CHAPTER 41 — THE SCHOOL VISITOR
Rose caught Olivia before she hit the pavement.
Rebecca searched for a pulse.
“The baby’s heart rate is falling.”
The second Daniel remained inside the vehicle.
“Subject Seven. Come willingly.”
Rose stepped forward.
Claire grabbed her.
“No.”
“If I don’t, Olivia loses her child.”
Sarah moved close to Rose.
“He will not restore the support after taking you.”
“How do you know?”
“Because that is what they did to me.”
Lily pulled at Claire’s coat.
“He watched me through the playground fence.”
Claire knelt beside her.
“When?”
“Before the hospital. He asked if Mr. Buttons could keep secrets.”
Daniel examined the replica in Claire’s hand.
“The beacon was planted before the kidnapping.”
The second Daniel pressed the remote again.
Olivia screamed.
Rose pulled free from Claire.
“I’m going.”
Mason whispered something to Cole.
Cole lowered his weapon.
Rose approached the vehicle.
The second Daniel extended his hand.
The moment she reached the door, Mason fired at a streetlight.
Glass rained down.
Cole threw a smoke canister beneath the vehicle.
Daniel rushed forward and dragged his double onto the pavement.
The two men fought violently.
Claire could not tell them apart until Lily pointed.
“That one.”
She indicated the uninjured man.
Sarah fired into his leg.
He dropped the remote.
Rose grabbed it.
Rebecca restored Olivia’s fetal support.
Ward ordered her agents to restrain the double.
He began laughing.
“You think I am the copy?”
Daniel froze.
The man looked at him.
“Ask yourself why you remember nothing before your twelfth birthday.”
Daniel’s face changed.
The double continued.
“One of us was created to infiltrate Gray Tide.”
He looked at Claire.
“The other was created to infiltrate you.”
Before anyone could question him, a capsule hidden in his tooth released poison.
His body went still.
May you like
Daniel stepped back.
On the dead man’s wrist was a childhood scar identical to his own.
