Chapter 20 - The Clock at Zero Hour
The screen went black, leaving the reflection of my horrified face staring back at me.
Emma’s sixth birthday was the day after tomorrow.
I turned slowly toward the table.
Emma was humming the little song Lily used to sing, sketching a picture of three stick figures holding hands.
A mommy, a daddy, and a little girl.
Suddenly, Emma dropped her pencil.
She leaned her head against the table, rubbing her temples with both hands.
"Daddy?" she called out, her voice trembling with sudden fatigue.
"Daddy, my head feels really hot."
"And my fingers are tingling."
My heart stopped.
I rushed across the trailer, dropping to my knees beside her chair.
Her skin was burning with an unnatural, feverish heat.
When I lifted her tiny hand, I noticed faint, branching blue veins glowing beneath the translucence of her skin.
The sequence was activating.
Eleanor wasn't bluffing.
She had built a biological expiration timer into Emma’s very DNA to ensure she could never be stolen.
"Julian!" I yelled, terror tearing through my composure.
Julian struggled to sit up, his eyes widening in horror as he saw Emma’s glowing veins.
"It’s happening faster than Eleanor said," Julian gasped.
"The physical stress from the escape accelerated her metabolism!"
"We don't have forty-eight hours!"
"We have less than twelve!"
I grabbed the thumb drive, my mind racing through a labyrinth of impossible choices.
Going to Boston meant walking directly into the dragon's lair.
It meant surrendering Emma to the very monster who created this living nightmare.
Yet staying here meant watching my daughter perish in my arms before sunrise.
Suddenly, a low, rhythmic hum resonated from outside the trailer.
The industrial generator outside sputtered and shut down.
Total blackness swallowed the interior of the trailer.
A red spotlight clicked on through the reinforced front window, illuminating the dust motes in the air.
A loudspeaker blared from the tunnel entrance, echoing through the cavernous depths:
"Adrian Miller. Step outside with the child immediately."
"You are completely surrounded."
"The Director does not like to wait."
Emma gripped my neck, sobbing hysterically as her temperature soared higher against my chest.
Julian drew his sidearm with his good hand, pointing it at the reinforced door.
I looked down at Emma, feeling her fading heartbeat against mine.
May you like
Then, my satellite phone inside my pocket buzzed with an incoming text message from an unknown encrypted number:
*“Do not open the door. The voice on the loudspeaker is not Eleanor Vance. Look at the shadows on the tunnel floor.”*
