Chapter 12 - THE MAN BEHIND HALE
Luka entered before Victor Hale’s men reached the door.
He didn’t come alone.
Rachel’s investigators moved behind him.
“Back exit.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“He’ll have that covered.”
Luka looked around the clinic.
“Basement?”
“There’s a records tunnel connecting this building to the old pathology wing.”
I stared at her.
“Why does a fertility clinic have a tunnel?”
“Because this was never just a fertility clinic.”
We ran.
Every step hurt.
I had given birth less than a day earlier, and my body screamed at me to stop.
Luka noticed.
He slowed.
“I can carry you.”
“No.”
“Ava.”
“No.”
Then we heard glass breaking upstairs.
I stopped arguing.
“Fine.”
Luka lifted me carefully.
For a man built like a wall, he moved with extraordinary control.
Rachel carried the baby carrier beside us.
Vanessa unlocked a steel basement door.
Behind it stretched a narrow concrete passage.
Old fluorescent tubes flickered overhead.
We made it halfway when Vanessa stopped.
“Oh God.”
A man stood at the far end.
Not Victor.
Dr. Pike.
He held a pistol pointed toward the floor.
Luka set me down behind him.
Pike looked exhausted.
“You should have stayed out of this, Moretti.”
“You stole from me.”
“I followed instructions.”
“Whose?”
Pike laughed nervously.
“You still think Victor runs this?”
Vanessa stared at him.
“What are you talking about?”
Pike looked at her almost pityingly.
“Your father was useful.”
“Nothing more.”
My skin turned cold.
Luka shifted slightly.
“Who gave the orders?”
Pike lifted the gun.
“Give me Michael Carter’s drive.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what’s on it.”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
Pike’s hand shook.
“You understand the reproductive program.”
“That was only one division.”
I stared at him.
“What else did my father find?”
Pike looked at me.
“That is why he died.”
Footsteps echoed behind us.
We were trapped.
Then Luka smiled.
It was the first truly frightening expression I had seen on his face.
Pike noticed too.
“What?”
Luka checked his watch.
“You should have asked why I let you follow us.”
Sirens exploded outside.
Pike spun toward the sound.
Rachel’s investigator lunged.
The gun hit the floor.
Everything happened at once.
Men shouted.
Vanessa screamed.
Luka shoved me against the wall and shielded me with his body.
Police flooded the tunnel from both ends.
Pike was forced to his knees.
As an officer handcuffed him, I stepped closer.
“Who gave the orders?”
Pike stared at me.
For a moment, I thought he would stay silent.
Then he smiled.
“Ask your husband’s family.”
My breath caught.
“Ethan?”
“No.”
May you like
Pike’s smile widened.
“His grandfather.”
