Chapter 10 - THE CHOICE
“No.”
I said it before anyone else could.
Mercer looked at me.
“Claire—”
“We’re not choosing which children matter.”
“There are six doses.”
“Then make more.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know the full formula.”
Ethan held Noah tighter.
“How long does he have?”
Mercer examined him.
“Based on his current symptoms? Hours before the latest dose begins causing permanent neuromuscular damage.”
“And the others?”
“Different exposure. Different timing.”
Ethan opened the case.
He picked up one vial.
I watched his face.
This was the test.
Not whether Ethan Caldwell could kill a man.
Everybody already knew that answer.
The test was whether he could save his own child first while other children waited.
Noah looked at the vials.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Give it to the little girl.”
Everyone turned.
Noah pointed to a five-year-old on a stretcher.
She was barely breathing.
“She looks worse.”
Ethan’s face cracked.
“Buddy—”
“I can wait.”
“No.”
“I can.”
Ethan knelt.
“You don’t have to be brave right now.”
Noah’s eyes filled.
“I’m not brave. I’m scared.”
He pointed again.
“But she’s more scared.”
Ethan looked away.
I saw tears.
He wiped them before Noah could.
Mercer checked the girl.
“She needs it now.”
Ethan handed him the vial.
“Do it.”
Mercer injected her.
Her breathing slowly steadied.
One vial gone.
Five left.
Then Daniel spoke.
“I know where the formula is.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
“Margaret made me memorize numbers.”
“What numbers?”
He closed his eyes.
“Thirty-two. Seven. Nine. Eleven. Forty-one. Three.”
Mercer stared.
“That’s not random.”
“What is it?”
“Compound ratios.”
Daniel continued.
“There are letters too.”
“Tell me.”
“R-X-C. Then seventeen.”
Mercer nearly dropped the case.
“RXC-17.”
“You know it?”
“It’s the development code.”
“Can you make the antidote?”
“If I have the base compound.”
“Where?”
Daniel pointed upward.
“Victor keeps it in the old chapel.”
Ethan frowned.
“There’s no chapel.”
Daniel looked at him.
“There is outside the north wall.”
I remembered an abandoned stone building beyond the property.
I thought it was storage.
Mason’s voice finally came through the radio.
“Boss.”
Ethan answered.
“Where are you?”
“Outside tunnel. Victor escaped.”
“Direction?”
“North.”
We all looked at Daniel.
The chapel.
Ethan handed Noah to me.
“I’m going after him.”
“No.”
He glared.
“Claire.”
“The antidote matters more than Victor.”
“He’ll destroy it.”
“Exactly.”
Mason interrupted.
“We found something else.”
“What?”
“A truck.”
“What truck?”
“Refrigerated. Medical transport.”
A pause.
“Boss, there are kids inside.”
Ethan went still.
“How many?”
“Twenty-three.”
My stomach dropped.
Mason continued.
“Some awake. Most not.”
This was bigger than the lab.
Much bigger.
Then a new voice broke into the radio.
Victor.
“Thirty-three children, Ethan.”
Everyone froze.
“You found thirty-three.”
He laughed softly.
“You still haven’t asked how many there are in total.”
Ethan squeezed the radio.
“How many?”
Victor answered.
May you like
“Two thousand, four hundred and eleven.”
Then the chapel bells began ringing.
