Dominic had disappeared in less than thirty seconds.
One moment he had been standing beside Audrey’s vehicle, staring at the image of Natalie restrained inside Saint Catherine Institute.
The next, his door was open.
His seat was empty.
And the darkness between the federal vehicles and the abandoned research building had swallowed him.
“Dominic!”
Audrey tried to push herself out of the wheelchair.
Pain ripped across her abdomen.
Richard caught the chair.
“Stay down.”
“Find him!”
Federal agents were already moving.
Flashlights swept across the overgrown grounds.
The tactical commander shouted into his radio.
“Subject Mercer moving toward the eastern structure. Do not fire unless there is an immediate threat.”
Richard cursed.
“He’s doing exactly what they want.”
Audrey stared at the building.
“Why?”
“Because Natalie is inside.”
“No. Why do they want him?”
Richard touched the back of his own ear unconsciously.
“The capsule.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“It has to be more than that.”
Richard looked at her.
“What?”
“They could remove the capsule from his corpse.”
Audrey felt cold.
Richard understood immediately.
“They need him alive.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
Evelyn looked toward the cryogenic tanks visible in the frozen frame on Audrey’s phone.
“Authentication.”
Audrey frowned.
“The archive?”
“Not the hospital archive.”
“Then what?”
“The original Helix registry.”
Richard went pale.
“No.”
Harrison, sitting in another federal vehicle, leaned forward.
“What registry?”
Evelyn answered.
“My mother designed every important system around biological verification.”
Audrey remembered the strange succession triggers.
Family lines.
Living heirs.
Mercer involvement.
Everything Eleanor had built treated human beings like keys.
“What can Dominic unlock?”
Evelyn’s expression darkened.
“The embryo bank.”
Silence.
Audrey looked toward the building containing hundreds of cryogenic tanks.
“Why would they need to unlock something already physically accessible?”
“Because access isn't the same as ownership.”
Harrison understood.
“Legal release.”
“Yes.”
Richard shook his head.
“Eleanor wouldn't trust legal documents.”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at Dominic’s abandoned seat.
“She trusted blood.”
Audrey’s phone vibrated.
A new video appeared.
Dominic.
He was walking through the front entrance of Saint Catherine Institute.
Alone.
His hands raised.
The blond Helix woman waited inside.
“Stop!” Audrey shouted uselessly at the screen.
Dominic could not hear her.
The woman searched him.
Then smiled.
“Mr. Mercer.”
“Where is Natalie?”
“Safe.”
“I want to see her.”
“You will.”
“And the baby?”
“Still alive.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“If either of them is hurt—”
The woman laughed softly.
“You are in no position to threaten anyone.”
“I came alone.”
“No.”
Her eyes moved toward the camera.
“You brought Audrey.”
Audrey froze.
The woman was speaking to her.
“She knew we would,” Evelyn whispered.
The blond woman continued.
“You always were the predictable one, Audrey.”
Audrey stared.
“How does she know me?”
Richard answered.
“Everyone in Eleanor’s network studied you.”
Audrey was tired of being studied.
The camera followed Dominic down a corridor.
The walls were not abandoned.
They were immaculate.
Modern.
Sterile.
The decaying exterior was camouflage.
Inside, Saint Catherine Institute was fully operational.
Dominic passed laboratory doors.
Medical staff.
Security personnel.
No one appeared surprised by his arrival.
This was not a desperate group hiding in ruins.
It was an institution.
“How many people are involved?” Audrey whispered.
“More than I thought,” Richard said.
The federal commander approached.
“We can breach.”
Evelyn immediately said, “No.”
He looked at her.
“They have a hostage.”
“They have several.”
“Natalie and Alexander.”
“And potentially embryos belonging genetically to dozens of families.”
The commander’s expression hardened.
“Embryos are not hostages.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“To Helix, they are more valuable than living adults.”
Audrey understood.
“If you breach, they destroy them.”
“Possibly.”
Harrison said, “Then we need another entrance.”
Richard looked toward the eastern side of the campus.
“There is one.”
Everyone turned.
“You know this building?” Audrey asked.
“I helped seal it.”
“Thirty-one years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did it become operational again without anyone noticing?”
Richard looked at Harrison.
“Ask Vale Health.”
Harrison’s face hardened.
“This property was dormant.”
“Someone paid electricity.”
Silence.
“Someone maintained water.”
Harrison said nothing.
“Someone paid property taxes.”
The accusation landed.
Harrison looked toward his chief counsel.
“Find every payment associated with this campus.”
She began working.
Audrey looked back at the video.
Dominic entered the operating room.
Natalie lay on the bed.
Her eyes opened.
“Dominic?”
He rushed toward her.
The blond woman blocked him.
“You wanted to see her.”
“Untie her.”
“No.”
Natalie began crying.
“You idiot.”
Dominic stared at her.
“What?”
“You shouldn't have come.”
“I wasn't leaving you here.”
“The baby isn't yours.”
“I know.”
The answer stunned Natalie.
Dominic continued.
“I still wasn't leaving you.”
For a moment, Audrey saw the man she had once loved.
Not because he was saving his mistress.
Because he had finally done something without asking what he would receive in return.
Natalie saw it too.
Her expression broke.
“I’m sorry.”
Dominic looked away.
“We can apologize to people if we survive.”
The blond woman smiled.
“Touching.”
She motioned toward the empty medical bed.
“Lie down.”
Dominic looked at it.
“No.”
A gun pressed against Natalie’s abdomen.
Dominic immediately climbed onto the bed.
Audrey’s hands curled into fists.
“Get the team inside.”
The commander hesitated.
“Now.”
Evelyn grabbed Audrey’s arm.
“If they breach before we understand the system—”
“That woman has a gun against a pregnant woman.”
“I know.”
“Then we are finished waiting.”
Audrey looked at the commander.
“Can you enter without triggering alarms?”
He looked toward Richard.
“Depends on the secondary route.”
Richard nodded.
“I can take you.”
Harrison stood.
“I’m coming.”
“No,” Audrey and Evelyn said simultaneously.
They looked at each other.
Under different circumstances, it might have been funny.
Harrison glared.
“This is my property.”
Audrey answered.
“And apparently that means very little.”
The commander selected four agents.
Richard led them toward the eastern side of the building.
Audrey remained in the vehicle.
She hated every second.
On the screen, Helix staff restrained Dominic.
A technician shaved the hair behind his left ear.
Natalie turned her face away.
Dominic looked directly into the camera.
“Audrey.”
Her heart tightened.
He knew she was watching.
“I know I don't deserve to ask you for anything.”
Audrey stared at the screen.
“But if this goes wrong…”
“No.”
“…take care of Natalie’s baby.”
Audrey’s eyes filled.
“You can ask her yourself.”
Dominic could not hear.
He continued.
“And tell Liam and Chloe…”
His voice broke.
Audrey closed her eyes.
“Don't.”
“…tell them I was sorry.”
The blond woman slapped him.
“Enough.”
Audrey opened her eyes.
Rage replaced tears.
A doctor approached Dominic’s head with a surgical instrument.
Evelyn leaned toward the screen.
“They’re removing the capsule.”
“Can they do that without anesthesia?”
“They shouldn't.”
Dominic’s body tensed.
Natalie screamed at them to stop.
The blond woman looked toward the camera.
“Eleanor believed pain strengthens memory.”
Evelyn whispered, “Monster.”
Audrey looked at her.
“Your mother?”
“No.”
“The woman?”
Evelyn stared at the screen.
“I know her.”
Audrey froze.
“Who?”
Evelyn moved closer.
The blond woman removed her mask.
Audrey saw her clearly.
Mid-forties.
Blue eyes.
A thin scar beneath her lower lip.
Evelyn whispered:
“Rebecca.”
Harrison turned.
“What?”
“You know her?”
Evelyn nodded.
“She was one of my mother’s last subjects.”
“What does that mean?”
“Rebecca was born at Helix.”
Audrey felt cold.
“From an embryo?”
“Yes.”
“Whose?”
Evelyn did not answer.
“Whose?”
Evelyn looked at Harrison.
His face changed.
“No.”
Audrey stared between them.
“Who is she?”
Evelyn whispered:
“Jonathan’s daughter.”
Harrison closed his eyes.
Audrey’s mind raced.
Jonathan.
Harrison’s brother.
Evelyn’s biological father.
Rebecca would therefore be Evelyn’s half-sister.
Another hidden Vale descendant.
“Does she have a claim to Vale Health?”
Harrison’s lawyer answered.
“Potentially.”
Audrey laughed bitterly.
Of course.
Every secret eventually became an inheritance dispute.
But Evelyn shook her head.
“This isn't about Vale Health.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Rebecca hated Eleanor.”
“Then why continue her work?”
“She isn't continuing it.”
Audrey looked at the operating room.
“She has a pregnant hostage beside hundreds of embryos.”
“She’s destroying it.”
“What?”
Evelyn pointed toward the tanks.
Audrey looked closer.
Red indicators flashed on several units.
Temperature warnings.
The embryo bank was warming.
“She’s killing them,” Evelyn whispered.
Harrison stared.
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she believes none should exist.”
Audrey felt conflicted horror.
The embryos had been created without consent.
But they were still biological material representing potential lives and evidence of crimes.
Rebecca was erasing both.
On screen, the doctor made an incision behind Dominic’s ear.
He screamed.
Audrey looked away for half a second.
When she looked back, blood ran down his neck.
The doctor inserted forceps.
Natalie sobbed.
Then—
A tiny white capsule emerged.
The blond woman took it.
“Finally.”
Dominic sagged against the restraints.
Rebecca handed the capsule to a technician.
“Open it.”
The technician placed it beneath a microscope.
Audrey waited.
Richard’s voice came over the tactical radio.
“We're inside.”
The commander responded quietly.
“Position?”
“Lower east service tunnel.”
“How far from operating room?”
“Two minutes.”
Audrey gripped the phone.
Two minutes.
On screen, the technician cracked the capsule.
There was no microfilm.
He frowned.
Rebecca’s expression changed.
“What?”
The technician examined it again.
“Empty.”
Silence.
Richard heard through the live feed.
He stopped moving.
Audrey looked at Evelyn.
“What does that mean?”
Rebecca grabbed Dominic by the hair.
“Where is it?”
He could barely focus.
“Where is what?”
“The registry.”
“I don't know.”
“You removed it.”
“I didn't even know it existed until today.”
Rebecca struck him.
Natalie screamed.
Then another voice entered the operating room.
“Leave him alone.”
Audrey stopped breathing.
Alexander.
The real Alexander Vale stepped from behind the glass chamber.
Rebecca turned.
“You were told to remain inside.”
Alexander ignored her.
He approached Dominic.
For several seconds, the two men stared at each other.
Dominic looked at the scar behind Alexander’s right ear.
“You're him.”
Alexander nodded.
“The boy whose memories they put inside me.”
“Yes.”
Dominic laughed weakly.
“Did we know each other?”
Alexander’s expression softened.
“Yes.”
“Were we friends?”
“No.”
Despite everything, Dominic almost smiled.
“Good to know.”
Alexander crouched beside him.
“You were an annoying little bastard.”
“That sounds more believable.”
Audrey felt tears burning.
Then Alexander leaned closer.
So close the camera almost missed his whisper.
“The capsule was always empty.”
Dominic frowned.
“What?”
Rebecca heard.
She turned sharply.
Alexander stood.
“There was never a registry inside Dominic.”
Rebecca’s face hardened.
“Then where is it?”
Alexander looked directly at the camera.
At Audrey.
“The map was implanted in someone else.”
Audrey felt cold.
“Who?” Evelyn whispered.
Alexander continued.
“Eleanor needed a person nobody would ever suspect.”
Rebecca raised the gun.
“Who?”
Alexander smiled sadly.
“A child outside the succession line.”
Audrey’s heart began pounding.
No.
Alexander looked into the camera.
“Addie.”
Audrey stopped breathing.
Rebecca turned toward the camera as well.
Then smiled.
Slowly.
“Oh.”
Audrey touched the back of her own head.
A memory surfaced.
Hospital lights.
She was seven.
A woman holding her hand.
Eleanor?
No.
Catherine.
Her mother crying.
A doctor shaving a small patch of Audrey’s hair.
Audrey whispered:
“No.”
Evelyn rushed behind the wheelchair.
She separated Audrey’s hair near the base of her skull.
Then froze.
“What?”
Evelyn touched a thin line hidden beneath Audrey’s hair.
A surgical scar.
Harrison stared.
“I never knew.”
Evelyn looked at Audrey.
Her face had gone completely white.
“The map isn't inside Dominic.”
Audrey could barely breathe.
“It’s inside you.”
At that exact moment, every light inside Saint Catherine Institute went out.
The live video disappeared.
Gunfire erupted over the tactical radio.
And from somewhere behind Audrey’s vehicle, a man whispered:
“Don't move, Addie.”
Audrey froze.
Something cold pressed against the back of her neck.
A gun.
Then the voice continued:
“I've waited twenty-three years to get back what Eleanor put inside your head.”