Chapter 12: The Woman in the Wheelchair
The voice echoed through the underground complex.
"Welcome home... Richard."
No one moved.
The emergency light above the tunnel flickered weakly, casting long shadows across the stone floor.
The figure in the wheelchair remained motionless.
Only the slow creak of its wheels broke the silence.
Richard stared into the darkness.
His heartbeat pounded in his ears.
"I've never been here before."
The old woman smiled.
"You have."
"You were simply too young to remember."
Lucas quietly stepped beside Emily and Sophia.
"Stay behind me."
Emily frowned.
"Who is she?"
Lucas answered without taking his eyes off the woman.
"The only person Victor was ever afraid of."
Victor didn't deny it.
Instead, he took a slow step backward.
Then another.
His face had become almost colorless.
"Dr. Eleanor Voss..."
he whispered.
"I thought you were dead."
The woman laughed.
A dry, tired laugh.
"I allowed you to believe that."
She rolled her wheelchair forward until the emergency light illuminated her face.
She looked well into her eighties.
Silver hair neatly tied back.
A dark wool blanket covered her legs.
Her hands looked frail.
Almost delicate.
But her eyes...
Her eyes were sharp.
Cold.
Calculating.
They swept across every face in the room before stopping on Richard.
"You've become quite a man."
Richard clenched his fists.
"You knew my father."
"I knew everyone."
"You murdered him."
Silence.
Eleanor tilted her head.
"I gave no such order."
Richard stepped closer.
"But you know who did."
"I do."
"Then tell me."
She smiled faintly.
"You still ask questions before understanding the game."
Dr. Brooks could no longer contain himself.
"How could you do this?"
"You experimented on children."
"You destroyed families."
"You stole lives."
Eleanor looked at him almost sympathetically.
"I saved lives too."
The room erupted.
Lucas shook his head.
"No."
"You stole childhoods."
She looked at him.
"And yet..."
"...you survived."
"So did Emily."
"So did Sophia."
She glanced toward Richard.
"So did Subject Forty-Seven."
Richard froze.
"Stop calling me that."
She ignored him.
"You've spent your entire life believing you were making your own decisions."
She smiled.
"Were you?"
Margaret Ellis stepped forward.
"I helped deliver those babies."
"I should have stopped you."
Eleanor nodded.
"You should have."
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
"I was afraid."
"So was everyone else."
Emily looked confused.
"Why?"
Eleanor's gaze softened for the first time.
"Because fear builds very obedient adults."
Emily frowned.
"My grandma wasn't obedient."
"No."
Eleanor admitted.
"She ruined everything."
Lucas' expression changed instantly.
"What did you say?"
Eleanor folded her hands.
"Your grandmother."
She looked at Emily.
"The woman who raised you."
"Grace Collins."
Emily nodded slowly.
"She was supposed to deliver you."
Silence.
Instead...
"She ran."
Emily blinked.
"Ran?"
Eleanor nodded.
"She was a nurse."
Margaret gasped.
"Grace was one of us..."
Eleanor smiled.
"Until she wasn't."
A thousand memories rushed through Margaret's mind.
Grace.
The young nurse who had resigned without warning.
Who had disappeared two days after the births.
Who had never been found.
Not because she had vanished.
Because she had escaped.
With Emily.
Emily's voice trembled.
"My grandma saved me?"
Eleanor closed her eyes briefly.
"Yes."
Emily looked at the floor.
"Then..."
"Why did she tell me never to come here?"
Lucas answered quietly.
"Because she knew they were waiting."
Richard stared at Eleanor.
"You've been watching us all these years."
She nodded.
"From a distance."
"Why reveal yourself now?"
Her answer came without hesitation.
"Because my time is almost over."
The room fell silent.
She lifted a trembling hand.
"My body is failing."
"I won't live much longer."
Victor frowned.
"Then why bring us here?"
Eleanor looked at Emily.
Then Sophia.
Then Lucas.
Finally...
Richard.
"To end what I started."
Richard laughed bitterly.
"You expect forgiveness?"
"No."
She answered calmly.
"I expect judgment."
Before anyone could respond...
Lucas suddenly stiffened.
His eyes darted toward one of the old ventilation shafts.
"Someone else is here."
Every guard raised a flashlight.
The beams swept across the corridor.
Nothing.
Then...
a faint metallic click.
Richard recognized the sound instantly.
The safety of a pistol being released.
"Down!"
he shouted.
A gunshot exploded through the archive.
The bullet shattered a glass cabinet behind Victor.
Chaos erupted.
The guards rushed toward the sound.
Another shot.
Then another.
The shooter wasn't aiming randomly.
Every bullet landed within inches of Victor.
Victor dove behind a steel filing cabinet.
"They found me!"
he yelled.
Richard shouted back,
"Who?"
Victor's answer echoed through the underground chamber.
"The people who killed your father!"
A fourth shot rang out.
This one hit its target.
Victor cried out in pain and collapsed to one knee.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Lucas sprinted toward him despite Richard's warning.
"Lucas, stop!"
Too late.
Lucas reached Victor just as another bullet struck the cabinet above them, showering both with sparks.
The shooter remained hidden in the darkness.
Then...
a calm female voice echoed through the tunnel.
"You've all learned far too much."
Everyone froze.
Richard recognized the voice.
The woman from the security camera.
Dr. Eleanor Voss slowly closed her eyes.
"No..."
she whispered.
"She came herself."
Richard looked at her.
"Who?"
Eleanor opened her eyes.
For the first time...
they held unmistakable fear.
"My daughter."
Silence.
Every heartbeat seemed to stop.
Then the woman in the darkness spoke again.
"My name..."
"...is Dr. Amelia Voss."
A figure stepped into the edge of the emergency light.
She looked no older than forty-five.
Elegant.
Composed.
A pistol steady in her hand.
Her white lab coat was spotless.
She smiled at Eleanor.
"Mother..."
May you like
"You should have stayed dead."
End of Chapter 12
