Chapter 10 - Midnight Is Coming
Shaw’s agents rushed them.
Adrian fired at the lights.
Darkness slammed into the basement.
Cross dragged Lena behind the records desk.
Claire dropped to the floor with Noah and pulled Mia beside her.
Gunfire flashed in the dark.
Father Michael groaned.
Claire pressed her hand against his shoulder wound.
“Stay with me.”
“I’m a priest, Claire. We’re professionally difficult to get rid of.”
“Not funny.”
“Little funny.”
Adrian appeared beside them.
“Archive copied to a portable drive. Shaw has it.”
“Can you erase it?”
“Only if I get close enough to the drive to trigger a wipe.”
Lena looked toward the stairwell. “She’ll go to Mercer headquarters.”
Claire frowned. “The biotech campus outside town?”
Lena nodded. “They have a private genetics lab. That’s where they can use Noah’s verified DNA to decrypt the protected identities.”
Claire looked at Adrian. “So the download still isn’t readable?”
“Not fully.”
“Then Noah is still the key.”
“Yes.”
“No.” Claire stood. “He’s a baby. Stop calling him a key.”
Adrian met her eyes. “You’re right.”
The simple agreement surprised her.
Sirens approached outside.
Cross checked his phone. “Real police this time.”
Adrian shook his head. “Shaw controls enough people locally that we can’t trust uniforms.”
Claire stared at him. “Who can we trust?”
He looked at Father Michael.
The priest raised his good hand. “Please don’t say me. I’m bleeding.”
Lena spoke quietly. “There’s one person.”
Everyone turned.
“Deputy Attorney General Helen Ward.”
Cross swore. “Ward signed Lantern’s shutdown order.”
“Exactly. Shaw hates her.”
Adrian hesitated.
Claire noticed. “What aren’t you saying?”
He looked at her.
“Helen Ward is the reason I vanished.”
Claire’s anger returned instantly. “Then call her.”
Adrian shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because she ordered me to fake my death.”
The courthouse clock began to chime.
One deep bell.
Then another.
Midnight.
Christmas Day.
Noah startled at the sound.
Claire kissed his forehead.
“Merry Christmas,” she whispered bitterly.
Adrian’s phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A video appeared.
Shaw stood inside a glass laboratory.
Lucas was beside her, tied to a chair.
She held up the archive drive.
“Bring Noah to Mercer Biometric Systems by 1:00 a.m.”
May you like
Then she put a pistol against Lucas’s head.
“Or your brother dies for real this time.”
