Chapter 19 - The Witness in the Wire
Julian walked over to Eleanor, holding out his hand for her weapon. "Give it to me. I'll finish him. We have less than three minutes to reach the surface elevator."
Eleanor looked at Julian. Then, her eyes drifted to the shattered vats below, where Marcus’s duplicate floated dead in the green fluid. A flicker of profound revulsion passed over her aged face—a crack in the armor of her rationalization.
"Where is the child, Julian?" she asked quietly.
"In the transport pod. We take the pod, seal the vault, and trigger the incinerator."
"You promised my daughter’s final treatment was ready," Eleanor said, her voice dropping an octave. "Where is the vial?"
Julian hesitated for half a second. To anyone else, it would have been imperceptible, but to Marcus, who had studied Julian’s micro-expressions for months, it was an obvious tell.
"It’s in the vault upstairs," Julian lied. "We go now, or we all suffocate."
Marcus forced himself to his feet, leaning against the crushed control bank. "There is no vial, Eleanor! Check the manifest on the terminal behind me. He liquidated the Zurich account two hours ago. He’s burning the whole network. He’s cutting all the strings, including you!"
Julian lunged toward Eleanor, his face twisting into a feral snarl as he tried to snatch the gun from her grip. "Shoot him, you old fool!"
A single shot rang out, muffled by the suppressor.
Julian froze. He looked down at his chest. A dark, expanding circle of crimson bloomed across the crisp fabric of his white dress shirt. He stumbled backward, his hands grasping at the wound, his eyes wide with utter incomprehension.
Eleanor stood with the smoking gun leveled at Julian’s heart. Her expression was completely hollow, the face of a woman who had finally realized the deal she made with the devil had delivered nothing but ashes.
"My daughter died at midnight, Julian," Eleanor whispered, tears finally cutting paths through the grime on her cheeks. "The clinic called me before I got in the car. You cut off her supply three days ago to buy time for your own escape."
Julian collapsed against the shattered railing. He laughed—a wet, bubbling sound. "Then... we all die... together."
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With his dying breath, Julian slammed his hand down onto the emergency lock override on the console. A heavy steel blast door slammed shut over the elevator shaft, sealing the mezzanine shut.
*NITROGEN FLOOD COMMENCING IN SIXTY SECONDS.*
