Chapter 6 - The Ghost in the Rain
The woman didn't hesitate for a single second.
She fired a shot that caught Leo directly in his right shoulder.
Leo yelled in pain, dropping his weapon and collapsing against the computer terminal.
I squeezed my eyes shut, shielding the crying babies with my own body.
"Don't shoot!" I begged.
The woman lowered her pistols and quickly holstered them.
She rushed across the room and knelt down right in front of me.
I looked at her face, tracing the familiar green eyes and the exact same freckles I saw in the mirror every morning.
"Mom?" I whispered, fresh tears spilling down my cheeks.
The woman reached out and gently touched my face, her hand trembling.
"I am not your mother, Harper," she said softly.
"My name is Evelyn."
"I am your mother's twin sister."
My mind completely short-circuited.
I never knew my mother had a sister.
"Your parents erased me from all the family records when they started their twisted genetic experiments," Evelyn explained quickly.
"I have been trying to take down Apex Genetics from the inside for five years."
She grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.
"We have to leave right now before Arthur's backup teams arrive."
"What about Leo?" I asked, looking at the bleeding teenager on the floor.
Evelyn threw him a bandage pack from her tactical vest.
"He will survive, but he cannot come with us," she stated coldly.
"He is compromised."
Evelyn led me out of a hidden back door in the maintenance room.
We emerged into a dark, deserted parking garage two blocks away.
A sleek black van was idling near the exit ramp.
We climbed inside, and Evelyn floored the gas pedal, tearing out into the stormy night.
I settled the babies into the back seat, trying to process the absolute chaos of the last hour.
"Why does my father want these babies so badly?" I finally asked.
Evelyn looked at me through the rearview mirror, her expression grim.
"Because they are not just heirs to a massive fortune, Harper."
"They possess the exact same genetic anomaly that you have."
"The anomaly that makes your blood worth billions of dollars to a pharmaceutical empire."
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I stared at her, terrified by what she was going to say next.
"They want to harvest you," Evelyn said bluntly.
