Chapter 9 - His Signature
I pushed the paper into my father's chest.
"You authorized her."
He stared at his own handwriting. "I signed a cell-line transfer. Not a person."
"Then why does it say SUBJECT 0C?"
"Because Victoria attached another page after I signed."
Cora folded her arms. "That's what they always say in this place."
Jonah opened a cabinet, took out a battered notebook, and found the matching carbon copy. Same date. Same signature. But his page said TISSUE REPAIR TRIAL, not HUMAN REPLACEMENT.
"She used your work," I said.
"She used my willingness to keep working," he replied. "I could have destroyed the array when I first discovered what she was doing. I told myself the patients would die without it. Then there were more patients."
June studied him. "You thought you were the only one who could save us. That's a dangerous kind of pride."
He took it without arguing.
Cora pulled a crumpled receipt from her jacket. "I know where your missing files went. Victoria sent a hard drive to the judge's private clinic last night. Marcus drove it."
"Then the ledger in the control room isn't enough," I said.
"It's enough to start," June answered. "Not enough to stop the people waiting upstairs."
The floor shook again. A red line crept across the wall, marking rising water behind the sealed door.
The speakers crackled and Marcus came on, breathless.
"Clara, if you're listening, Evelyn's been shot. She's alive, but you need to get to the tower now. And don't trust the woman who brought you here."
"Which woman?" I yelled into the microphone.
May you like
Marcus's answer broke through the static.
"Evelyn didn't just give them your blood. She knew where Victoria was keeping your sister."
