Chapter 7 - The Confrontation
The Vales arrived at the cabin under the cover of a storm. Mara and Elias carried weapons—not standard guns, but high-frequency stun devices meant to incapacitate subjects without killing them.
Kael and his team held the perimeter, returning fire. The cabin was a fortress, but we were outnumbered.
I stayed by Lena, who was beginning to stir.
“Maya?” she whispered, opening her eyes. They were clear, the haunted, distant look gone.
“You did it, Lena. You broke it.”
“They’re here,” she said, sensing the energy around us.
The front door kicked open. Elias stepped in, his face twisted in rage. “You destroyed it! Decades of progress, gone in a millisecond!”
I stepped forward, holding the tablet Kael had given me—the one that now contained all the evidence of their illegal experiments. “It wasn’t progress, Elias. It was slavery.”
“You are a prototype,” he hissed, raising his weapon. “You don’t get to choose your own path.”
May you like
Suddenly, the front wall of the cabin exploded. Kael had rigged the porch with charges. The force of the blast threw Elias back, his weapon skittering across the floor.
Outside, the authorities—not the local police, but a federal task force Jonah had contacted—were descending upon the estate. The truth about Halcyon was about to be laid bare.
