Chapter 32 - Two Hearts, One Arm
"Don't move, Mr. Mercer," a voice murmured from the doorway.
The operative stepped into view. He wore matte-black tactical gear, an unmarked ballistic vest, and a faceless respirator that made him sound like an industrial machine. The barrel of his suppressed submachine gun remained dead level, unblinking, aimed at the child clinging to David’s shirt.
"Asset 409 is private property of the Horizon Collective," the operative said calmly. "Lower the infant to the floor, or both of you will be decommissioned on this tile."
David’s blood turned to liquid fire. He positioned his body between the muzzle and the child, his grip tightening on the tire iron hidden behind his hip. "She’s not an asset. She’s a human being."
"She is an unauthorized sequence," the operative countered, his finger taking up the slack on the trigger. "A containment breach."
Suddenly, a blur of motion exploded from the peripheral gloom.
Julian lunged from behind a bank of server racks, swinging a heavy stainless steel defibrillator unit with both arms. The metal chassis struck the operative square in the helmet with a violent, hollow gong. The soldier stumbled, his burst of gunfire chewing into the ceiling plaster and showering them in sparks.
"Run, you idiot!" Julian roared, blood pouring down his own temple from a ricochet splinter. He tackled the operative to the ground, grappling wildly for the weapon. "Take the children and get to the lower conduits! They aren't here to negotiate—they’re here to burn the whole project to the ground!"
David didn't hesitate. In this nightmare, morality had collapsed into a single objective: survival.
He bounded across the slick floor, grabbing Leah by the elbow. She held the biological Maya tight against her chest, her knuckles bone-white, her eyes wide with animal shock. Together, flanked by the wailing alarms and the muffled sound of struggle behind them, they shoved through the heavy crash doors of the scrub bay and plunged into the service corridor beyond.
Behind them, another shot echoed through the steel structure.
Then silence. Julian did not follow.
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David felt Asset 409's warm tears soaking through his shirt, while Maya let out a weak, hoarse whimper in Leah’s arms. Two babies. Two lives woven together by madness and science. And behind them, the sound of heavy boots began to multiply.
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