Chapter 15 - Subject BetaBen collapsed.
Dad caught him.
I knelt beside him.
“Ben?”
His eyes were open.
But he seemed somewhere else.
“Tell me where you are.”
He whispered:
“Three-seven-one.”
“What?”
“Room 371.”
Dad looked at me.
“It's coming back.”
Ben suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“Don't let them take Ellie.”
“Who?”
He looked terrified.
“Victor.”
Then he said another name.
“Dr. Mason.”
Dad's expression changed.
“Who is Dr. Mason?”
Ben shook his head.
“He worked on me.”
I felt sick.
“Worked on you how?”
“I don't know.”
“Ben!”
He squeezed his eyes shut.
“I went to a clinic.”
“What clinic?”
“I thought it was therapy.”
Dad stared at him.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
My stomach dropped.
“For what?”
“Sleep.”
A silence followed.
Then Ben whispered:
“They asked me questions.”
“What questions?”
“About you.”
My heart hammered.
“About me?”
“Yes.”
“Your childhood. Your mother. Your father. Your habits. Your passwords.”
Dad swore.
“They were building a profile.”
Ben nodded.
“I thought it was normal.”
“And the coffee?”
Ben started crying.
“I knew something would happen.”
I froze.
“You knew.”
“I didn't know what.”
“You knew enough.”
He looked at me.
“I woke up that morning with a sentence in my head.”
“What sentence?”
He whispered:
“Today is the day.”
I stepped away.
The betrayal hurt more because he looked genuinely broken.
Then the tunnel door opened.
A woman entered.
Gray coat.
Hat.
Mask.
I recognized the eyes.
“Mom?”
She removed the mask.
It was her.
My mother.
Alive.
I couldn't move.
She walked toward me.
Her face crumpled.
“I'm sorry.”
I ran to her.
For several seconds, I was seventeen again.
A child whose world had vanished.
I cried into her shoulder.
Then she pulled away.
“There isn't much time.”
I looked at her.
“Why did you leave me?”
“To keep you alive.”
“You watched me.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“Yes.”
“I hated you.”
“I know.”
She nodded.
“I hated myself too.”
Then she looked at Ben.
“I warned you.”
Ben shook his head.
“I tried.”
She crouched beside him.
“You did.”
Dad looked at her.
“Then tell us the truth.”
My mother stood.
“Victor wasn't the mastermind.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“Who is?”
She looked directly at me.
“Daniel.”
I stared.
“You said he was helping you.”
“He was.”
“Then why?”
“He was helping himself.”
She placed a flash drive in my hand.
“Everything is on here.”
“What is it?”
“The reason Linda attacked Ellie.”
I looked at the drive.
“Why would Daniel want Ellie hurt?”
My mother’s voice became barely audible.
“Because your daughter inherited something.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
She whispered:
“Your mother's bloodline.”
Then the lights came back on.
Every monitor in the tunnel displayed the same image.
Ellie.
Sleeping.
At the hospital.
May you like
My mother's face went white.
“They found her.”
