CHAPTER 68 — THE CHILDREN’S HOSTAGE
Ward’s agents surrounded Miriam inside the federal shelter.
She had entered using Ward’s own credentials.
“Release the boy,” Ward ordered.
Miriam looked into the camera at Claire.
“Bring me Rose, Iris, and Olivia.”
“No.”
“Then the child dies.”
Four-B remained strangely calm.
He looked at Daniel through the screen.
“Four-A, do not trade.”
Daniel clenched his fists.
Miriam pressed the blade against the boy’s skin.
“Blackwater children were trained to accept loss. Let us see whether you were.”
Daniel took the phone.
“I’ll come.”
“You are no longer useful.”
The words wounded him more than he expected.
Miriam wanted the sisters and the Anchor.
Claire studied the shelter behind her.
A large clock hung on the wall.
The time was wrong.
“Miriam isn’t at the federal shelter.”
Ward looked around.
“What?”
“That clock belongs to Saint Orison.”
Claire had passed it near the orphanage entrance.
The video was staged inside another room of the same building.
Miriam had never escaped.
Mason found the entrance on the old floor plan.
A hidden nursery above the chapel.
The group climbed a narrow staircase.
Sarah moved first.
Lily stopped her.
“Will you hurt her?”
Sarah looked at Claire.
“I don’t know.”
Lily took Sarah’s hand.
“Come back.”
Sarah entered the nursery.
Miriam stood beside a camera.
Four-B was strapped to a chair, but the knife at his throat was mechanical.
Ward’s shelter footage had been composited behind them.
Miriam applauded softly.
“You recognized the clock.”
Claire entered behind Sarah.
“Let him go.”
Miriam released Four-B.
He ran to Daniel.
Sarah aimed at Miriam.
“Why did you take my baby?”
“To see whether maternal attachment could survive separation.”
“You gave her to Claire.”
“C-Six needed a child to complete her identity.”
Sarah’s eyes filled with rage.
Lily stepped into the room.
Miriam smiled at her.
“Come here, little star.”
Lily hid behind Claire.
Sarah fired.
But Miriam had anticipated it.
A shield dropped between them.
The bullet struck the glass.
Miriam pressed a button.
The floor beneath Lily opened.
Claire grabbed her arm, but Lily slipped through.
Sarah caught Lily’s other hand.
For one second, both mothers held her.
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Then the metal beneath them collapsed.
Sarah and Lily fell into the hidden shaft.
