”
She stood.
Her eyes were different now.
No fear.
Only fury.
“Where is Lily?”
A voice came from the speaker.
“Level one.”
Natalie looked upward.
Her mother continued.
“Bring yourself to me, Natalie.”
“And if I don't?”
“You won't see her again.”
Natalie picked up her pistol.
She looked at Briggs.
“Get me to level one.”
Briggs stared.
“You're going after the Board?”
“No.”
She chambered the pistol.
“I'm going after my daughter.”
They began moving upward.
Floor after floor.
On level six, soldiers attacked.
Briggs fought.
Ward fought.
Holloway fought.
Natalie moved through them like she had been doing it her entire life.
But something had changed.
She no longer fought like a wounded officer.
She fought like someone who remembered everything.
Every movement.
Every angle.
Every instinct.
By the time they reached level two, there were no guards left standing.
Holloway looked at her.
“You really don't remember any of this?”
“No.”
“You fought exactly like Echo Seven.”
Natalie looked at him.
“Who was Echo Seven?”
He smiled.
“You.”
They reached the final elevator.
It opened.
At the top stood General Kane.
Beside him was an older woman.
Natalie stopped.
Her mother.
Evelyn Carter.
Alive.
Older.
Silver-haired.
Calm.
Natalie stared.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
Evelyn smiled.
“So are you.”
Natalie raised her pistol.
Evelyn didn't move.
“You don't want to shoot me.”
“You took my daughter.”
“I protected her.”
“You erased me.”
“I saved you.”
Natalie stepped forward.
“You turned me into a weapon.”
Evelyn's smile disappeared.
“No.”
She looked behind Natalie.
“You turned yourself into one.”
Natalie's anger faltered.
“What does that mean?”
Evelyn pointed at Kane.
“He lied to you.”
Kane's expression hardened.
Evelyn continued:
“Night Glass was not my operation.”
Natalie stared.
“Then whose?”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Yours.”
Natalie's heart stopped.
Evelyn whispered:
“You ordered the massacre.”
Natalie shook her head.
“I was controlled.”
“No.”
“You conditioned me.”
“No.”
Evelyn's voice broke.
“You volunteered.”
Silence.
Natalie felt the floor disappear beneath her.
“Why?”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Because you discovered what the Board was planning.”
“What?”
“To disappear thousands of soldiers.”
Natalie stared.
“You tried to stop them.”
“What happened?”
Evelyn looked toward Kane.
“He stopped you first.”
Kane suddenly smiled.
Then the lights went out.
May you like
A gunshot echoed.
And someone screamed Lily's name.
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