Chapter 16 - LAB 17
Lab 17 sat beneath an abandoned children’s hospital.
The building had officially closed twenty-one years earlier after an electrical fire.
The underground research wing remained intact.
Roman wanted a tactical team.
The kidnappers explicitly warned against police.
I chose something between obedience and recklessness.
Federal agents stayed two miles away.
Roman came with us.
Vanessa insisted.
Nathan came despite everyone telling him not to.
Thomas remained behind because of his injuries.
We entered through a tunnel beneath the old parking garage.
Vanessa shook visibly.
“I remember this smell.”
Bleach.
Metal.
Old concrete.
Nineteen years disappeared from her face.
She became sixteen again.
Roman stayed near her but did not touch her.
At the final door, a biometric scanner still worked.
Vanessa placed her hand.
Green.
The door opened.
Inside, rows of empty bassinets lined the walls.
My stomach turned.
Then I heard Ava cry.
“Baby!”
I ran.
Roman caught my arm.
“Wait.”
A shadow moved.
Graham Cross stepped into the room.
No security.
No expensive boardroom.
Just an old man who had lost control of an empire.
He held Ava.
Carefully.
Too carefully for me to believe he intended immediate harm.
“Give her to me.”
Graham looked down.
“She’s beautiful.”
“Don’t touch her.”
“I raised Nathan from eight days old.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“You used me.”
Graham looked at him.
“I loved you.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“You stole a dead baby’s name and put it on me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Mother was experimenting on me.”
“Yes.”
“And you still kept her around.”
Graham’s face hardened.
“Because her treatment saved your life.”
Nathan stopped.
Graham continued.
“Nothing is clean.”
“That is the lesson none of you understand.”
“Thomas wanted perfect ethics.”
“Evelyn wanted progress.”
“I wanted survival.”
I stepped forward.
“And Ava?”
“She is leverage.”
“Against what?”
“Vanessa.”
Vanessa froze.
Graham looked at her.
“Tell them where your daughter is.”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“I watched her die.”
“No.”
Graham looked toward a dark observation window.
“I raised two children who were not mine.”
Nathan’s face changed.
Then a door opened.
A young woman entered.
Nineteen.
Dark hair.
Gray-green eyes.
Vanessa made a sound I will never forget.
Not a scream.
Something smaller.
Broken.
The girl looked at her.
“Who are you?”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Graham answered.
“Her mother.”
The girl stepped back.
“No.”
Her name was Elise Cross.
Graham’s publicly acknowledged goddaughter.
A young woman the media believed was the orphaned child of distant relatives.
I had met her twice at Christmas.
Nathan stared.
“Elise?”
Graham looked almost proud.
“Vanessa’s daughter.”
Elise shook her head.
“No.”
Graham continued.
“Evelyn intended to use her as replacement M-17 continuity.”
“I removed her from the program.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You saved her?”
“In my way.”
“You told Mother she died?”
“Yes.”
For the first time, Graham’s cruelty contained something like mercy.
Twisted.
Controlling.
But real.
He had saved Elise from Evelyn.
Then lied to everyone and raised her as property.
Elise looked between them.
“My whole life…”
Graham said,
“Was protected.”
I whispered,
“No.”
Everyone looked at me.
“It was controlled.”
Graham’s eyes hardened.
“Same thing.”
“No.”
I thought about Thomas.
Roman.
Nathan.
Every person who had made choices for someone else.
“No, it isn’t.”
I stepped closer.
“Give me Ava.”
Graham looked at the child.
Then at me.
“You removed me from my company.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed my name.”
“You did that.”
His jaw tightened.
“And now you demand mercy.”
“No.”
I held his gaze.
“I’m demanding my daughter.”
For a long moment, nothing happened.
Then Graham handed Ava to me.
I nearly collapsed.
I buried my face against her hair.
She was warm.
Alive.
Safe.
Roman moved beside us.
Nathan stared at Graham.
“Why bring us here?”
Graham looked toward the observation window.
“Because Evelyn is coming.”
Vanessa froze.
“What?”
“She believes Elise is dead.”
“Not anymore.”
Graham held up a small transmitter.
“I told her.”
Roman’s face darkened.
“You used all of us as bait.”
“Yes.”
Sirens sounded faintly outside.
Graham smiled.
“I also called federal authorities.”
That surprised everyone.
Nathan stared.
“Why?”
Graham looked suddenly old.
“Because Claire was right.”
A pause.
“Control and protection are not the same thing.”
Then the lights died.
Again.
A familiar voice came from the dark.
Evelyn.
May you like
“You always were sentimental, Graham.”
A gunshot shattered the observation glass.
