Chapter 7 - THE FIVE-MINUTE BETRAYAL

Four minutes and thirty-seven seconds remained.

Evelyn held the remote tightly.

Khloe watched her sister’s eyes rather than the timer.

“You could have released those files years ago,” Khloe said. “You didn’t.”

“I needed protection.”

“You needed power.”

“I needed what was stolen from me.”

“So you became like the people who stole it.”

Evelyn’s expression sharpened.

“You know nothing about what they did.”

“You’re right. But I know what you did tonight.”

Khloe placed both hands over her stomach.

“You used my child.”

Evelyn looked away for half a second.

Khloe saw guilt.

Not enough to trust.

Enough to exploit.

Marcus moved slightly toward the control console.

Evelyn raised the remote.

“One more step and everything burns.”

Detective Brooks kept her weapon lowered.

“What happens when the timer reaches zero?”

“The servers release an electrical charge that destroys the storage drives.”

“And the laboratory?”

“Sealed.”

Nathaniel looked toward the ventilation system.

“With us inside?”

Evelyn did not answer.

Three minutes and fifty seconds.

Elaine stepped forward.

“This wasn’t the agreement.”

Evelyn smiled coldly.

“You stopped following agreements when you helped Adrian escape.”

“You said Khloe would not be harmed.”

“She survived.”

Elaine slapped Evelyn.

The sound echoed across the lab.

Evelyn stumbled.

The remote fell.

Marcus lunged.

So did Brooks.

Evelyn kicked the remote across the floor.

It slid beneath a server cabinet.

The timer jumped.

Two minutes.

“Manual acceleration,” Evelyn said, almost proudly.

Marcus dropped to the floor, reaching under the cabinet.

Evelyn struck him from behind with a metal tray.

Brooks grabbed her.

The two women crashed into a desk.

Nathaniel moved toward the main controls.

“The system is encrypted.”

Elaine joined him.

“I know the old architecture.”

Khloe leaned against the wall, pain building through her abdomen.

The baby moved violently.

Then a tightening sensation wrapped around her body.

Not now.

She breathed through it.

Another contraction followed.

“Marcus.”

He looked at her.

One glance at her face changed everything.

He abandoned the remote and rushed to her.

“What’s happening?”

“I think I’m having contractions.”

Nathaniel turned.

“How far apart?”

“I don’t know.”

The timer reached ninety seconds.

Nathaniel looked between Khloe and the console.

His niece or the evidence.

Khloe understood immediately.

“Stop the servers.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Stop them.”

Marcus supported her.

“I have her.”

Nathaniel returned to the controls.

Evelyn broke free from Brooks and ran toward a side door.

Elaine blocked her.

“You don’t get to abandon us.”

Evelyn struck Elaine and reached for an emergency release.

Brooks caught her arm.

Forty-five seconds.

Marcus looked beneath the cabinet.

The remote was visible but too far to reach.

He removed his cuff link and used the metal edge to pull it closer.

Thirty seconds.

Nathaniel typed commands.

“Nothing is working.”

Elaine pushed him aside.

She entered a sequence of names.

EVERETT.

DANIEL.

REBECCA.

The system rejected each one.

Fifteen seconds.

Khloe looked at the photographs on the wall.

Two infant bracelets were displayed inside a sealed frame.

LILLIAN HALE.

KHLOE HALE.

“Try our mother’s maiden name,” Khloe said.

“Mercer,” Nathaniel answered.

Elaine froze.

Mercer had been the surname she once used.

She typed REBECCA MERCER.

Access granted.

Three seconds.

Elaine slammed her hand onto CANCEL.

The timer stopped at one.

Silence filled the laboratory.

Then the steel shutters lifted.

Nathaniel rushed to Khloe.

The contractions were coming faster.

“We need to get her upstairs.”

Evelyn stood handcuffed beside Brooks.

She watched Khloe struggle to breathe.

For the first time, her anger disappeared.

“The baby cannot be born yet.”

Khloe looked at her.

“Now you care?”

“If the child is born before the trust documents are secured, Vittorio can challenge the succession.”

“Vittorio is alive?” Marcus asked.

Evelyn’s eyes shifted toward him.

“You thought Adrian was the only dead man who returned?”

Marcus stared at her.

Vittorio Rossi had supposedly died of a heart attack three months earlier.

Isabella had inherited his estate.

Evelyn smiled faintly.

“He never trusted Isabella to complete the plan.”

A deep mechanical sound shook the laboratory.

The emergency lights changed from white to red.

Nathaniel looked toward the control panel.

“What did you activate?”

Evelyn shook her head.

“That isn’t mine.”

A recorded voice came through the speakers.

“Good evening, Dr. Hale.”

Nathaniel recognized it.

Vittorio Rossi.

“If you are hearing this, Lillian has failed.”

The laboratory doors locked again.

Gas began pouring through the ventilation grilles.

Marcus lifted Khloe into his arms.

Brooks covered her mouth.

Elaine searched the console.

Evelyn stared upward in disbelief.

Vittorio’s voice continued.

“The evidence belongs to no one.”

Nathaniel grabbed a metal chair and smashed it against the glass partition.

It cracked but did not break.

Gas filled the room.

Khloe’s vision blurred.

Marcus held her closer.

“Stay with me.”

The last thing she saw before darkness took her was Evelyn rushing toward the ventilation controls.

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