Chapter 64: The Lockdown

Martha pulled the lever. A section of the wall slid open, revealing a narrow, sloping passage cut into the bedrock. It smelled of coal dust and damp earth.

"Go!" Martha shouted.

I grabbed Leo's hand and pulled him into the chute. We slid down the incline, tumbling into the darkness, leaving the frozen horrors of Level Two behind.

We landed on a pile of coal in a small, subterranean room. The air was warmer here, but thick with dust. I shone my flashlight around. There was a metal ladder leading up to a grate in the ceiling.

"Where are we?" Leo asked, his voice trembling.

"We're under the carriage house," I said, recognizing the stonework. "This is the old fuel delivery entrance."

I climbed the ladder and pushed against the grate. It was heavy, but it moved. I shoved it aside and pulled myself up into the moonlit woods.

I helped Leo out. Then I reached down for Martha.

"Come on," I said.

"I can't," Martha said from below. "I have to lock the door. If I don't, they'll follow you."

"They'll kill you," I said.

"They already killed me," she said. "Thirty years ago. When I let them take the babies."

She smiled, a sad, broken smile.

"Go, Sarah. Save the boy."

She slammed the grate shut. I heard the lock engage from the inside.

"Sarah!" Ben's voice came from the trees.

He and Mark and Lucia emerged from the shadows. They had the car running.

"We have to go," Ben said. "The guards are sweeping the grounds."

We piled into the SUV. I held Leo in my lap, checking him for injuries. He was pale, shaking, but alive.

"Where's Edith?" Mark asked as we sped down the dirt road.

"Buried," I said. "Under thirty years of ice."

"Is she dead?"

"I don't know," I said. "But she's not chasing us tonight."

We drove back to the border, crossing into New York just as the sun began to rise. We didn't stop until we reached the city. We went straight to Vance's office.

Vance was waiting for us. He looked exhausted, but when he saw Leo, his face softened.

"You got him," he said.

"We got him," I said. "And we have the rest of the proof. Martha... the nurse... she had the records."

I handed him the file Martha had given me.

Vance opened it. He scanned the pages, his eyes widening.

"This lists every procedure," he said. "Every donor. Every surrogate. It's a genetic map of the entire operation."

"It's enough to put Edith away for life," I said. "If she survived."

"She survived," Vance said quietly.

He turned on the TV in the corner of his office.

The news was playing.

*BREAKING: Explosion at Canadian Estate. Authorities searching for owner.*

The footage showed the smoking ruins of The Sanctuary. The main house had burned to the ground.

"The labs," I whispered. "The nursery. It's all gone."

"Thorne," Ben said. "He burned it. To destroy the evidence."

"Or to cover his tracks," Mark said.

"But Edith wasn't in the house," I said. "She was in the basement. In the cold storage."

"The fire crews found a tunnel," the reporter said. "Leading away from the property. It appears the suspect may have fled before the structure collapsed."

She was alive.

She was hurt, she was cornered, but she was alive.

"It doesn't matter," Vance said. "With this file, we can freeze her assets globally. She won't be able to buy a cup of coffee, let alone a lawyer."

"What about Leo?" I asked. "He needs treatment. Now."

"I've arranged it," Vance said. "Dr. Patel is waiting at Mount Sinai. The police are guarding the room. Edith can't get to him."

We took Leo to the hospital. Watching the doctors swarm around him, hooking him up to machines that would help him instead of hurt him, I finally let myself breathe.

But the relief was short-lived.

As I walked out of Leo's room, my phone buzzed.

A text.

From an unknown number.

*You took my son. You took my legacy. You took my home.*

*But you forgot one thing, Sarah.*

*I still have the donor.*

I stared at the screen. The donor?

Leo was the donor. And I had him.

Unless...

Unless she didn't mean the bone marrow donor.

Unless she meant the *genetic* donor.

The source.

I thought about the file Martha had given me. The list of names.

*Subject: Maria Elena Rodriguez.*
*Subject: Archibald Sterling.*

And then, a name I hadn't noticed before. A name listed under "Cryogenic Preservation."

*Subject: Clara Sterling.*

My blood ran cold.

Clara wasn't just a victim. She wasn't just a witness.

She was the bank.

Her eggs. Her genetic material. They were still frozen. Still viable.

And Edith had them.

"She's not done," I whispered. "She's going to start over. With Clara."

I looked at the text again.

*Meet me where it ended. Or I flush the samples.*

Where it ended.

The nursery? The lake house? The Sanctuary?

No.

The place where the first lie was told.

The hospital.

St. Jude's.

"Ben," I said, grabbing his arm. "We have to go."

"Go where?"

"Back to St. Jude's," I said. "Edith is there. And she has the future of the family in a cooler."