Chapter 10 - Daniel's ConfessionDaniel survived surgery.
Officially it conducted marine biology research.
Unofficially, its lowest deck housed a mobile genetic laboratory.
Marcus's team approached from three directions.
Coast Guard vessels blocked the escape route.
A helicopter circled above.
Helena issued one warning.
"If any armed unit boards this vessel, the laboratory burns."
Marcus believed her.
Claire watched from the command room.
Daniel's phone still transmitted intermittent audio.
Metal footsteps.
Helena shouting orders.
A man groaning.
Then Daniel's voice:
"You've lost."
Helena laughed.
"I lost you decades ago."
Claire leaned closer.
Daniel replied:
"No. You never had me."
A slap.
Arthur closed his eyes.
Helena said:
"You married the woman. You produced the children. You fulfilled the purpose you were raised for."
Daniel answered:
"They aren't your purpose."
Claire's eyes filled.
Too late.
Everything he understood had come too late.
But it mattered that he understood now.
Marcus established communication with the ship.
"Dr. Voss, this is Special Agent Marcus Reed. We need to resolve this without casualties."
Helena answered.
"I have one demand."
Claire already knew.
"Claire."
Arthur shook his head.
"No."
Helena continued:
"Claire boards alone with one blood sample. I receive access to Elizabeth's archive. Daniel leaves with her."
Marcus muted the channel.
"It's a stall."
Nathan studied the ship schematic.
"Probably preparing escape."
"How?"
"Submersible."
Everyone stared.
Nathan pointed at an old naval configuration.
"Research vessels sometimes carry mini-submersibles."
Marcus called satellite surveillance.
Two minutes later, confirmation.
An underwater launch bay.
Helena wasn't negotiating.
She was preparing to disappear.
Claire said:
"Tell her yes."
Arthur turned.
"No."
"We don't need to actually send me."
Marcus understood.
"We buy time."
Claire nodded.
Marcus reopened communication.
"Claire agrees."
Helena replied:
"She says it herself."
Claire stepped to the microphone.
"I'll come."
"Bring the blood."
"I'll bring what opens the locket."
Helena's voice softened.
"Good girl."
Claire's face went cold.
"My mother probably hated when you called her that too."
Silence.
Claire had struck something.
Helena said:
"Elizabeth was sentimental."
"Elizabeth beat you."
"She died."
"And you're still afraid of her."
Arthur stared at Claire.
Marcus whispered, "Keep going."
Claire did.
"Thirty years later, you're still chasing a dead woman's locket."
Helena's breathing changed.
"Your mother betrayed science."
"No. She exposed a narcissist."
"She lacked vision."
"She had humanity."
"Humanity doesn't cure disease."
Claire looked at her babies through a video monitor from the neonatal floor.
"No. But it stops you from turning children into equipment."
Helena disconnected.
Marcus checked the tactical clock.
"They need four more minutes to reach the submersible bay."
Claire's hands trembled.
Then Daniel's phone audio returned.
Helena was shouting.
"You ruined everything!"
Daniel laughed.
"That seems hereditary."
A struggle.
Then another male voice.
Vale?
No.
Unknown.
Marcus said, "Who's with them?"
Nathan checked personnel lists.
"Helena's security chief."
Audio became chaotic.
Daniel shouted:
"Claire, if you can hear me—"
Gunshot.
Silence.
Claire screamed his name.
No answer.
Marcus grabbed the radio.
"Go! Go now!"
Federal teams boarded.
Explosions sounded on the feed.
Not massive.
Controlled charges.
Doors breached.
Hallways cleared.
Claire watched helmet cameras.
Deck one.
Clear.
Deck two.
Clear.
Laboratory access.
Locked.
Agents cut through.
Smoke filled the corridor.
"Fire!"
Helena had triggered destruction.
Sprinklers activated.
Scientists fled.
Agents reached the command deck.
They found the security chief unconscious.
Daniel lay beside the console.
Blood across his shirt.
Claire stopped breathing.
"Is he alive?"
A medic checked.
"Pulse!"
Claire sobbed.
Whatever happened next, Daniel would answer for what he had done.
But she didn't want him dead.
Not because she loved him anymore.
Because death would be escape.
Marcus shouted:
"Where's Voss?"
Daniel's eyes opened weakly.
"Below."
"Submersible?"
He nodded.
Marcus raced downstairs.
The launch bay doors were open.
The submersible was gone.
Nathan cursed.
"She's underwater."
Coast Guard sonar acquired movement.
Small target.
Heading east.
Then Claire remembered Barrow Island.
The old naval listening station.
"Marcus."
He answered.
"What?"
"The cliffs."
"What cliffs?"
"My mother's letter. Whales beneath the cliffs."
Arthur stared at her.
"Claire?"
"Mom wasn't only telling us where Haven was."
She pictured Barrow Island from childhood.
Black rock.
Sea caves.
She turned toward satellite mapping.
"There's an underwater cavern."
Nathan pulled topographic records.
"There."
A tunnel extended beneath the eastern cliff.
Helena wasn't fleeing into the Atlantic.
She was returning to the island through a hidden entrance.
Marcus redirected the operation.
Twenty minutes later, agents surrounded the cave access.
Helena surfaced.
Alone.
She stepped from the submersible holding a metal case.
No weapon visible.
Marcus ordered:
"Hands where we can see them."
Helena smiled.
"You have no idea what you're destroying."
Arthur's voice came over the loudspeaker.
"Actually, Helena, I do."
She looked toward the command unit.
Arthur had joined by video.
"You."
Arthur nodded.
"Me."
Helena laughed.
"Elizabeth would be disappointed."
Arthur answered:
"Elizabeth was disappointed in me long before she died."
Claire looked at him.
He continued:
"But she was right."
Helena's smile faded.
Arthur said:
"Every Helixor patent, every subsidiary, every research trust we can legally control is being frozen."
"You can't."
"I already did."
"You're destroying billions in research."
"I'm destroying your ownership of it."
Helena stared.
Arthur continued:
"The legitimate therapies will be transferred to independent public institutions. No family will ever belong to your company again."
Helena finally looked shaken.
Claire stepped toward the microphone.
"And my children?"
Helena stared at the camera.
Claire said:
"You'll never see them."
Helena's expression hardened.
"They carry my son's blood."
"They carry their own blood."
"History will judge you."
Claire smiled faintly.
"First a jury will."
Marcus stepped forward.
"Helena Voss, you're under arrest."
She didn't resist.
As handcuffs closed around her wrists, she looked almost confused.
Not defeated.
Confused.
As if she could not understand how people she considered weaker had refused to behave according to her design.
Claire watched her being led away.
Then her attention turned to the ship.
Daniel.
A medic called.
"He's stable."
Claire closed her eyes.
Relief came.
Complicated.
Unwanted.
But real.
Arthur touched her shoulder.
"It's over."
Claire shook her head.
"No."
He looked at her.
Claire stared at the wall of evidence.
"My children are safe."
May you like
She breathed.
"Now we make sure everybody who helped do this answers for it."
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