Chapter 12 - The HospitalThe footsteps stopped outside.
Too many.
Daniel drew his weapon.
My mother pulled the curtains closed.
Lauren whispered:
“They found us.”
“No,” Ethan said.
He was still weak.
“They found her.”
He looked at me.
I understood.
This had never been about the island.
Or the cruise.
Or even Ethan.
It had always been about me.
The door exploded inward.
Security officers stormed the room.
Daniel fired two warning shots.
The officers ducked.
We ran.
Not away from the hospital.
Up.
The roof.
Helicopter.
Escape.
The hospital had twelve floors.
We reached the ninth before the elevators stopped.
Gunfire echoed below.
My mother grabbed my arm.
“There's another way.”
She opened a maintenance door.
Inside was a narrow stairwell.
I followed.
At the roof, helicopters filled the sky.
One landed.
Federal agents rushed toward us.
I raised my hands.
“I'm Elena Vale.”
The lead agent stopped.
“Thank God.”
He lowered his weapon.
I looked at his badge.
Wrong emblem.
Not FBI.
Not CIA.
Something else.
He smiled.
“We've been looking for you.”
I looked behind him.
The helicopter door opened.
A man stepped out.
My father.
Alive.
I couldn't breathe.
He smiled.
“My little girl.”
I aimed a gun at him.
He stopped.
“You remember me.”
“Every night.”
He sighed.
“I hoped the conditioning would last longer.”
My mother stepped forward.
“You promised me she'd be free.”
He looked at her.
“I promised you she'd be alive.”
Ethan appeared behind me.
He could barely stand.
My father stared at him.
“You failed.”
Ethan replied:
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I changed the plan.”
My father laughed.
“You think love changed anything?”
“No.”
Ethan pointed at me.
“She changed everything.”
My father looked at me.
“You're not the weapon.”
He paused.
“You're the key.”
Daniel asked:
“To what?”
My father smiled.
“The system.”
Then every helicopter's engines stopped.
The roof fell silent.
Something had jammed the electronics.
A woman stepped from the stairwell.
Lauren.
She held a detonator.
Everyone froze.
“Lauren?”
She smiled.
“I was never one of the victims.”
My blood ran cold.
She walked toward my father.
“She was the first successful infiltrator.”
Ethan stared.
“You betrayed us.”
Lauren smiled.
“I never belonged to you.”
She turned to me.
“Your mother built Blackfall.”
“My father weaponized it.”
She pointed at herself.
“And I made sure it survived.”
Daniel raised his gun.
Lauren pressed the detonator.
Nothing happened.
She looked down.
Confused.
I looked at Ethan.
He smiled.
“I removed the trigger.”
Lauren's face changed.
Then the roof door opened.
Hundreds of armed soldiers surrounded us.
But they weren't federal.
Their uniforms carried the Blackfall insignia.
My father looked at them.
And smiled.
“You're too late.”
May you like
He pointed at me.
“Take her.”
