CHAPTER 18 — SOURCE ZERO
Elaine wrapped her coat around the vent.
Dana searched the walls for another exit.
The gas thickened rapidly, carrying a chemical sweetness that burned Claire’s throat.
Lily began coughing.
Cole fired twice at the electronic lock.
The bullets flattened against reinforced steel.
“It is magnetically sealed,” he said.
Claire grabbed the V-31 folder and forced it beneath the door, trying to create a narrow space for air.
It was not enough.
Margaret opened the C-17 file and tore out the metal fastener.
“What are you doing?” Claire asked.
“These facilities were built before electronic systems.”
Margaret crossed to the filing cabinet and inserted the fastener into a tiny opening near the floor.
Something clicked.
A section of shelving moved forward.
Behind it was a disposal chute.
“It leads to the old laundry level,” Margaret said.
Dana lowered Lily first.
Claire followed.
The chute was steep, narrow, and covered in decades of dust. They landed in piles of rotting hospital linen one level below.
Cole came through last.
By the time they reached the loading dock, Lily’s breathing had steadied.
An ambulance waited near the doors.
The engine was running.
“That is too convenient,” Elaine said.
A figure stepped from behind it.
Mason.
His gun was gone.
One sleeve had been torn open, revealing a bullet wound across his upper arm.
Claire moved Lily behind her.
“Stay away from us.”
“If I wanted to take her, I would not have opened the stairwell route.”
“You said you were ordered to deliver her.”
“I was.”
“By Sarah?”
Mason looked at Cole.
“Ask your detective.”
Cole raised his weapon.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Mason laughed bitterly.
“You still don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Why Sarah kept you close to Claire.”
An explosion shook the building.
The loading-dock lights went dark.
Daniel appeared on the upper walkway with two armed men.
“Mason!” he shouted. “Step away from the child.”
Mason shoved Claire behind the ambulance as bullets struck the concrete.
Cole returned fire.
Dana pulled open the rear doors.
“Get Lily inside!”
Claire lifted Lily into the ambulance.
Margaret and Elaine climbed in after her.
Daniel’s men descended the stairs.
Mason threw himself against one of them.
The two crashed into a metal cart.
Cole fired at the loading-dock controls.
The outer doors began opening.
Claire reached for Mason.
“Come on!”
Mason stared at her hand.
For a fraction of a second, he looked like the husband she once believed he was.
Then Daniel aimed at Claire.
Mason pushed her into the ambulance.
The shot struck Mason in the back.
He collapsed.
Lily screamed.
“Daddy!”
Claire jumped down and grabbed Mason’s jacket.
Cole helped drag him inside.
Dana climbed behind the wheel.
The ambulance tore through the opening as the steel doors closed behind them.
Daniel continued firing until the hospital disappeared in the darkness.
Mason lay on the floor.
Blood spread beneath him.
Lily crawled toward him.
Claire caught her.
“Don’t touch the wound.”
Mason opened his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Lily.”
“Are you going to die?”
“Not tonight.”
His gaze shifted to Cole.
“Unless he finishes what Sarah started.”
Cole pressed cloth against Mason’s wound.
“What are you accusing me of?”
“You are the source.”
“The source of what?”
Mason’s breathing became shallow.
“Lily.”
Cole froze.
A phone began ringing inside Claire’s coat.
The screen displayed an unknown number.
She answered.
Rebecca’s voice came through in a whisper.
“Claire?”
“Rebecca, where are you?”
“I got out. Olivia didn’t.”
Claire glanced at the others.
“We escaped the hospital.”
“Who is with you?”
“Dana, Elaine, my mother, Lily, Mason—and Cole.”
Rebecca stopped breathing for a moment.
Then she said, “Get away from him.”
Cole heard her.
“Rebecca, what did you find?”
“His genetic profile.”
The line crackled.
“Daniel’s database identifies Aaron Cole as Source Zero.”
Claire looked at Cole.
May you like
Rebecca’s final words came before the connection died.
“He may be Lily’s biological father.”
