Chapter 16 Racing Against Time
ARIA'S POV
They were dragging me down the hallway when the explosion hit.
The blast threw everyone sideways. Guards crashed into walls. Someone's grip on my arm released. Alarms shrieked louder than before—a different sound, more urgent, more terrifying.
"Security breach in Sector Seven!" a voice screamed over the intercom. "All guards report immediately! Subject A-1 has—"
The announcement cut off with a horrible crackling sound.
Asher. My brother was fighting back.
I didn't waste time thinking. I ran.
My bare feet slapped against cold floors. Behind me, guards shouted orders. Professor Cross's voice rose above the chaos: "Find her! If she reaches the maintenance tunnels, we lose everything!"
The maintenance tunnels. That's what Asher had whispered to Kael—third basement level, access to the forest. A way out.
But I couldn't leave without Kael. The mate bond pulled me in the opposite direction from escape, toward wherever they'd taken him. Every step away from him felt like ripping my own heart out.
Another explosion rocked the building. The lights flickered. In the darkness, I saw a flash of movement—someone running toward me.
Kael.
He looked wild. Dangerous. Blood streaked his face and his eyes glowed with that enhanced predator intensity. But when he saw me, relief crashed across his features.
"You're okay," he breathed, crushing me against his chest. "I thought—when Cross said—"
"How did you escape?" I asked into his shoulder.
"Asher. He triggered some kind of chemical fire in the storage area. Created enough chaos that the guards couldn't watch both of us." Kael pulled back, gripping my shoulders. "We have to move. Now. Cross is evacuating the important subjects to the backup facility. If we don't get out in the next five minutes—"
"What about Asher?" I couldn't leave my brother. Not again. "Where is he?"
Kael's face twisted with pain. "He made me promise to get you out first. Said he'd buy us time, then meet us at the tunnel exit. Aria, we have to trust him—"
"No!" I tried to pull away. "He could be dying right now! They'll punish him for this!"
"And you'll die too if we don't leave!" Kael's voice cracked. "He's doing this for you. Don't make his sacrifice meaningless."
The words hit like a slap. Because he was right. Asher had always protected me. Even with his memories erased, some deep part of him still chose to save his sister.
"Third basement level," I said. "Show me."
We ran together, Kael's hand locked around mine. The enhanced strength from his serum meant he practically dragged me at inhuman speed. Guards appeared around a corner—Kael took them down in seconds, moving so fast they barely saw him coming.
"The serum," I gasped as we ran. "You're really strong now."
"Too strong." Kael's jaw tightened. "I can feel it changing me. Making me want to hurt people. If it gets worse—if I become like them—"
"You won't." I squeezed his hand harder. "You're not alone in this. I won't let you become a monster."
We found the stairs. Down, down, down into the guts of the facility. The air grew colder. Darker. Water dripped somewhere in the distance.
The third basement level was ancient—all concrete and rust and forgotten machinery. Kael led me through a maze of pipes and tanks until we reached a heavy metal door marked "Maintenance Access - Authorized Personnel Only."
"This is it," Kael said, yanking the door open. Beyond it, a tunnel stretched into darkness. "Three miles through here, we come out in the forest near Highway 17. Luna said she'd have a car waiting—"
"Luna knows about this?" I asked, surprised.
"She's been helping Asher gather evidence for months. She's on our side." Kael glanced back the way we'd come. "We need to—"
Footsteps echoed down the stairs. Many footsteps. And voices.
"They went to the basement levels!"
"Check all access points!"
"Cross wants them alive! The breeding program requires both subjects intact!"
Kael shoved me toward the tunnel. "Go! Run and don't stop until you reach the exit!"
"Not without you!" I grabbed his arm. "We leave together or not at all!"
"Aria—"
"Together!" I said fiercely. "You don't get to sacrifice yourself. I just got you. I'm not losing you now."
Something in my voice must have convinced him because Kael nodded. We plunged into the tunnel together, the door slamming shut behind us.
Darkness swallowed us whole. I couldn't see anything. But Kael's hand stayed locked with mine, pulling me forward through the black. His enhanced senses guided us—he could see in the dark now, could hear things I couldn't.
"Keep moving," he urged. "They're right behind us."
We ran blind. My lungs burned. My legs screamed. But I kept going because stopping meant capture. Meant the breeding chamber. Meant losing my mind like Asher had lost his.
Behind us, lights appeared. Flashlights cutting through the darkness. Voices shouting.
"There! I see them!"
"Don't let them reach the exit!"
"Faster," Kael said. But I was already running as fast as I could.
Then, ahead—a different light. Gray and dim. Dawn breaking through the tunnel exit. We were almost free.
Fifty feet. Forty. Thirty.
A gunshot cracked through the tunnel. The bullet hit the wall inches from my head, spraying concrete dust into my face.
Twenty feet.
Another shot. This one grazed Kael's shoulder. He grunted but didn't slow down.
Ten feet.
We burst through the exit into cold morning air. Trees surrounded us—thick forest in every direction. And there, parked on an old service road, was a black car with its engine running.
Luna hung out the driver's window. "Get in! Now!"
We sprinted for the car. Guards poured out of the tunnel behind us. More gunshots. A bullet shattered the car's back window.
Kael practically threw me into the backseat before diving in after me. Luna floored the gas pedal before our doors even closed.
We fishtailed onto the road, leaving the facility and its guards behind. I twisted around to look through the broken back window. The tunnel exit grew smaller. We'd actually escaped. We were free.
Then I saw him.
Asher, stumbling out of the tunnel, covered in blood. Guards surrounded him immediately. He didn't fight. Just dropped to his knees with his hands up.
"No!" I screamed. "Luna, stop! We have to go back!"
"We can't!" Luna's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "There are too many guards. We'd all be captured!"
"That's my brother!" Tears streamed down my face. "We can't leave him!"
Kael wrapped his arms around me as I sobbed. "We'll come back for him. I swear. We'll get him out."
But as the facility disappeared from view, I watched through blurred vision as Professor Cross walked out to where Asher knelt. Cross pulled out that horrible remote. Pressed the button.
Even from this distance, I heard my brother's screams.
Then Luna drove around a bend and the facility vanished from sight.
"Where are we going?" I asked through tears.
Luna's voice was grim. "Somewhere safe. Somewhere Cross can't find us. And then we're going to destroy him and everything he's built."
She handed me a manila folder from the passenger seat. "Asher gave me this three days before they caught him. Said if anything happened to him, I should give it to you. It's everything—proof of the facilities, names of everyone involved, evidence of fifty years of crimes."
I opened the folder with shaking hands. Page after page of documents. Photos. Financial records. A complete map of the conspiracy.
And on the very last page, a handwritten note in Asher's messy scrawl:
Aria - If you're reading this, I'm probably dead or worse. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you everything. But you're smart. Smarter than me. You'll figure out what to do with this evidence. Trust Kael. Trust Luna. And remember - the best revenge isn't killing the monsters. It's exposing them to the light and watching their empire crumble. I love you. Always. - A
My hands trembled as I read those words. My brother had known. Had planned for this. Had left me the tools to finish what he started.
"We're going to the media," I said, looking up at Kael and Luna. "We're going to show the world what Cross has been doing. We're going to burn his empire to the ground."
"Yes," Kael agreed, his silver eyes burning with determination. "But first, we need to prepare. Cross won't go down without a fight. And he has resources we can't imagine."
Luna's phone buzzed. She glanced at it, and her face went pale.
"What?" I asked. "What is it?"
Luna pulled over, hands shaking as she showed us the phone.
A text message from an unknown number. Three words and an attachment.
Too late, children.
The attachment was a video file. Luna pressed play.
Professor Cross's face filled the screen. He smiled that charming, horrible smile.
"Hello, Aria. Hello, Kael. Congratulations on your escape. Very resourceful. But I'm afraid you've made a critical miscalculation." Cross's smile widened. "You see, I don't need you anymore. We've successfully extracted what we needed from both of you. And we've already replicated the results in other subjects."
He stepped aside, and the camera showed a room full of tanks. Dozens of them. Each containing a person floating in green liquid, wires attached to their heads.
"Meet Generation Two," Cross announced proudly. "Enhanced subjects created from your DNA and the data we gathered during your brief stay. They'll be ready in six months. Perfect soldiers. Perfect weapons. Perfect specimens who won't have your inconvenient attachment to humanity."
My blood turned to ice.
"Oh, and one more thing," Cross added, almost as an afterthought. "Thank you for leading us to Luna Park. We've been trying to locate her safe house for months. Your phone has been transmitting your location since you left the facility. My team should be arriving at your current position in approximately..." he checked his watch, "two minutes."
The video ended.
Luna's eyes went wide with horror. "He tracked us. Oh God, he tracked—"
Headlights appeared in the distance. Multiple vehicles. Coming fast.
"Drive!" Kael shouted.
But when Luna turned the key, the engine sputtered and died.
Cross had sabotaged the car remotely.
We were trapped.