Chapter 13: A Father's Stand
Every sound disappeared.
The gun in Robert Ellis's hand never wavered.
Its barrel pointed directly at Lily.
She stood frozen beside Ava, still clutching the faded stuffed rabbit against her chest.
Ellis smiled with unsettling calm.
"No one moves."
"Or the child dies."
Even his own men lowered their eyes.
This wasn't an arrest.
It wasn't self-defense.
It was murder.
Reynolds Steps Forward
David Reynolds slowly walked between Ellis and Lily.
He spread his arms.
"If you're going to shoot..."
"...shoot me."
Ellis laughed.
"You've become sentimental."
"No."
Reynolds answered quietly.
"I finally remembered what I forgot."
"And what's that?"
"Children are people."
"They're not projects."
For several seconds neither man moved.
They had clearly known each other for decades.
Once they had stood on the same side.
Now they couldn't have been farther apart.
The Confession
Ellis sighed.
"You always were the weak one."
He looked toward the frightened children.
"You still don't understand why Sparrow exists."
He turned toward Hayes.
"Detective..."
"Do you know how many children disappear every year?"
Hayes remained silent.
Ellis continued.
"Thousands."
"Some are abused."
"Some are abandoned."
"Some are sold."
"We simply..."
"...selected the ones worth saving."
"You kidnapped them," Hayes replied.
"We rescued potential."
"You erased their identities."
"We gave them better ones."
His voice carried absolute certainty.
He believed every word.
That made him more dangerous than anyone else.
Daniel Appears
Suddenly, a weak voice echoed from behind Ellis's men.
"He's lying."
Every head turned.
Daniel staggered into the hallway.
Blood stained the side of his shirt.
One arm hung limp.
He looked exhausted.
Behind him came Tessa, helping him walk.
Neither carried a weapon.
Ellis frowned.
"I told them to finish you."
Daniel ignored him.
Instead, he looked directly at me.
"I'm sorry."
The words were barely audible.
"I should have stopped this years ago."
Tessa began crying.
"We thought we were helping."
"They told us the children came from terrible homes."
"They never let us see the parents searching for them."
She looked at Lily.
"When she kept calling for you..."
"...everything we believed started falling apart."
Ellis Loses Control
Ellis's expression hardened.
"Enough."
He raised his pistol toward Daniel.
"You've become a liability."
Before he could fire...
Reynolds shoved the barrel upward.
The gun discharged.
The bullet shattered a ceiling light.
Darkness briefly flooded the hallway.
Chaos erupted.
The Fight
Hayes tackled Ellis.
Both men crashed into a server rack.
Hard drives spilled across the floor.
The armed contractors opened fire.
Police officers returned fire from behind steel support columns.
The underground hallway exploded into noise.
My only thought was Lily.
I grabbed both girls.
"Stay behind me!"
My father helped several frightened children into the maintenance shaft Rachel had shown us.
"Move!"
"Keep moving!"
Ava held Lily's hand tightly.
Neither let go.
Rachel Returns
Just as Ellis broke free from Hayes, another shot rang out.
Everyone stopped.
Ellis stared at his shoulder.
Blood spread across his uniform.
Standing at the end of the hallway...
Rachel lowered a small pistol with trembling hands.
Tears streamed down her face.
"I'm done being afraid."
Ellis turned toward her.
"You..."
"You were always my greatest disappointment."
Rachel shook her head.
"No."
"I was your victim."
The Red Terminal
Hayes looked at the countdown.
01:47
"Michael!"
"The terminal!"
I looked toward the glowing red computer at the end of the server room.
The countdown wasn't stopping.
If it reached zero...
Years of evidence would disappear forever.
I sprinted through flying debris.
Bullets struck server cabinets around me.
Sparks showered across the floor.
Reynolds threw himself in front of another burst of gunfire, buying me precious seconds.
I reached the terminal.
A password prompt filled the screen.
Access Denied.
Thirty seconds left.
Hayes shouted,
"Reynolds!"
"The password!"
Reynolds smiled sadly.
"It's not a code."
"It's a name."
"What name?"
He looked at Lily.
"The first child."
For a heartbeat, no one understood.
Then Rachel whispered,
"Emily."
Reynolds nodded.
I typed:
EMILY
The terminal unlocked.
A single message appeared.
Archive deletion in progress.
Cancel?
I hit YES.
The screen froze.
The countdown reached...
00:02
...
00:01
...
Then stopped.
Across the server room, green lights replaced the flashing red alarms.
The archive had been saved.
The End of Sparrow
Ellis saw the green lights.
His face emptied of all emotion.
"You've ruined everything."
He reached for a second handgun hidden beneath his jacket.
Before he could raise it...
Daniel stepped between Ellis and the children.
A single shot echoed.
Daniel collapsed.
The handgun slid from Ellis's grasp as Hayes and two officers tackled him to the ground.
Handcuffs clicked shut around his wrists.
For the first time in decades...
Robert Ellis had nowhere left to run.
He stared at the children gathered behind us.
Then at the preserved servers.
Finally, he lowered his head.
The empire he had built was over.
As emergency lights illuminated the underground complex, medics rushed inside.
Children were carried to safety one by one.
Parents who had spent years searching would finally have answers.
I knelt beside Daniel.
He managed a faint smile.
"Did..."
"...did Lily get out?"
I looked toward the two little girls walking hand in hand toward the exit.
"Yes."
"They're safe."
Daniel closed his eyes in relief.
Outside, dawn's first light began to break over Ravenwood.
But the story was not quite over.
As investigators began copying the rescued server data, Hayes received an urgent call from the forensic lab.
He looked at me, his expression grim.
"The files mention another location."
He swallowed.
"It's labeled Site Zero."
"According to Reynolds..."
"...Project Sparrow didn't begin at Building Nine."
May you like
"It began somewhere else."
End of Chapter 13
