Chapter 9 - Grant was bleeding from the shoulder.Victor disappeared through the side door.
Daniel returned fire.
Sarah dropped beside Grant.
Logan froze.
I grabbed him.
“Move!”
We dragged Grant behind the cabin.
Three gunmen were positioned across the lake.
Their silhouettes moved between the trees.
I looked at the ice.
Too exposed.
We needed cover.
“There.”
An old maintenance tunnel ran beneath the cabin.
We pulled Grant inside.
Daniel shut the steel hatch.
“Claire.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He stared at me.
“Is what Sarah said true?”
“I don't know.”
Logan answered.
“She does.”
He looked at his wounded father.
“She's been telling me for years that I'm different.”
Grant opened his eyes.
“Logan.”
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
“From what?”
Grant looked at me.
“From them.”
I crouched beside him.
“Who am I to him?”
Grant closed his eyes.
“His mother.”
My chest tightened.
“Why did nobody tell me?”
“Because you were ordered to forget.”
“By whom?”
He looked toward Daniel.
Daniel stiffened.
Then Grant whispered a name.
“Cole.”
The tunnel went silent.
I stood.
“Cole knew.”
Grant nodded.
“Cole knew everything.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I never saw those files.”
Grant looked at him.
“Because you were never cleared.”
I stared at Daniel.
“Why were you there?”
He looked at me.
“I was sent to protect you.”
“By whom?”
“Cole.”
Everything was collapsing.
Not because people had lied.
Because each lie had another lie beneath it.
I turned toward Logan.
He was sitting alone.
Hands shaking.
“Are you all right?”
He laughed bitterly.
“No.”
I sat beside him.
“I don't know what you're feeling.”
“Yes, you do.”
“What?”
“Your whole life is built on a lie.”
He looked at me.
“So is mine.”
We sat in silence.
Then I said:
“You didn't choose any of this.”
“I chose to challenge you.”
“That's not what I meant.”
He looked away.
I touched his shoulder.
“For the first time in your life, you get to choose who you become.”
He stared at me.
Then slowly nodded.
A sound came from above.
Footsteps.
Someone entered the cabin.
Daniel raised his gun.
The footsteps stopped above us.
Then a voice.
“Claire.”
Cole.
Again.
I looked at Daniel.
“Open it.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Cole is the reason we're here.”
I stared at him.
“You said he protected me.”
“I said that's what he claimed.”
We heard Cole speak again.
“I brought you here because there is something you need to see.”
I opened the hatch.
Cole stood alone.
No weapon.
He carried a small metal case.
He looked at Logan.
“It's time.”
Logan stepped forward.
“Time for what?”
Cole opened the case.
Inside was a blood-stained photograph.
It showed six people.
Me.
Cole.
Daniel.
Sarah.
Grant.
And another person.
A woman I had never seen.
Cole pointed to her.
“She's the real founder of the program.”
Sarah whispered:
“No.”
Cole nodded.
“She never died.”
I looked at the photograph.
The woman had one hand on Logan's shoulder.
She was smiling.
Then I realized something.
The woman had the same eyes as Evan.
I looked at Cole.
“Who is she?”
Cole answered:
“Your mother.”
My world stopped again.
“That's impossible.”
Cole shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at Logan.
“Your grandmother.”
Then he looked at me.
“And the woman who raised you was never your mother.”
My knees weakened.
Cole opened the case further.
Inside was an old identity card.
My photograph.
But a different name.
ELENA VALE.
I stared at it.
“That isn't me.”
Cole whispered:
“It was.”
Then a gunshot came from outside.
A second later, the tunnel lights went red.
Cole looked toward the ceiling.
“They found us.”
Daniel raised his weapon.
Cole looked directly at me.
“Now you need to decide which child you're willing to lose.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
He pointed behind me.
A second tunnel exit.
A phone rang.
I answered.
Victor's voice came through.
“You have five minutes.”
“For what?”
“To choose.”
Then the call ended.
A monitor flickered on.
Two live feeds appeared.
One showed Evan.
The other showed Logan.
Each was standing in a different room.
May you like
And a timer appeared beneath them.
05:00
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