Chapter 9 - THE LIVE BROADCAST
The lighter flame touched the edge of the blue key.
Sophie moved before Margaret could react.
She threw the glass shard.
It struck Margaret’s hand.
The lighter fell.
Peter grabbed Sophie by the hair and dragged her backward.
The key hit the floor.
It slid beneath the boardroom table.
The directors scrambled away from it.
Margaret looked at the blood on her hand.
Then at Sophie.
The calm mask disappeared.
“You ungrateful animal.”
She rushed forward.
Sophie braced herself.
But Elaine stepped between them.
“That is enough.”
Margaret stopped.
The older director stood shaking.
But she did not move away.
“You have manipulated this board for years.”
Margaret stared at her.
“You approved every acquisition.”
“Because you hid the truth.”
“You accepted the profits.”
Elaine’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
“And I will answer for that.”
The live cameras captured every word.
Margaret looked toward the damaged wall screen.
The viewer count had passed sixty thousand.
Her public image was collapsing in real time.
She turned toward Peter.
“End the transmission.”
He dragged Sophie toward the control room.
Bennett blocked the doorway.
Peter raised the gun.
“Move.”
Bennett did not.
“You cannot shoot every witness.”
Peter smiled.
“I only need to shoot the person controlling the feed.”
He fired.
Sophie screamed.
Bennett fell backward.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
He collapsed beside the console.
The live stream shook.
But remained active.
Peter looked toward the ceiling cameras.
“Where is the main relay?”
Bennett pressed one hand over the wound.
“Everywhere.”
Outside the boardroom, Emily heard the gunshot.
She slammed both hands against the locked doors.
“Bennett!”
Daniel pulled her back.
“The doors are reinforced.”
Nora and the tactical team arrived from the service stairwell.
One officer carried a hydraulic breaching tool.
Nora looked through the narrow security window.
“Multiple hostages.”
“Armed suspect.”
“Possible accelerant.”
Daniel pointed toward the ceiling.
“The ignition circuit runs through the fire panel.”
“Can you disable it?”
“From inside.”
Nora examined the door.
“How long to breach?”
“Two minutes.”
Emily looked at the timer on the wall.
Ignition in ninety seconds.
“We do not have two minutes.”
Daniel looked toward the service corridor.
“There is another way.”
Emily followed.
“Where?”
“The exterior maintenance track.”
Nora shook her head.
“We are seventy-two floors up.”
“It runs between the executive windows.”
“The shutters are closed.”
“There is a manual access hatch above the boardroom.”
Emily stepped toward him.
“You knew about this?”
“My father used it to enter the control room without being recorded.”
Nora pointed toward an officer.
“Take him.”
Daniel shook his head.
“The track only supports one person.”
Emily understood his expression.
“You are going.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You saved me downstairs.”
“That does not mean I trust you.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“Then what are you asking?”
“Let me stop the fire.”
Emily stared at him.
Daniel had planned her imprisonment.
He had forged her signature.
He had treated her life like collateral.
One decent act could not erase that.
But the boardroom was filling with accelerant.
Sophie was inside.
Vanessa lay unconscious on the stairwell landing.
Bennett had been shot.
There was no time for moral purity.
Emily stepped aside.
“Go.”
Nora secured a line around Daniel’s waist.
An officer opened the maintenance access.
Wind tore into the corridor.
Daniel climbed onto a narrow metal track outside the building.
The city spread beneath him.
Rain struck the glass.
Emily watched through the opening.
Daniel moved carefully along the exterior wall.
Inside the boardroom, Sophie crawled beneath the table.
The blue key lay near Elaine’s shoe.
Elaine saw it.
She bent down.
Peter noticed.
“Do not touch it.”
Elaine froze.
Sophie reached from the other side.
Her fingers closed around the key.
Margaret saw movement beneath the table.
“She has it.”
Peter fired downward.
The bullet tore through the tabletop.
Sophie rolled away.
Directors screamed.
The key remained in her hand.
She crawled toward Bennett.
He was pale.
Blood soaked his jacket.
“You need pressure.”
“Forget me.”
He pushed the tablet toward her.
“Keep the stream alive.”
Sophie looked at the viewer count.
One hundred and twelve thousand.
News outlets had begun rebroadcasting it.
Comments moved too quickly to read.
People were watching.
For the first time, Project Mercy could not hide behind private walls.
Margaret climbed onto the table.
“Give me the key.”
Sophie stood.
“No.”
“You belong to me.”
“No.”
“I made you.”
“You damaged me.”
“I kept you alive.”
“For what?”
Margaret pointed toward the transfer screen.
“For this family.”
Sophie laughed bitterly.
“I am not your family.”
Margaret’s face twisted.
“You think Emily wants you?”
Sophie glanced toward the sealed doors.
“She barely knows you.”
“She will fear you.”
“She will see you as the woman designed to steal her life.”
Sophie’s grip tightened around the key.
Margaret stepped closer.
“Daniel chose her.”
The words struck the deepest wound.
Margaret saw it.
“He wore a tuxedo for her.”
“He stood before hundreds of people and promised himself to her.”
“You received hidden rooms.”
“Needles.”
“Visits he denied.”
Sophie’s eyes burned.
Margaret lowered her voice.
“You were always the rehearsal.”
The words nearly broke her.
Then Emily’s voice came through the door.
“Sophie!”
Sophie looked toward it.
Emily struck the steel again.
“You are not a rehearsal!”
Margaret’s expression changed.
Emily continued.
“You are not my replacement!”
“You are not her experiment!”
“You are my sister!”
The boardroom fell silent.
Sophie stared at the door.
Margaret looked furious.
Emily’s voice carried through the metal.
“And I am not leaving without you.”
Sophie’s shoulders straightened.
She looked at Margaret.
“For once, someone said my real name.”
The ignition timer showed forty-five seconds.
Peter aimed at Sophie.
“Key.”
She held it against her chest.
“No.”
He moved closer.
Then a metallic panel above the control room opened.
Daniel dropped from the ceiling.
He landed behind Peter.
Peter turned.
Daniel struck his gun hand.
The weapon fired into the ceiling.
Sophie rushed toward Margaret.
Margaret grabbed her throat.
They fell against the table.
The blue key slipped away again.
Daniel fought Peter near the fire panel.
Peter was stronger.
He drove Daniel into the wall.
Daniel reached for the ignition controls.
Peter grabbed his wrist.
“You were always weak.”
Daniel pushed back.
“You made sure of it.”
Peter struck him.
Daniel fell.
The timer showed thirty seconds.
Margaret pinned Sophie against the table.
“You could have had everything.”
Sophie struggled beneath her.
“I wanted one thing.”
“What?”
“To know which memories were mine.”
Margaret leaned closer.
“None of them.”
Emily heard the words from the hallway.
Rage overtook her.
She grabbed the breaching tool from an officer.
Nora tried to stop her.
Emily swung it into the door controls.
Sparks burst outward.
She struck again.
The tactical officer joined her.
Together they damaged the locking mechanism.
Inside, Daniel crawled toward the fire panel.
Peter raised the gun.
Bennett saw him.
With his remaining strength, he pulled the damaged control-room door closed.
The metal edge struck Peter’s arm.
The shot missed Daniel.
Daniel reached the panel.
The system required a voice code.
The screen displayed:
AUTHORIZED FAMILY MEMBER.
Daniel spoke.
“Daniel Mercer.”
ACCESS DENIED.
He stared.
Margaret had revoked him.
The timer showed seventeen seconds.
Sophie saw the screen.
She kicked Margaret away.
Then rushed toward Daniel.
“Use Emily’s voice.”
“I can’t.”
“You rehearsed her for years.”
Daniel stared at her.
The cruelty of the request was obvious.
Use the skill developed to deceive Emily.
Use it now to save her.
The timer showed twelve seconds.
Daniel spoke again.
This time he imitated Emily’s cadence.
“Emily Grayson Mercer.”
VOICE PARTIAL MATCH.
ACCESS DENIED.
Sophie grabbed the panel.
She spoke in Emily’s exact voice.
“Emily Grayson Mercer.”
VOICE MATCH.
RETINAL CONFIRMATION REQUIRED.
Sophie looked toward the scanner.
She still wore the false retinal lens.
She pressed her eye toward it.
IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
The timer stopped at four seconds.
SYSTEM PAUSED.
Everyone froze.
Then a second warning appeared.
MANUAL OVERRIDE ACTIVE.
LOCATION: CHAIRWOMAN’S DEVICE.
Margaret smiled.
She held a small remote in her bloodied hand.
“You still think I leave decisions to machines?”
Her thumb hovered over the ignition button.
Daniel raised his hands.
“Mother.”
“Do not.”
She looked at him.
“You betrayed me.”
“You ordered my brother’s death.”
“For research.”
“You destroyed Sophie.”
“For survival.”
“You planned to kill Emily.”
“For you.”
Daniel stared at her.
“No.”
“For yourself.”
Margaret’s hand trembled.
“You would have lost everything.”
“I already did.”
She looked at him.
For one second, grief appeared.
Then it hardened into hatred.
“You were never strong enough to inherit this family.”
Daniel stepped between her and Sophie.
“Then let it end.”
Margaret pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
She stared at the remote.
Pressed again.
Still nothing.
Sophie held up the blue key.
“I disconnected the ignition circuit.”
Margaret looked toward the terminal.
The key had completed a shutdown.
The warning lights changed from red to white.
The accelerant vents closed.
The boardroom doors unlocked.
Nora and the tactical team entered.
Peter raised his gun.
Officers fired.
The weapon flew from his hand.
He dropped to the floor, wounded in the shoulder.
Margaret backed toward the windows.
The steel shutters began rising.
Rain streaked the glass.
Nora aimed at her.
“Put down the remote.”
Margaret looked around the room.
The board members.
The cameras.
Her wounded brother.
Her son.
Sophie.
Then Emily entered.
She saw Bennett on the floor.
Vanessa being carried in by medics.
Daniel bleeding near the control panel.
Sophie still clutching the key.
Emily walked directly toward Margaret.
Margaret stared at the white nightgown.
Then at Sophie in the torn wedding dress.
“You switched.”
Emily stopped several feet away.
“Yes.”
Margaret’s expression twisted.
“You think that makes you clever?”
“No.”
“It makes us free.”
Margaret laughed.
“You have no idea what freedom costs.”
Emily looked toward the live camera.
“Tell them.”
Margaret followed her gaze.
Two hundred thousand people were watching.
Emily stepped closer.
“Tell everyone what you did.”
Margaret’s lips tightened.
“Turn off the stream.”
Nora shook her head.
“No.”
Margaret looked at Daniel.
“Make them stop.”
Daniel remained silent.
“Daniel.”
He looked at her.
“I am done obeying you.”
Her face collapsed.
Only for a moment.
Then she reached inside her dress.
Nora shouted.
“Hands!”
Margaret pulled out a small glass vial.
Collins looked up from the floor where officers restrained him.
His face changed.
“Do not break that.”
Emily stared.
“What is it?”
Collins stopped struggling.
“Airborne compound.”
Nora stepped back.
“What kind?”
He looked at Margaret.
“Memory disruption.”
Margaret held the vial above the marble floor.
“If I cannot control what they believe.”
May you like
She looked toward the cameras.
“Then no one remembers tonight correctly.”
