Chapter 16 - The Abandoned Facility
Grant drove the final mile alone because Adrian demanded it.
Police teams followed through forest access roads.
Daniel monitored from a mobile command vehicle.
Tessa remained with Noah.
She wanted to come.
Grant refused.
“This is not your job anymore.”
Tessa stared at him.
“Protecting Noah?”
“No.”
“Taking every risk because you think nobody else will.”
She said nothing.
Grant continued.
“You protected him.”
“You protected me.”
“Enough.”
Tessa finally nodded.
“Come back.”
Grant looked at Noah sleeping in the next room.
“I will.”
The old research facility appeared beyond rusted fencing.
Broken windows.
Concrete stained by weather.
Grant carried the red notebook inside his jacket.
A microphone was hidden beneath his shirt.
A tracking transmitter sat in his shoe.
Adrian had disabled cellular signals around the property.
Police used directional equipment instead.
Grant entered.
A speaker crackled.
“Leave the gun.”
Grant raised his hands.
“I don’t have one.”
“Phone.”
Grant placed it on the floor.
“Walk.”
Emergency lights flickered through the corridor.
The building smelled of dust and chemicals.
Grant reached an old laboratory.
Vivienne sat tied to a chair.
She looked weak.
Adrian stood beside her.
He held a handgun.
“You actually came.”
Grant looked at Vivienne.
“Are you okay?”
She laughed faintly.
“Define okay.”
Adrian held out his hand.
“Book.”
Grant did not move.
“Let her go.”
“Book first.”
“No.”
Adrian smiled.
“You really think you’re negotiating?”
“Yes.”
Adrian pointed the gun toward Vivienne’s leg.
Grant’s stomach tightened.
“Stop.”
“Book.”
Grant removed it slowly.
Adrian’s eyes changed.
Greed.
Fear.
Something more personal.
Grant held it.
“Why do you want it?”
“That is not your concern.”
“It is now.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Give it to me.”
Grant looked at Vivienne.
“Did you know he was your brother?”
Vivienne froze.
Adrian’s face changed violently.
“What?”
Grant watched him.
There.
He did not know.
Vivienne stared.
“What is he talking about?”
Adrian swung toward her.
“Shut up.”
Grant opened the notebook.
“Elise found birth records.”
Adrian aimed at him.
“Close that.”
“Adrian Cole Harrow.”
Adrian’s face went white.
Vivienne whispered.
“No.”
Grant continued.
“Born two years before Victoria Anne Harrow.”
“Father listed on sealed acknowledgment.”
“Stephen Harrow.”
Adrian’s hand shook.
“Liar.”
Grant tossed a photocopy onto the floor.
Adrian stared.
Vivienne looked between them.
“My father?”
Adrian snapped.
“Our father.”
The words came out before he could stop them.
Vivienne stared.
“You knew?”
Adrian realized his mistake.
Grant did too.
He had known part.
Maybe not everything.
Vivienne’s expression hardened.
“How long?”
Adrian looked away.
“How long?”
“Years.”
Vivienne laughed weakly.
“You knew you were his son.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“You were the legitimate child.”
Vivienne stared.
“You think that mattered to me?”
“It mattered to him.”
Grant watched the resentment emerge.
Adrian had not merely served Harrow.
He had competed with Vivienne.
Perhaps the entire scheme was a family war disguised as business.
Grant opened the notebook again.
“You know what else Elise found?”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t.”
“Harrow’s trust.”
Vivienne looked toward him.
Grant continued.
“He leaves everything to Vivienne.”
Adrian’s face twisted.
“Liar.”
Grant held up the copied page.
“He promised you control.”
“But he never intended to give it.”
Adrian grabbed the paper.
His eyes moved rapidly.
Vivienne stared at him.
“You did all this for him.”
Adrian’s breathing changed.
“Shut up.”
“You killed people for him.”
“Shut up!”
“And he still chose me.”
Adrian struck the table with his gun.
Vivienne flinched.
Grant saw the opening.
Adrian was emotionally unraveling.
Grant kept him talking.
“Why did he choose her?”
Adrian glared.
“You think this is funny?”
“No.”
“I think he used you exactly the way he used her.”
“I was different.”
“Were you?”
Adrian’s eyes burned.
“He needed me.”
“He needed someone willing to do what he wouldn’t.”
“That is not love.”
“I don’t care about love.”
“Then why are you angry?”
Adrian raised the gun.
Grant did not move.
Vivienne spoke.
“Because he does care.”
Adrian turned toward her.
She looked suddenly clear despite her injuries.
“You spent your whole life trying to make him acknowledge you.”
“You think I didn’t see it?”
“You called him Stephen around me.”
“But when you thought nobody was listening, you called him Dad.”
Adrian’s face collapsed for one second.
Vivienne continued.
“He ruined both of us.”
Adrian shouted.
“No.”
Vivienne did not stop.
“He made me hurt my mother.”
“He made you clean up after him.”
“He turned us into tools.”
Adrian fired.
The bullet struck the wall beside Vivienne.
Grant lunged.
Adrian swung toward him.
Vivienne kicked the metal cart beside her.
It crashed into Adrian’s legs.
The gun fired again.
Grant hit him.
They slammed into a cabinet.
Adrian punched Grant across the face.
Grant staggered.
Adrian raised the weapon.
Then a shot cracked from the doorway.
Adrian screamed.
His gun fell.
A tactical officer entered.
“Down!”
More officers flooded the room.
Grant dropped.
Adrian clutched his shoulder.
Police pinned him.
Vivienne sagged in the chair.
Grant crawled toward her.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
He untied her.
She stared at him.
“Why?”
Grant frowned.
“Why what?”
“Why save me?”
Grant looked at her.
“Because I’m not him.”
Vivienne closed her eyes.
Police arrested Adrian.
Grant thought the worst part was over.
Then an explosion shook the building.
The lights vanished.
A second explosion followed from below.
Ortiz shouted.
“Evacuate!”
Smoke poured through a rear corridor.
Adrian laughed from the floor.
Grant looked at him.
“What did you do?”
Adrian smiled through pain.
“Not me.”
Vivienne’s face went pale.
“My father.”
Grant stared.
“Harrow is in jail.”
Vivienne shook her head.
“He always planned contingencies.”
The basement held chemical storage from Harrow Biotech.
Some containers remained active.
Someone had triggered demolition charges remotely.
Police dragged Adrian out.
Grant helped Vivienne.
They moved through smoke.
Then Vivienne stopped.
“The server.”
Grant looked at her.
“What?”
“There’s an offline server downstairs.”
“All Harrow’s original research.”
“Leave it.”
“It proves the patient experiments.”
“Vivienne.”
“It proves Lauren.”
Another blast shook the building.
Grant grabbed her.
“We have enough.”
“No.”
She pulled away.
“My whole life he told me my mother was weak.”
“I need the truth.”
Grant stared.
Vivienne turned toward the basement.
Grant caught her arm.
“You go down there, you die.”
She looked at him.
“Maybe that is what I deserve.”
Grant’s expression hardened.
“No.”
She laughed sadly.
“After Noah?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t get to turn dying into an apology.”
Vivienne stared.
Grant continued.
“You live.”
“You testify.”
“You face what you did.”
“You spend every day knowing Noah survived you.”
“That is your responsibility.”
Vivienne’s eyes filled.
Then the ceiling cracked.
Grant pulled her away.
They escaped seconds before part of the laboratory collapsed.
Outside, firefighters surrounded the building.
Adrian was loaded into an ambulance under guard.
Vivienne sat on the ground.
Grant stood beside her.
For the first time, she did not reach for him.
“I’m going to prison.”
“Yes.”
“For a long time.”
“Probably.”
She nodded.
“Good.”
Grant looked at her.
Vivienne watched smoke climb into the sky.
Then she whispered.
“My father knew about the server.”
Grant turned.
“What?”
“He knew it could destroy him.”
“Then why wait until tonight?”
Vivienne’s eyes narrowed.
“He didn’t.”
Grant frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“The charges were supposed to detonate if Adrian entered the lower lab.”
Grant looked toward Adrian’s ambulance.
“Why?”
Vivienne whispered.
“To kill Adrian.”
Grant felt cold.
Even from jail, Harrow’s old plan continued.
Then Ortiz approached.
Her expression was grim.
“What?”
Grant asked.
She held up her phone.
“Stephen Harrow collapsed in his cell twenty minutes ago.”
Vivienne stood abruptly.
“What?”
“He’s being taken to the hospital.”
Grant stared.
“Poison?”
“We don’t know.”
Vivienne looked terrified.
“He did this.”
“To himself?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He has people inside the jail.”
Ortiz asked.
“Why would they poison him?”
Vivienne’s eyes widened.
“They didn’t.”
“Then what?”
Vivienne looked at Grant.
May you like
“He’s escaping.”
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