Chapter 11 - The EscapeEverything happened at once.
Detective Morgan fired toward the ceiling.
“DOWN!”
Ethan grabbed my bed.
The doctor pulled me behind the equipment.
My mother screamed.
The armed men rushed into the room.
But they weren't police.
They wore black uniforms with the Bellhaven crown.
“Move her!” someone shouted.
Ethan threw himself between me and them.
“You're not touching my wife.”
One man raised his weapon.
Then suddenly another alarm sounded.
The sprinklers exploded.
Water rained from the ceiling.
The lights died again.
Detective Morgan shouted:
“NOW!”
She grabbed my bed.
Ethan pushed.
The wheels flew down the hallway.
We raced toward the emergency elevator.
My mother followed.
Behind us, gunfire echoed.
“Where are we going?” I shouted.
“Basement,” Detective Morgan said.
“Why?”
“Bellhaven's hospital access tunnels connect beneath this building.”
I stared at her.
“You're saying they built tunnels?”
“I’m saying they never stopped operating here.”
We reached the elevator.
It opened.
We rushed inside.
The doors closed.
For three seconds, everything was silent.
Then the elevator began descending.
Past level B1.
B2.
B3.
Then the display changed.
CROWN LEVEL
My stomach dropped.
“There isn't supposed to be a Crown Level.”
My mother whispered:
“There is.”
The doors opened.
A hallway stretched into darkness.
White walls.
Glass rooms.
Machines.
And dozens of empty incubators.
I felt sick.
“What is this?”
My mother closed her eyes.
“The truth.”
We pushed deeper.
Files lined the walls.
Patient codes.
Dates.
Photographs.
I saw one.
ELLIE CARTER.
Ethan stopped breathing.
“No.”
He walked toward it.
Inside the file was a photograph of a baby.
His baby.
Ellie.
Beside the photograph was a medical note.
Subject survived 31 weeks. Fetal distress induced. Termination unsuccessful.
Ethan staggered backward.
“They killed her.”
The doctor looked at the record.
“They induced the distress.”
My mother whispered:
“Bellhaven needed to know how the marker responded.”
I stared at her.
“You knew.”
“I found out afterward.”
“And you stayed silent.”
“I was afraid.”
“You always say that.”
She looked at me through tears.
“I was afraid because your father wasn't working alone.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who else?”
She pointed to the end of the corridor.
A large glass office.
Inside was a man sitting behind a desk.
He slowly stood.
My breath caught.
It was someone I recognized.
Someone who had attended my wedding.
Someone I trusted.
My father's oldest friend.
Dr. Samuel Reed.
He smiled.
“Hello, Claire.”
Ethan stared at him.
“You.”
Reed looked at my stomach.
“I'm glad you came.”
Detective Morgan raised her gun.
“How many people have you killed?”
Reed smiled.
“None.”
“Then who?”
He looked at my mother.
“Ask her.”
My mother broke down.
Reed walked closer to the glass.
“Your grandmother didn't create Crown.”
I frowned.
“She discovered it.”
“Then who created it?”
He looked directly at my husband.
“Your family.”
Ethan went pale.
“What are you talking about?”
Reed pressed a button.
A screen lit up.
On it was a photograph of Ethan's father.
Then another.
My father's.
And then my grandmother's.
Three people.
Standing together.
Twenty-five years earlier.
May you like
Reed whispered:
“The project began with them.”
