Chapter 14 - The Last Copy.
Elena fired first.
Her bullet struck the wall beside Vanessa as everyone dove for cover.
Vanessa fired at the server cabinet.
Sparks exploded from the metal housing.
The portable drive dropped to the floor.
Thomas collapsed against the wall, clutching his wounded shoulder.
Daniel pulled Emma and Emily behind an overturned supply cart.
"Stay down."
Emma could hear Vanessa breathing on the other side of the corridor.
Not crying.
Not screaming.
Breathing like someone who had finally reached the end of every lie.
"Vanessa," Daniel called.
"Put the gun down."
"So Margaret can bury me?"
"Margaret is under arrest."
Vanessa laughed.
"Margaret has been under arrest before."
Elena glanced toward Emma.
That was new information.
"What does that mean?"
Vanessa stepped into view with the weapon raised.
"It means your grandmother has judges, bankers, doctors, and police officers who owe their careers to her."
Elena tightened her grip.
"Names."
"They're on that drive."
Emma looked toward the device lying between them.
Its indicator light still blinked.
Thomas whispered from the wall.
"Copy completed."
Vanessa heard him.
She aimed at the drive.
Emily suddenly kicked a stainless-steel tray across the floor.
The crash made Vanessa turn.
Emma lunged from behind the cart and grabbed the drive.
"Emma!"
Daniel's shout echoed down the corridor.
Vanessa swung the weapon toward her.
Elena tackled Vanessa from the side.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Daniel dragged Emma backward.
Two officers rushed in and pinned Vanessa to the floor.
The corridor became chaos.
Emma clutched the drive against her hospital gown.
Elena took it from her with shaking hands.
"Do not ever do that again."
Emma nodded.
She probably would.
Thomas laughed weakly.
"Arthur would have liked you."
Emma looked at him coldly.
"He did like me."
The answer wiped away his smile.
Later, inside a secured police conference room, Elena connected the portable drive to an isolated computer.
The archive opened.
Thousands of documents appeared.
Medical records.
False adoption papers.
Bank transfers.
Recorded calls.
Photographs.
Names.
Margaret's network stretched across four states and nearly thirty years.
But one folder sat apart from the others.
DANIEL CARTER - FINAL STATEMENT.
Emma looked at her father.
Daniel looked confused.
"I didn't record that."
Elena opened the file.
A video appeared.
Daniel was sitting in a dark room.
He looked younger by several months.
"If Emma sees this," the recorded Daniel said, "then I failed to tell her the worst part myself."
The real Daniel went pale.
Emma turned toward him.
"What worst part?"
Daniel closed his eyes.
Onscreen, his recorded voice continued.
"Vanessa did not cause Emma's collapse at school."
Emma felt the room go cold.
"I did."
Emily stared at Daniel.
Daniel whispered, "Please let me explain."
The video continued.
"I arranged for Emma to receive a harmless tracer through her vitamin drink so the hospital would run a specific blood panel."
Emma's face hardened.
"You drugged me?"
Daniel shook his head.
"Not like that."
But the recording had not finished.
"The blood test was necessary because Arthur suspected one final substitution."
Elena leaned closer to the screen.
The next document opened automatically.
DNA COMPARISON - EMMA CARTER / DANIEL CARTER.
Probability of biological paternity: 0.00%.
No one breathed.
May you like
Emma looked at Daniel.
"You're not my father?"
