Chapter 6 - THE FATHER ABOVE THE HELIPAD
Lily’s breathing becomes shallow.
Olivia drops to her knees and opens the child’s coat. Beneath it is a small implanted medical device near her ribs.
Helena stares in horror.
“What is that?”
“A drug-delivery port,” Olivia says.
“You put that inside her?”
“Crane did. I have been trying to remove it safely.”
Crane watches from the floor.
“It regulates the treatment keeping her immune system stable.”
“You said the trial made her stronger,” Claire says.
“It did. Stability requires maintenance.”
“You made her dependent on you.”
Crane smiles.
“Dependence is an effective form of ownership.”
Olivia uses an emergency injector on Lily’s arm.
The girl’s breathing improves, but only slightly.
“How long does she have?” Helena asks.
“Twenty minutes before the port releases another dose.”
Michael grips the phone.
“What does Father want?”
Jonathan answers through the speaker.
“Ethan.”
“You will not get him.”
“Then Lily dies.”
Helena looks at Michael.
“Take the baby upstairs.”
Claire turns toward her.
“No.”
“He is asking for a blood sample.”
“He already has one.”
“Then perhaps he wants to examine Ethan and return him.”
Nora shakes her head.
“Jonathan never returns what he considers useful.”
Helena holds Lily against her chest.
“That is my daughter.”
“And Ethan is my son.”
The two mothers stare at one another across the emergency-lit room.
Neither is wrong.
Jonathan has designed the choice to turn them against each other.
Rebecca steps between them.
“He wants us to fight.”
Everyone looks at her.
“He made Dad choose before. Now he wants Mom to choose.”
Claire reaches for her hand.
Rebecca continues.
“What happens if we all go upstairs?”
Olivia studies the rooftop access map.
“The helipad has a private clinical elevator connected to Jonathan’s helicopter.”
“He could take all three children,” Michael says.
“Unless the helicopter cannot leave.”
Marcus Vale clears his throat.
“The storm is worsening. The pilot has perhaps fifteen minutes before the pad becomes unusable.”
Olivia looks at him.
“You know the aircraft system?”
“I was hired to manage emergency transport.”
“Can you disable it?”
“Yes.”
Crane laughs.
“Jonathan expected that.”
Marcus removes his security earpiece and crushes it beneath his shoe.
“Then he expected the version of me who worked for him.”
Claire looks at him.
“Why help us now?”
Marcus looks toward Rebecca and Lily.
“Because I thought the operation involved forged adoption papers. I did not know children were being medically controlled.”
It is not redemption.
But it may be enough to save them.
Olivia develops a plan.
Michael will carry an empty bassinet beneath blankets to the rooftop.
Claire will remain in the treatment wing with Ethan.
Marcus will access the helicopter’s fuel-control panel from the maintenance room.
Nora will restore the external video feed.
Helena will stay with Lily.
Olivia will confront Jonathan while carrying a secured medical copy of Ethan’s blood data.
“You cannot trust him,” Michael says.
“I do not.”
“Then why go?”
“Because I am the only person he still believes he controls.”
Olivia and Michael move toward the rooftop stairwell.
Before they leave, Rebecca hugs her father.
“Come back.”
Michael closes his eyes.
“I will.”
“You said Aunt Olivia died.”
“I know.”
“You said Mom’s baby was safe.”
“I know.”
“You have to stop lying.”
Michael looks at Claire.
“I do.”
They ascend.
On the roof, snow blows sideways beneath the helicopter lights.
Jonathan Bennett stands near the open cabin door wearing a dark overcoat. He is seventy years old, silver-haired and composed.
He looks more like a respected philanthropist than the founder of a criminal medical network.
Olivia steps onto the pad.
“Release Lily’s device.”
Jonathan studies her.
“You look tired.”
“You look exactly like the man I spent eight years trying not to become.”
Michael carries the covered bassinet behind her.
Jonathan’s eyes move toward it.
“The boy?”
“First deactivate Lily’s port.”
Jonathan holds up a tablet.
“Bring him closer.”
Marcus reaches the maintenance room and begins disabling the helicopter.
Nora restores the security feed.
Claire watches from the treatment wing while holding Ethan.
Every movement appears on a small monitor.
Rebecca stands beside her.
Helena watches Lily’s vital signs.
Michael moves halfway across the helipad.
Jonathan touches the tablet.
Lily’s monitor stabilizes.
Olivia looks toward Helena through the video connection.
“It worked.”
Helena nods.
Jonathan extends his hand toward the bassinet.
Michael stops.
“You founded Blackridge.”
“I funded a medical opportunity.”
“You bought newborns.”
“I relocated research subjects.”
“They were children.”
“They were dying children.”
“Rebecca and Lily were healthy.”
“Because of what we did.”
Olivia throws Ethan’s data drive onto the snowy ground between them.
“You already have his sample.”
Jonathan glances down.
“The courier never arrived.”
Claire looks at Nora.
Crane’s confidence disappears.
Olivia continues.
“Your network has been compromised. Every Blackridge file is being copied to federal servers.”
Jonathan smiles.
“Then you have misunderstood the network.”
He presses another command on the tablet.
Across the maternity resort, infant-monitor alarms activate simultaneously.
Rooms that were believed empty display live signals.
Claire looks at the corridor screens.
Twelve bassinets are hidden inside sealed postpartum suites.
Each contains a sleeping newborn.
Nora whispers, “There were no other patients registered tonight.”
Jonathan’s voice comes through the resort speakers.
“Blackridge did not close. It expanded.”
Olivia looks at her father.
“How many babies are here?”
“Twelve.”
“Where are their mothers?”
“Some agreed to the program. Some were told their children did not survive.”
Claire feels sick.
Jonathan points toward the covered bassinet.
“Bring me Ethan, and I will release every record identifying those mothers.”
Michael grips the handle.
“No.”
Jonathan raises the tablet.
“Then I erase them.”
Rebecca pulls open the towel-compartment wall.
A narrow service shaft runs behind it.
She sees movement below.
Someone is climbing toward the treatment room.
“Mom.”
Claire turns.
The hidden panel opens.
A woman in a bloodstained patient gown crawls into the room.
She looks exhausted but conscious.
“My baby,” she whispers. “They took my baby.”
Before Claire can reach her, more hands appear inside the service shaft.
Other mothers are trapped beneath the resort.
Then the rooftop monitor goes black.
A gunshot echoes above.
Michael’s voice shouts through the radio.
“Olivia!”
When the camera returns, Jonathan is gone.
The helicopter has lifted into the storm.
May you like
Olivia lies on the snow.
And the bassinet Michael carried is no longer empty.
