Chapter 8 - We escaped through a tunnel beneath the safehouse.The tunnel was narrow, wet, and barely lit.
Daniel carried Madison.
Lucas led us.
I followed behind.
We didn't stop for almost an hour.
When we emerged, dawn was breaking.
A train station stood twenty yards away.
Crowds moved around us.
People drinking coffee.
Reading newspapers.
Checking phones.
Normal life.
Nobody knew we had just escaped a group of armed men.
We boarded a train.
For the first time in hours, I could breathe.
Daniel sat across from me.
Madison slept against his shoulder.
I stared at him.
“Who are the people hunting us?”
“The Orpheus Council.”
“Council?”
“There are seven members.”
“Names.”
“I only know four.”
“Give me them.”
He did.
Michael Carter.
Jonathan Vale.
Richard Sloan.
Eleanor Price.
My mother appeared in the doorway at the end of the train car.
I almost stopped breathing.
“Mom?”
She sat beside us.
“I knew you'd find out eventually.”
I stared at her.
“You're part of the Council.”
She looked down.
“Yes.”
Daniel stood.
“You told me she was safe.”
“She was.”
“You used her.”
My mother looked at him.
“You used her first.”
The two stared at each other.
I felt trapped between them.
“Someone explain.”
My mother sighed.
“Your father created Orpheus.”
“I know.”
“But Daniel changed it.”
“How?”
“He made the system capable of altering memory without killing the subject.”
I stared at Daniel.
He said nothing.
My mother continued.
“You wanted to expose your father.”
“And?”
“Your father wanted Madison.”
“Why?”
“He discovered that her blood could resist the procedure.”
“So?”
“He believed that if he could reproduce that resistance, nobody could ever erase his crimes.”
I looked at Madison.
She was still asleep.
“She is the key.”
My mother nodded.
“Yes.”
Then she reached into her coat.
She handed me a photograph.
It showed Madison standing beside a medical machine.
She was four years old.
I stared.
“Where was this taken?”
“A private laboratory.”
I looked at Daniel.
“You took her there?”
“No.”
My mother whispered:
“We all did.”
The train suddenly stopped.
Lights flickered.
Passengers groaned.
Then every screen inside the train changed.
A single message appeared.
RENEE HAYES. EXIT THE TRAIN ALONE.
My blood froze.
Then another line appeared.
OR MADISON DIES.
Daniel grabbed Madison.
Lucas pulled a weapon.
People began screaming.
The train doors opened.
At the platform stood a man in a gray coat.
I recognized him.
Jonathan Vale.
My father.
He smiled.
And behind him stood ten armed men.
“Hello, Renee.”
My legs nearly gave out.
“You're dead.”
May you like
He laughed.
“That was the idea.”
Related Stories
