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When two scientists come out of a room up ahead, I hold my breath, my eyes locked on Chance. They don’t seem to pay him any attention, and the instant they walk by him, he signals something to me.
“There are two scientists coming toward us,” I whisper to Mom and Raze. “I think Chance wants us to knock them out and take their clothes.”
Mom comes to take a peek. “It will be easy.”
We wait until the man and woman walk past us, then I yank the door open. Mom grabs the man and pulls him into the closet while I go for the woman, who turns to see what’s happening. Her features go slack with shock, and I don’t have to use much force to take hold of her and drag her into the closet.
I instantly realize there’s nothing to restrain them with, and I start to worry.
“Give us the lab coats,” Mom orders them. The man and woman shrug out of the coats and hand them to us. “And your key cards.”
I take one of the coats and put it on. The moment Mom has the keycards, she grabs a bottle of tile cleaner, pours it out into a sink, and fills it with water.
“What are you doing?” I ask. “We don’t have time for this.”
Mom turns around and, holding the gun behind the bottle, now filled with water, she pulls the trigger twice in quick succession.
My hands fly up to cover my mouth as horror ripples through me from the two bodies hitting the floor.
“Come on!” Chance suddenly snaps from the doorway. He only spares the bodies a glance. “We have to move.”
Mom shrugs on the other coat and hands one of the keycards to Chance.
Raze pushes me out of the closet, saying, “I’ll just pretend to be an insensate. Say you’re taking me for testing or some shit.”
“Why did you kill them?” I finally manage to ask. “They were normal citizens.”
“People who can scream and alert the whole damn city that we’re here,” Mom mutters. “It had to be done.”
It makes sense, but it doesn’t make it right.
When we finally get into a laboratory, my mouth drops open. There’s a wide variety of equipment everywhere, none of which I know the names of.
Four counters are situated in the middle of the room, and on the far side are empty cages big enough to hold a human.
The room is otherwise empty, and not finding anything of value, we creep through the room toward another door.
The place smells so clean you could probably eat off the floor. Not that I would. It’s just a random observation.
The antiseptic smell also reminds me of Dad, and it causes my heart to squeeze.
Honestly, I’m not sure how Dad will react when he sees us or hears about our plan. I hope he agrees and joins us willingly.
Just as we reach the door, it makes a buzzing sound, then opens. I freeze, and so do Mom and Raze.
Chance, on the other hand, darts forward, and as a man steps through the doorway, coming into the room we’re in, Chance grabs him and drags him farther inside, letting the door slam shut.
The man struggles against the hold Chance has around his neck, and for the second time, I watch as the man I love snaps the man’s neck.
Raze helps Chance strip the body of the lab coat and keycard, then she quickly puts on the coat.
Not that I think it will help. None of us look like virtuous citizens.
Chance drags the body away from the door, then the radio crackles again, “Check in, Izak.”
“I guess it worked,” Raze chuckles.
Chance takes a deep breath, and with a calm tone, says, “Everything’s quiet.” He puts the radio away, then nods in the direction of the door. “Once we breach, there might not be any time for hand-to-hand combat. Shit might go down. Brace yourselves.”
My fingers tighten around the handle of my gun as I nod.
Chance scans the keycard, and the door opens with a buzzing sound. We all rush into the next room only to come to a sudden stop.
Jesus.
I gasp at the sight of Ethan. I’m not sure it’s Ethan, though. There are ten men, all identical to Ethan, which means they harvested his DNA and made clones.
I can’t believe my dad did that to Ethan.
My eyes snap to Chance’s face, and I see the moment the sight of his brother’s clones shatters his heart.
Suddenly there’s movement by another door, and all our arms are raised in the air, our guns trained on whoever comes through it.
I’m hit with a wave of anger and worry when I see it’s Dad. He doesn’t notice us immediately, too focused on the tablet in his hand.
He goes to stand in front of the clones, and presses a button, then says, “Crouch.”
