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The ten clones crouch.
“Jump,” he gives another order.
Like puppets, they jump.
He’s programming them. Holy shit. Do they control the insensates from here?
Chance moves forward, his weapon trained on my father. “What the fuck have you done to my brother?” It’s a snarl filled with the promise of death.
I watch as the man I love more than life itself is a second away from killing my dad.
Dad’s eyes widen when he sees Chance, then he notices me, and finally, his stunned gaze rests on Mom.
For a moment, it looks like he can’t comprehend what he’s seeing, then he gasps, “Why are you here?” Panic tightens his features. “You shouldn’t have come back, Jasper!”
Chapter 20
Jai
“What the fuck did you do to my brother?” Chance roars.
Dad flinches, his face tightening with fear. Chance presses the gun against my father’s temple, then growls, “I will not hesitate to kill you.”
“Tell him, Dad,” I cry, and when I try to dart forward, Mom grabs hold of my arm, holding me back.
Dad closes his eyes, and holding up his hands, he whimpers, “Ethan is alive.”
“Where is he?” Chance demands.
Thankfully, he lowers the gun, and I can breathe again.
“I have him in a safe room.” Dad looks at Chance. “I’ve been hiding him from the emissaries, but I had to make the clones, so they believed it when I told them Ethan died.”
“My brother is alive,” Chance says, his voice strained with all the emotions that must be wreaking havoc inside him.
I yank my arm free from Mom’s hold on me and rush forward. “You have to destroy everything and come with us, Dad.”
A confused expression washes over his features, then he mutters with disbelief, “Destroy everything?”
“Yes.” I take hold of his arm. “Tonight, everything ends. We’re stopping this war.”
“Either you’re with us, or you’re against us,” Mom snaps as she comes toward us, her fingers flexing around the handle of her weapon.
“I can’t leave here,” he says, still sounding confounded.
Mom raises her arm, pointing the gun at him. “Then you’re against us.”
“Tell me where Ethan is before she puts a bullet in your head,” Chance demands.
“Wait,” I cry. “What the hell? Can we all just calm down for a minute?”
Just then, Raze smashes a chair into a computer monitor. “While you’re all talking shit, we’re running out of time.”
As she continues to destroy everything, I lock eyes with my father. “Just disable the insensates and come with us. This reign of terror is ending.” When he still hesitates, I ask, “Are you prepared to make clones of me? Of Mom? Are you willing to alter our DNA and make us insensates?”
“N-no,” he stutters, looking terrified.
“Then destroy everything and come with us. That’s the only other option.”
Dad nods, and looking frazzled, he starts to type on the device in his hand. Within seconds, the clones of Ethan drop to the floor, lifeless.
“Holy shit,” Raze gasps. “It’s that easy?”
The realization hits like a ton of bricks. Slowly my eyes leave the bodies to find my father. “You control them? You had them attack the main ward?”
Dad quickly shakes his head. “As soon as they’re processed and ready to go, the emissaries take over control of them.”
“How many insensates do they have access to?” Chance asks.
“Thousands,” Dad whispers. “There’s another group marching toward the main ward as we speak.”
Jesus. There’s no way to warn the ward.
“We have to stop them,” Chance snaps.
“Let’s get to work,” Mom says and grabbing one of the other chairs, she helps Raze smash the equipment.
“Is there any way to shut down the program?” Chance asks.
Dad nods. “On the first floor. But it’s heavily guarded.”
“Can you get in there?” I ask.
Dad nods again. “But it will take me an hour.”
“I’ll go with him,” I say, not trusting Dad to shut it all down. It’s an awful thought, but I can’t help it. My gut tells me to watch him.
“Where’s Ethan?” Chance asks again.
“One floor down. Room nineteen,” Dad answers. He flinches at the noise of everything being destroyed.
The radio crackles. “There’s a disturbance on the second floor, Izak. You’re closest. Check it out.”
Chance gestures for Mom and Raze to stop, then he takes out the radio. “Copy.”
He’s just about to tuck the radio behind his back when it crackles again. “Copy? Who’s this? What’s going on out there?”
Chance discards the radio. “Let’s move. We’re getting Ethan, then disabling the program.” He gestures with his gun for Dad to move. “Show us the easiest way. If you try to screw us over, I’ll kill you.”
“Do you think the disturbance on the second floor is Idris?” I ask as we move toward a door.
“Probably,” Chance answers.
Chance leaves the lab first, with Mom and Dad behind him and Raze and me bringing up the tail end.
“This way. The elevators are the quickest,” Dad says.
Chance lets out a huff. “And every single one of them has cameras.”
