CHAPTER 30 — WHICH ONE IS LILY?
Daniel lowered his gun.
“I came to stop the transfer.”
Mason did not believe him.
“You had Olivia in the hospital.”
“I was trying to move her before Sarah arrived.”
“You put a gun against her head.”
“The camera was recording. Sarah needed to believe I still controlled the situation.”
Olivia struck the glass.
“He is telling the truth.”
Claire looked at her.
“Why did you point a gun at me?”
“They had my baby’s medical system. Sarah could stop the fetal support remotely.”
Olivia pressed a hand against her stomach.
“She still can.”
The red light flashed faster.
Rebecca regained consciousness.
“Claire.”
Claire ran to the control panel.
Rebecca pointed toward three switches.
“The middle one opens the glass. The others trigger the isolation system.”
“Which switch is the middle one?”
The switches had no labels.
Daniel raised the pendant’s memory card.
“The code is stored here.”
Before he could insert it, a shot struck his shoulder.
Sarah stood on the upper platform.
Armed guards surrounded her.
Daniel collapsed.
Sarah looked at Rose.
“You brought back what was lost.”
Rose moved behind Claire.
“I’m not going with you.”
“You do not know who you are.”
“I know I’m not a file.”
Sarah’s expression tightened.
Lily’s voice came from a speaker.
“Mommy!”
Claire looked around.
“Lily!”
A wall opened on the far side of the chamber.
Two glass rooms appeared.
A little girl stood inside each one.
Both wore identical hospital clothing.
Both had dark hair.
Both were holding replicas of Mr. Buttons.
One was Lily.
The other looked almost exactly like her.
Claire stepped closer.
Sarah’s guards raised their weapons.
“You created another child,” Claire whispered.
Sarah descended the stairs.
“Gray Tide created many children.”
“Which one is my daughter?”
“You should know.”
“Open the rooms.”
“One door will open.”
Sarah placed her hand on the control panel.
“The other will seal permanently.”
Cole raised his gun.
Sarah’s guards aimed at him.
“If you shoot me,” Sarah said, “both rooms seal.”
Claire studied the girls.
The child on the left was crying.
The child on the right stood very still.
“Mommy,” both children said.
The same voice.
The same frightened expression.
Claire remembered Lily’s habits.
The way she touched her left ear when afraid.
Neither girl touched her ear.
Sarah had trained them.
Or drugged them.
Rebecca shouted through the glass.
“Claire, the medical records were changed!”
Dana examined the screens.
“Both profiles say Lily Bennett.”
Rose approached the glass rooms.
She looked at the girl on the right.
Then the girl on the left.
“I know one of them.”
“Which one?” Claire asked.
Rose lifted her hand.
Before she could point, the lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Mason dragged Claire to the floor.
Cole fired toward the platform.
Daniel crawled toward the control panel.
When the emergency lights returned, Sarah had disappeared.
One glass room stood open.
The other remained sealed.
A child ran into Claire’s arms.
“Mommy!”
Claire held her tightly.
Across the chamber, the second girl pressed both palms against the glass.
“Mommy, don’t leave me!”
Claire looked down at the child she was holding.
There was a small scar beneath her chin.
Lily had never had that scar.
Claire released her.
The girl began crying.
“I’m Lily.”
Inside the sealed room, the other child screamed the same words.
Margaret moved behind Claire.
Her pistol touched Claire’s back.
“Do not turn around.”
Claire froze.
Margaret held the Vane registry in her other hand.
“Mom?”
“I am sorry.”
Sarah’s voice came through Margaret’s phone.
“Bring me the real heir.”
Margaret aimed toward the two identical children.
Then she whispered something only Claire could hear.
“Neither of them is Lily.”
A third door began opening beneath the chamber floor.
From somewhere below them, Claire heard her daughter singing the lullaby Margaret had sung thirty years earlier.
Two little stars above the sea.
May you like
One comes home.
And one stays free.
