Chapter 56 Ashes of Genesis
Flora
"No," I sobbed, my body shaking violently against Rafael.
Dr. Chen cursed, his composure cracking for the first time. "What did she give you? Check her pockets, now!"
My hands were trembling so badly I could barely comply as I reached into my jacket pocket, the one Dr. Yuki had indicated with her final breath, and pulled out a small flash drive. It felt heavy in my palm, heavier than its physical weight, heavy with the sacrifice of the mother I would never hold.
"Give that to me," Dr. Chen demanded, his gun trained on my head, his eyes wild with desperation.
But I was looking at the flash drive with terrible recognition dawning in my eyes. This was the evidence, all the real evidence, the unaltered files that could bring down everything. My mother had died to give me this. Her last act on earth was to place this in my hands.
"Hand it over or I start shooting," Dr. Chen said, his finger tightening on the trigger, his voice rising with panic.
I looked at Rafael, at the love and fear in his eyes. I looked at Catherine, at Marco and Vittorio, all of them frozen, waiting for my choice. Then I looked back at the flash drive in my hand. I thought about everything Dr. Yuki had sacrificed, every year she had spent watching from the shadows, every danger she had faced to protect me. I thought about the mother I would never know, the woman who had loved me enough to die for me.
And then I did something that made my heart stop.
I threw it.
Not to Dr. Chen but across the room, through the open doorway, into the darkness beyond where it clattered against the concrete floor and disappeared from sight.
Dr. Chen's eyes went wide with fury and he spun toward the doorway, his gun following the movement, his attention torn away from us for one split second.
That was all Rafael needed.
He lunged for his gun on the floor, his fingers closing around it, bringing it up with terrifying speed.
Dr. Chen turned back, his own gun swinging toward me, his face twisted with rage.
Rafael fired.
The shot was deafening in the enclosed space, the muzzle flash blinding. I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat.
Dr. Chen stumbled back, blood blooming on his shoulder, his gun falling from his hand and skittering across the floor. He grunted in pain but he was not done, he reached for something in his jacket, another weapon maybe, his eyes still fixed on me with insane determination.
Vittorio fired next, then Marco, their shots hitting Dr. Chen in the chest with sickening thuds.
He fell backward, crashing into the wall, sliding down to the floor in a heap.
His eyes were still open, still focused on me with terrible intensity even as blood pooled beneath him.
"You cannot stop it," he gasped out, blood bubbling from his lips. "The project will continue, others will take my place, you will never be free."
"We will see about that," Catherine said coldly, kicking his gun further away, her voice steady despite everything.
Dr. Chen laughed, a wet horrible sound that made my skin crawl. "Foolish girl, you think this ends with me? I am just one piece of a much larger machine."
"Then we will destroy the whole machine," Rafael said, moving to stand beside me, pulling me against him, his heart pounding against my ear.
Dr. Chen's laugh turned into a cough, more blood spilling from his mouth. "Good luck with that."
His eyes glazed over and his head fell forward and he was still.
Silence filled the room, broken only by our ragged breathing and the distant echo of the gunshots still ringing in my ears.
"Is he dead?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper, afraid of the answer.
Marco checked his pulse, his expression grim. After a long moment he nodded. "He is gone."
My legs gave out completely and Rafael caught me, lowering us both to the floor, holding me as I shook uncontrollably.
"It is over," he whispered against my hair, his voice cracking. "He is gone, you are safe."
"Dr. Yuki," I sobbed, the name tearing from my throat. "She was my mother and I never got to know her. She died for me and I never even got to thank her."
"I know," Rafael said, his own throat tight with emotion, tears falling into my hair. "I am so sorry, Flora. I am so sorry."
Catherine retrieved the flash drive from where I had thrown it, holding it up to the light. "This might have everything we need to bring down whoever else is involved."
"We need to get out of here," Vittorio said urgently, moving toward the door. "The gunfire will have attracted attention. We have minutes at most."
Rafael helped me to my feet, keeping his arm firmly around me, supporting my weight because I could barely stand on my own. We moved through the laboratory, past Dr. Chen's body, past Dr. Yuki's, and I had to look away, had to force myself not to collapse again.
Out into the corridor we ran, the sounds of chaos growing louder behind us. Shouts, gunfire, the sounds of Vittorio's men engaging with whoever else was in the building echoed off the walls.
But we did not look back.
We ran through the dark hallways, up the stairs, through the rotting ballroom, out into the cold night air.
The estate was chaos now, men running, shooting, fighting in the shadows. Flames had begun to consume one wing of the building, casting eerie shadows across the lawn.
But we made it to the vehicles, piling in, engines roaring to life.
As we sped away from the old Valserro estate, I looked back once to see flames beginning to lick at the windows, consuming everything, destroying the evidence, destroying the birthplace of Project Genesis.
I felt nothing but exhaustion.
Three days passed. Three days since the estate, three days since Dr. Chen's death, three days since I learned my real mother had died saving me.
I sat in Rafael's apartment, wrapped in a blanket, staring at nothing.
Catherine had taken the flash drive to a journalist she trusted, someone who specialized in exposing corporate corruption and scientific ethics violations. The story had broken yesterday morning and by afternoon, the entire world knew about Project Genesis.
The arrests had started within hours. Scientists, doctors, businessmen, politicians, all connected to the project, all scrambling to save themselves by turning on each other. It was beautiful to watch their empire crumble and terrifying to see how deep it went.
"You should eat something," Rafael said gently, setting a plate of food beside me.
I looked at it without interest. "I am not hungry."
"You need to keep your strength up," he insisted, sitting down beside me, his hand finding mine.
"For what?" I asked, finally meeting his eyes. "It is over, they are all being arrested, what do I need strength for?"
"For healing," he said simply. "For moving forward.”