Chapter 12 - Twenty-Two MinutesThe countdown appeared.
20:00.
19:59.
19:58.
"What happens at zero?"
Jonathan didn't answer.
"Dad."
He looked at me.
"The original implant emits a neurological cascade."
"Meaning?"
"It shuts down the nervous system."
I stared at the screen.
"Everyone connected to the network?"
"Yes."
"How many patients?"
"Four hundred and seventeen."
I felt sick.
"Patient 417."
He nodded.
"The number isn't a person."
"What?"
"It was a trial group."
The realization hit me.
Eleanor was one of 417 patients.
But the system had never been about her.
It was about all of them.
"Then why did the file call her Patient 417?"
"Because she was the final enrolled patient."
"She wasn't the first."
"No."
"She was the last."
The countdown hit 17:32.
"What can stop it?"
"Your blood."
"Then take it."
"Not enough."
"Then what?"
"Your genetic activation sequence has to interface with the central system."
"How?"
"Manual connection."
"Where?"
"The core chamber."
"Then let's go."
Jonathan grabbed my arm.
"Once you connect, it may transfer the neural pattern directly into your body."
"Meaning?"
"You could die."
I stared at the countdown.
16:48.
"People are going to die anyway."
He looked at me.
"I've spent fourteen years trying to keep you away from this."
"And I spent eight years married to the man who helped create it."
I stepped toward the control room door.
"I think I'm done letting other people choose what I'm allowed to know."
We reached the core chamber.
The room was circular.
At the center stood a medical platform connected to dozens of cables.
There was blood on the floor.
Nate.
He was standing there.
The implant glowed beneath the skin of his neck.
"Don't come closer."
I stopped.
"Nate."
He looked devastated.
"I didn't know what else to do."
"You could have told me."
"I couldn't."
"You could have trusted me."
"I did."
I laughed bitterly.
"You hid my career."
"To protect you."
"You lied."
"To protect you."
"You married me because of Orchid."
He closed his eyes.
"Yes."
The word broke something in me.
"Did you love me?"
He opened his eyes.
"Yes."
"Before or after?"
"Before."
I wanted to believe him.
I hated that I wanted to.
"Did you kill Eleanor?"
"No."
"Did you alter the device?"
"I helped build the prototype."
"That's not what I asked."
He looked down.
"Yes."
The room went silent.
"You changed it."
"I was twenty-five. I thought I was helping develop a safer system."
"And then?"
"I discovered Avery had replaced the failsafe."
"Why didn't you stop it?"
"I tried."
"You failed."
"Yes."
I looked at the countdown.
08:21.
"Then help me stop it now."
Nate stared at me.
"You don't understand."
"What?"
"This facility isn't controlled by Avery."
"Then who?"
His eyes filled with fear.
"The Turner family never owned Orchid."
"What?"
He whispered,
"It belonged to your father."
Jonathan appeared in the doorway.
Nate looked at him.
"Tell her."
Jonathan lowered his head.
Nate continued.
"Your father created Orchid."
I turned.
"Dad?"
He said nothing.
The countdown hit 07:03.
Then every screen turned black.
One final message appeared.
PHASE THREE REQUIRES HANNAH TURNER.
Nate stared at the screen.
Then at me.
"Hannah..."
A voice came through the speakers.
My mother's voice.
"Come home, sweetheart."
May you like
I froze.
My mother had been dead for twelve years.
