Chapter 12 - THE CHOICE NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO MAKE -Lily ran toward the control panel between the chambers.
Two red buttons flashed beneath the glass.
One was marked ETHAN.
The other was marked GRACE.
A timer appeared above them.
Two minutes.
Voss’s voice came through the speaker.
“One button opens a chamber.”
“The other chamber seals permanently.”
Adrian struck the reinforced glass with his shoulder.
It did not move.
“Voss!”
“Come out and face me.”
“This is not about you,” Voss replied.
“It has always been about what your family took from mine.”
Lily searched the panel for wires or hinges.
The system was built inside solid concrete.
Hayes’s technicians attempted to access the controls remotely.
The network was isolated.
Claire’s voice came through Adrian’s phone.
She had discovered both children missing minutes after the rescue team departed.
Someone inside the hospital had used false evacuation orders to remove them.
Marcus Reed had vanished at the same time.
Adrian looked toward Lily.
“Marcus took them.”
Hayes contacted the officers outside.
Marcus’s vehicle had been found behind the abandoned hospital.
The security chief had been working with Voss.
Lily remembered the planted evidence.
The missing memory card.
The compromised travel route.
Marcus had stood beside them through every crisis.
He had saved lives on the island.
He had also ensured the conspiracy survived.
The timer reached ninety seconds.
Ethan began coughing inside the chamber.
Grace remained unconscious.
Lily pressed neither button.
Voss spoke again.
“Choose.”
“No.”
“You cannot save everyone.”
“That is what Evelyn taught me.”
“Then she taught you wrong.”
“You were six when her people burned our home.”
“Your mother died.”
“I spent years believing you died too.”
Lily looked toward the camera.
“And when you found me?”
“I protected you.”
“You watched me suffer in foster care.”
“I needed you strong.”
“You placed me near Ethan.”
“To make Adrian understand loss.”
Lily finally saw the truth.
Voss did not love her.
He loved the idea of using her pain.
She had never been a daughter to him.
She was another instrument of revenge.
The timer reached sixty seconds.
Adrian removed his jacket.
He wrapped it around his fist and struck Ethan’s chamber repeatedly.
Blood spread across his knuckles.
The glass remained intact.
Lily looked at the two buttons.
The wording mattered.
One button opened a chamber.
The other chamber sealed permanently.
Voss wanted her to believe pressing one automatically condemned the other.
But he had not said doing nothing would kill both.
He expected panic.
Lily studied the floor.
Gas lines entered the chambers through separate pipes.
A larger main line ran beneath the control panel.
She grabbed a metal oxygen stand.
“Adrian, move back.”
She drove the stand into the floor grate.
The metal bent.
Hayes helped her lift the panel.
Beneath it were three pipes.
Lily struck the main valve.
The gas flow slowed.
Voss’s voice sharpened.
“That will not stop the timer.”
“It gives us time.”
Thirty seconds remained.
Adrian found a manual latch beneath Ethan’s bed.
It could not be reached from outside.
Ethan was conscious enough to move.
Adrian pressed his face against the glass.
“Buddy, look under your bed.”
Ethan crawled weakly.
He found the latch.
“Pull it.”
The boy pulled.
Nothing happened.
“Again.”
Ethan used both hands.
The latch moved.
A maintenance panel opened near the floor.
Adrian tore it wider and pulled Ethan through.
Ten seconds remained.
Grace’s chamber began sealing.
Lily pressed the GRACE button.
The door released.
Hayes opened it.
Claire rushed into the room seconds later and gathered both children into her arms.
The timer reached zero.
Nothing exploded.
The lights turned white.
A hidden door opened behind the nursery wall.
Samuel Voss stood there holding a pistol.
Marcus stood beside him.
Voss’s eyes remained fixed on Lily.
“You were always clever.”
Lily stepped in front of the children.
“Let everyone leave.”
“You and I will talk.”
Voss almost smiled.
“You sound like your mother.”
“Did you kill her?”
His expression changed.
“No.”
“Evelyn did.”
“Then why did you serve her?”
“To destroy everything she valued.”
“You became worse than she was.”
Voss raised the pistol.
Marcus placed a hand on his arm.
“That wasn’t the deal.”
Voss looked at him.
Marcus continued.
“You said the children would not be harmed.”
Adrian stared at his security chief.
“Why?”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“My daughter was taken by Northstar eight years ago.”
“Voss promised he would tell me where she was.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Voss shot Marcus in the stomach.
The security chief fell.
Lily rushed toward him.
Voss aimed at her.
Adrian stepped into the line of fire.
“Take me.”
“You already took Claire’s life.”
“You took Grace’s childhood.”
“You took Ethan’s safety.”
“If you want a Blackwood, take me.”
Voss studied him.
“I want you to live.”
“I want you to know that everyone you love suffers because of your name.”
Lily spoke from beside Marcus.
“My name is not Blackwood.”
Voss looked at her.
“No.”
“You are mine.”
“I am not.”
The rejection struck him visibly.
“You are Laura Voss.”
“I am Lily Carter.”
“I chose that name.”
“I chose the person I became.”
His pistol shifted toward her.
Before he could fire, Marcus grabbed Voss’s ankle.
The gun discharged into the ceiling.
Adrian tackled him.
They crashed through the hidden doorway.
Lily pulled Marcus away from the struggle.
Hayes secured the children.
Voss struck Adrian with the pistol.
Adrian fell against a steel table.
Voss aimed at his chest.
Lily picked up Marcus’s weapon.
Her hands shook.
“Stop.”
Voss turned.
“You will not shoot your father.”
Lily looked at the man who had watched her, manipulated her, and endangered innocent children.
“You are not my father.”
She fired.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
Hayes arrested him.
Marcus was rushed to surgery.
Before losing consciousness, he whispered a location to Adrian.
A farmhouse in Pennsylvania.
His daughter might still be alive there.
Federal teams raided the property before dawn.
They found three missing children.
Marcus’s daughter, Emma, was among them.
She was fourteen now.
She had spent eight years believing her father had abandoned her.
At the hospital, Adrian stood beside Marcus’s bed.
“I cannot forgive what you did.”
Marcus nodded weakly.
“I know.”
“But your daughter is safe.”
Tears moved down Marcus’s face.
“Thank you.”
Adrian turned to leave.
Marcus caught his wrist.
“There is one more traitor.”
Adrian looked back.
“Who?”
May you like
Marcus whispered a name.
“Claire.”
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