Chapter 10 - The man on the boat
The memory consumed Claire.
Rain struck the deck of Daniel’s boat. The lake churned beneath a black sky, and warning alarms screamed from the cabin.
Daniel stood near the railing, blood running from a cut above his eye.
Marcus faced him with a gun.
“You promised we would destroy Lazarus,” Marcus said.
“We will.”
“No. You preserved the sample.”
“To separate myself from your father.”
“You cannot separate what you invited inside.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“I did not know the neural map belonged to Malcolm.”
“My father created Lazarus.”
“Your father created a way to steal bodies.”
Marcus’s face twisted.
“He created a way to survive death.”
“He murdered my father.”
“Thomas tried to erase him.”
Daniel glanced toward the cabin, where a hard drive was connected to the communication system.
“I sent the archive to Claire.”
Marcus raised the gun.
“You always trusted her more.”
“She will know what to do.”
“Claire built the security system my father used. She protected Hartwell’s secrets for years.”
“She didn’t know.”
“She never wants to know.”
Daniel moved suddenly.
The gun fired.
The bullet struck the deck.
The two men fought near the railing. Marcus hit Daniel across the face with the weapon, then shoved him backward.
Daniel fell into the water.
Marcus watched him disappear beneath the waves.
Then he entered the cabin, activated an explosive device and escaped aboard a second boat waiting in the darkness.
The memory shifted.
Daniel floated beneath the surface, unable to move.
A light appeared below him.
Hands pulled him into a submerged chamber built beneath the lake.
Celeste was waiting.
The memory shattered.
Claire returned to the laboratory with a scream trapped behind her teeth.
The transfer machine had released her restraints, but her limbs remained weak. Daniel and Marcus stood several feet apart while federal agents entered through the damaged doorway.
Detective Reed aimed her weapon at Marcus.
“Drop the gun!”
Marcus looked at Claire.
“You saw it.”
“You pushed him.”
“I stopped Malcolm from reaching the archive.”
“You tried to kill my brother.”
“I believed Daniel was already gone.”
Daniel stepped forward.
Marcus pointed the weapon at him.
“Stay back.”
“Are you afraid of me,” Daniel asked, “or of your father?”
Marcus’s eyes filled with tears.
“I spent my life cleaning up what he did.”
“No,” Claire said. “You spent your life protecting it.”
Celeste crawled toward the fallen injector.
Evelyn shouted from behind the glass.
“Claire!”
Claire turned just as Celeste seized the sample.
Detective Reed fired.
The bullet struck Celeste’s shoulder, spinning her sideways. The injector flew across the floor and shattered against the base of the machine.
Dark liquid spread beneath the cables.
The machine sparked.
Daniel suddenly grabbed his head.
The transfer had been interrupted before the identity separation completed.
He collapsed.
Claire pushed herself from the bed.
Her legs failed beneath her, but Reed caught her.
“Daniel!”
He looked up at Claire.
His eyes were filled with confusion.
“Who are you?” he whispered.
Claire’s heart broke.
“It’s Claire.”
He stared at her without recognition.
Then his expression changed.
Malcolm looked through his eyes.
“The archive,” he said. “She knows where it is now.”
The damaged machine emitted a surge of electricity.
The glass wall exploded.
Evelyn fell amid the fragments.
Agents rushed to her while Reed ordered the facility evacuated.
Smoke filled the laboratory.
Marcus lowered his gun.
“I did not know Celeste recovered Daniel from the lake,” he said.
“You left him to drown,” Claire replied.
“I thought killing the host would kill my father.”
“Instead, you delivered Daniel back to the people experimenting on him.”
Marcus looked toward Celeste, who was being restrained by two agents.
She was bleeding heavily but conscious.
“Tell them,” Marcus said to her. “Tell them who financed this facility.”
Celeste laughed through the pain.
“You still think I was working for Malcolm?”
“Who were you working for?”
She looked at Claire.
“Your father.”
Evelyn froze.
Claire stared at Celeste.
“My father died twelve years ago.”
“So did Malcolm.”
The ceiling began collapsing.
Reed ordered everyone into the corridor.
Agents lifted Daniel onto a stretcher. Celeste was carried behind him. Evelyn refused assistance and remained beside Claire as they moved toward the emergency exit.
“You cannot believe her,” Evelyn said.
“I believe evidence.”
“Thomas is dead.”
“Did you see his body?”
“I held him while he died.”
“Daniel was clinically dead too.”
Evelyn stopped walking.
A mechanical door descended behind them, separating Marcus from the group.
“Marcus!” Claire shouted.
He struck the glass as the lock engaged.
Smoke thickened around him.
The speakers activated.
Thomas Hart’s voice filled the corridor.
“Claire, if you can hear this, the facility has been compromised.”
Claire went still.
Her father’s voice continued.
“Do not allow them to take Daniel to a federal hospital. The Lazarus network extends beyond Hartwell, beyond Celeste and beyond Malcolm Voss.”
A map appeared on the corridor screens.
Red points illuminated across the United States.
Dozens of facilities.
Hundreds of patients.
“Project Lazarus was never designed to preserve one man,” Thomas said. “It was designed to build an army of people who could be overwritten.”
The final exit opened.
Cold night air rushed inside.
Federal vehicles surrounded the building.
For the first time, Claire saw relief on Reed’s face.
Then every agent outside raised their weapons toward Daniel’s stretcher.
A commander stepped forward.
“Hand over Patient Thirteen.”
Reed kept her gun lowered.
“He is federal evidence.”
The commander removed his helmet.
Claire recognized Adrian Keller, chairman of Hartwell Biotech’s board.
He smiled.
May you like
“No,” Adrian said. “He is company property.”
👉 The rescue team surrounding the facility did not belong to the government, and Claire had unknowingly delivered Daniel into the hands of Hartwell’s most powerful conspirator.
