Chapter 6 - What Victor Took
“Mom!”
Daria ran toward the empty doorway.
Adrian caught her.
“Wait.”
“He took her!”
“There could be another weapon.”
“I don't care!”
“I do.”
The words stopped her.
Not because they were loud.
Because they weren't.
Adrian looked directly into her eyes.
“I care.”
For one heartbeat, everything else disappeared.
Then federal agents rushed past them.
Martin had been shot in the shoulder.
Alive.
Victor had used the confusion to escape through a loading corridor with Evelyn.
Agents locked down the facility.
But Victor knew Thorn buildings better than anyone except Adrian.
Perhaps better.
“He'll use the river loading exit,” Adrian said.
They moved.
Outside, rain had begun.
A black SUV accelerated from the far side of the property.
Daria saw her mother's pale face through the rear window.
“Mom!”
The SUV disappeared.
Agents pursued.
Daria stood shaking.
Adrian removed his jacket and placed it around her shoulders.
This time she didn't object.
Martin was transported under guard.
Before leaving, he asked to speak with Daria.
She almost refused.
Then he said, “I know where Victor is going.”
Daria entered the ambulance.
Martin looked terrible.
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because Victor just shot me.”
Fair point.
“Where?”
“Old Thorn research facility in St. Bernard Parish.”
Adrian knew it.
His father's original laboratory.
Abandoned twenty years ago.
“Why there?”
Martin laughed painfully.
“Because everything started there.”
Federal agents organized immediately.
During the drive, Daria sat beside Adrian.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Then she said, “Your father.”
“I know.”
“Victor might have been lying.”
“He wasn't.”
“How can you know?”
“Because my father tried to tell me something before he died.”
Adrian looked out the window.
“He called me from the hospital. He said, ‘Don't let Victor finish it.’ I thought he meant a business deal.”
Daria reached for his hand.
She didn't plan it.
She simply did.
Adrian looked down at their joined hands.
Then at her.
No romance belonged in that moment.
Only two exhausted people discovering they were no longer carrying their fear alone.
They reached the old facility before dawn.
Agents surrounded it.
Victor called Adrian's phone.
“Come inside.”
“Release Evelyn.”
“Bring Daria.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“No.”
Daria took the phone.
“I'm coming.”
He stared at her.
Victor laughed.
“I knew you would.”
Inside, the abandoned laboratory smelled of dust and chemicals.
Evelyn sat near an old research desk.
Victor stood beside her.
He had a pistol.
Daria's fear became strangely calm.
“Let her go.”
Victor looked exhausted now.
Not powerful.
Not untouchable.
Just old.
“You have no idea what you're destroying.”
“You mean your experiment?”
“I mean a cure.”
“You don't cure people by lying to them.”
“History doesn't remember methods. It remembers results.”
“My mother isn't a result.”
Evelyn looked at her daughter.
“Daria, honey…”
“It's okay, Mom.”
Victor pointed the weapon toward Adrian.
“You could still save this company.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Not this version of it.”
“Your father would be ashamed.”
“My father tried to stop you.”
Victor's expression changed.
Adrian stepped closer.
“You killed him.”
“I gave him a choice.”
“What choice?”
“To remain silent.”
“And?”
“He refused.”
Daria realized Adrian had activated his phone recorder.
Victor didn't notice.
“He threatened to report the early trials,” Victor continued. “He would have destroyed everything.”
“So you caused his heart attack.”
Victor smiled bitterly.
“TH-47 wasn't the only compound we developed.”
Adrian's face became stone.
That confession was enough.
Outside, agents were listening through Adrian's open connection.
Victor finally noticed the phone.
His face changed.
He raised the gun.
Daria moved instinctively toward her mother.
Adrian stepped between Victor and both women.
“Don't.”
Victor's hand shook.
For the first time, the powerful executive looked frightened.
“You'd throw away billions.”
“Yes.”
“For strangers?”
“For people.”
Victor laughed.
“You sound exactly like your father.”
“Good.”
Agents entered.
Victor swung toward them.
“Drop the weapon!”
He hesitated.
Then slowly lowered it.
Daria ran to Evelyn.
Her mother collapsed into her arms.
“I'm sorry,” Evelyn whispered.
“For what?”
“For costing you so much.”
Daria pulled back.
“No.”
Tears filled Evelyn's eyes.
“You worked yourself sick because of me.”
“You stayed alive because of you.”
Adrian looked away, giving them privacy.
Victor was handcuffed.
As agents led him past, he stopped beside Adrian.
“You think this ends with me?”
Adrian said nothing.
Victor smiled.
“There are people on your board who approved everything.”
Adrian's expression changed.
“How many?”
Victor was dragged away.
He laughed.
“Ask Rebecca Sloan.”
Hours later, Evelyn was returned safely to St. Catherine.
Doctors began extensive testing.
Daria refused to leave her bedside.
Adrian stayed in the waiting room.
At noon, Naomi arrived.
Then Eli.
Then Rebecca Sloan.
Rebecca carried a sealed folder.
She looked at Adrian.
“We need to talk privately.”
Daria stood.
“If this concerns my mother, I'm staying.”
Rebecca hesitated.
“It concerns all of you.”
She placed the folder on the table.
Inside were photographs of seven Thorn board members.
Six had red marks through their names.
One did not.
Daria recognized the final face.
Adrian did too.
His expression collapsed.
May you like
Rebecca whispered the name.
And Adrian realized Victor Hale had never been the person truly in charge.
