CHAPTER 12 — THE FACILITY
The facility was hidden beneath an abandoned mining operation.
Damon drove for three hours.
Nobody spoke.
Raina sat in the back.
Clara beside her.
Sofia remained behind at the cabin with Orson and the security team.
Before they separated, Orson had pulled Raina aside.
“I don't want you going.”
Raina had looked into his eyes.
“You've spent my entire life protecting me from the truth.”
“I know.”
“Now I need the truth.”
Orson had nodded.
“Then bring my grandson or granddaughter home.”
Raina had smiled sadly.
“I will.”
Now the vehicle stopped in front of a massive steel gate.
Damon showed an access card.
The gate opened.
They entered.
The facility was underground.
Concrete corridors.
Security cameras.
Steel doors.
No windows.
Raina's stomach tightened.
“This place…”
“You remember it?”
“No.”
Damon looked at her.
“You will.”
They reached an elevator.
It descended.
One level.
Two.
Three.
Four.
The doors opened.
Raina froze.
A long white corridor stretched ahead.
The exact hallway from her dreams.
The red door.
The child's room.
The lullaby.
Her heart began pounding.
“I've been here.”
Damon nodded.
“You were born here.”
Raina stared at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I was born at St. Vincent's.”
“That was the public record.”
“Then what is this?”
“The real one.”
Raina stepped forward.
Her hand touched the wall.
A memory struck.
A woman screaming.
A baby crying.
Someone saying:
Take her before Victor arrives.
Raina stumbled.
Clara caught her.
“What did you see?”
“My mother.”
Damon looked away.
“She was here.”
“Yes.”
“Was she killed here?”
“No.”
“Then where?”
Damon hesitated.
“Victor took her.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Raina looked at him.
“You know more than you're saying.”
Damon nodded.
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“Your mother escaped.”
Raina froze.
“What?”
“She escaped with you.”
“Then how did I end up here?”
“Someone betrayed her.”
“Who?”
Damon looked toward the security camera.
“Your father.”
Raina's blood went cold.
“No.”
“I saw the records.”
“My father didn't betray her.”
“He did.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor threatened him.”
Raina stared.
“What did Victor threaten?”
“Clara.”
Raina looked at Clara.
Damon continued.
“Victor told Orson that if he didn't give him the location of Elena, Clara would die.”
Clara's face went pale.
“So Orson gave him the location?”
“Yes.”
Raina felt sick.
“And Elena?”
“Escaped.”
“Where?”
Damon shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Raina stared.
“You're lying.”
“I swear.”
“Then why did you say my father betrayed her?”
“Because he did.”
Damon's voice broke.
“But he didn't know Elena would survive.”
Raina turned away.
She needed a moment.
Then a child's voice echoed from behind a steel door.
“Dad?”
Damon froze.
“Emma.”
He ran.
Raina followed.
Damon opened the door.
A little girl stood inside.
She looked thin.
Pale.
Frightened.
But alive.
Damon dropped to his knees.
“Emma.”
The girl ran into his arms.
He held her tightly.
“I found you.”
Emma began crying.
Raina turned away.
For the first time, she saw the man beneath the monster Damon had become.
He had been a coward.
A liar.
A betrayer.
But he was also a father who had spent years trapped by fear.
Then footsteps echoed.
Victor.
Raina's body went rigid.
Victor appeared at the end of the corridor.
Several armed guards stood behind him.
He smiled.
“Raina.”
She stepped forward.
“You wanted me.”
“Yes.”
“Here I am.”
Victor's eyes moved to her stomach.
“More importantly…”
His smile widened.
“…the child is here.”
Damon stood.
“Let them go.”
Victor laughed.
“You still think you can negotiate?”
“You have Emma.”
“I do.”
“Then let Raina leave.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
Damon's face hardened.
Victor looked at Raina.
“You have something I need.”
“What?”
“The original genetic sequence.”
Raina stared.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“You carry it.”
“Then take me.”
Victor smiled.
“I will.”
He stepped closer.
“But first…”
He looked at Clara.
“…I want her.”
Clara raised her weapon.
Victor laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
He pulled out a file.
“Clara isn't your sister.”
Raina looked at him.
“I know.”
Victor smiled.
“But she isn't merely a genetic copy either.”
Clara froze.
Victor opened the file.
“She was created from Raina's DNA.”
Raina stared.
Victor continued.
“But there was a flaw.”
“What flaw?”
Victor looked at Clara.
“She was designed to carry the sequence.”
Then he looked at Raina.
“But you were designed to activate it.”
Raina's blood ran cold.
“What does that mean?”
Victor smiled.
“The child.”
Raina instinctively stepped backward.
“The child isn't the key.”
Victor paused.
“You are.”
Silence.
Damon looked at Victor.
“What?”
Victor continued.
“Your pregnancy has triggered the sequence.”
Raina's face went pale.
“Triggered what?”
“Memory.”
Clara stared.
Victor's voice became almost reverent.
“The memories of the original subject.”
Raina touched her head.
The dreams.
The hallway.
The red door.
The woman singing.
They weren't dreams.
They were memories.
Victor smiled.
“You're remembering everything.”
Raina suddenly heard a woman's voice inside her mind.
Raina, if you remember, run.
She closed her eyes.
The memory became clearer.
Her mother was holding her.
Victor was approaching.
Orson was screaming.
A baby was crying.
Then another woman appeared.
Dr. Hart.
She took Raina.
And whispered:
I'll save you.
Raina opened her eyes.
She knew.
She finally knew.
“Victor.”
“Yes?”
“You're afraid.”
His smile disappeared.
Raina continued.
“Because you don't know what I remember.”
Victor stared.
“What do you remember?”
Raina looked at Clara.
Then Damon.
Then the child.
“I remember the night my mother escaped.”
Victor's face changed.
“And I remember who helped her.”
Victor stepped backward.
“Impossible.”
Raina smiled.
“You should have killed me when you had the chance.”
Then a gunshot echoed.
Victor turned.
The lights went out.
Emergency sirens screamed.
A voice came through the intercom.
“Everyone down.”
Orson.
Raina's father had arrived.
Victor shouted,
“Find them!”
Gunfire erupted through the corridor.
Raina grabbed Emma.
Clara grabbed Damon.
They ran.
Behind them, Victor screamed:
“YOU DON'T KNOW WHO YOUR MOTHER REALLY IS!”
Raina stopped for half a second.
Then another voice came through the intercom.
A woman's voice.
Soft.
Familiar.
The lullaby.
Raina's entire body froze.
She knew that voice.
She had heard it in her dreams.
She whispered,
“Mom?”
The intercom crackled.
Then the woman said:
“Run, my child.”
Raina's eyes filled with tears.
“She is alive.”
Damon looked at her.
“Who?”
Raina stared into the darkness.
“My mother.”
Then the facility doors slammed shut.
And somewhere beneath the mountain, Elena Voss was still alive.
Watching.
May you like
Waiting.
And finally ready to come home.
