Chapter 13 - THE SINS OF THE FATHERCelia reached Vincent before the water covered his face.
Blood spread through his white shirt.
Leo screamed.
“Papa!”
Gabriel raised the gun again, but Simon caught his ankle from the floor. The wounded older man pulled hard, sending Gabriel crashing against the console.
“Go!” Simon shouted.
Celia dragged Vincent through the partially open door. Sterling and Margaret helped pull him into the laboratory.
Leo crawled beneath the gap after them.
Gabriel kicked Simon away and fired toward the doorway. The bullet struck the steel frame.
The emergency mechanism activated.
The chamber door slammed shut.
Gabriel and Simon disappeared behind reinforced glass.
Inside the laboratory, Sterling cut open Vincent’s shirt.
“The first bullet passed through the side. The second hit his vest.”
Celia looked at Vincent’s chest.
The bullet had shattered the protective plate but had not penetrated deeply.
“He’s alive?”
“For now.”
Vincent opened his eyes.
“Leo?”
“I’m here, Papa.”
The boy held his hand.
Sterling examined the control panel.
“The flooding stopped, but Gabriel can restart it.”
“Then we move,” Celia said.
They carried Vincent toward the escape passage.
Behind the glass, Simon sat against the console. Gabriel stood above him, pressing a hand to his wounded arm.
The intercom clicked on.
“Celia,” Gabriel said. “Your father is alive.”
She stopped.
Margaret gripped her shoulder.
“Don’t listen.”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“He has waited twelve years to see you.”
“Where is he?”
“Site C.”
“Why keep him alive?”
“Because Daniel built systems no one else understood. Hidden tunnels, concealed chambers, structural traps. Anthony needed him. Later, I did.”
“You tortured him.”
“I gave him purpose.”
Celia stepped toward the glass.
“You kept him from his family.”
“He believed staying away protected you.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Daniel would never choose that.”
“He did when I showed him photographs of Celia’s school, your apartment and every place you attempted to hide.”
Gabriel tapped the glass.
“Family makes brave people obedient.”
Celia looked at Leo holding Vincent’s hand.
Gabriel had built his empire on that belief.
The threat of losing family had silenced Margaret, imprisoned Daniel, manipulated Simon and controlled Vincent.
It had controlled Celia too.
But family could also make frightened people fight.
“We’re going to Site C,” she said.
Vincent tried to sit up.
“No.”
“You heard him.”
“Gabriel wants you there.”
“My father is there.”
“And Leo needs the marker removed.”
Sterling nodded.
“The equipment here can do it.”
“Then remove it,” Celia said.
“It will take at least twenty minutes.”
Vincent looked toward the chamber.
“We don’t have twenty minutes.”
A warning appeared on the console.
REMOTE PURGE INITIATED.
Sterling swore.
“He’s destroying the laboratory systems.”
Cabinets began locking automatically. Computer screens erased their data.
Sterling opened the refrigerated case.
“We need a neural filtration unit.”
Celia searched labels.
Margaret found a portable machine beneath one of the beds.
“This?”
“Yes.”
Sterling connected wires to Leo’s chest and neck.
The boy’s body stiffened.
“What’s happening?” Celia asked.
“The marker is receiving activation pulses. Hold him still.”
Leo began convulsing.
Vincent forced himself upright and wrapped his arms around his son.
“I have you.”
Celia held Leo’s legs while Sterling adjusted the machine.
The lights flickered.
Behind the glass, Gabriel entered a code.
Water began pouring into the vault chamber again.
This time, the laboratory floor also shook.
“The whole lower level is destabilizing,” Sterling said.
“How long?”
“Minutes.”
Celia looked at the filtration display.
Twelve percent.
Too slow.
Simon crawled toward the chamber door and pulled the emergency lever.
Gabriel shot him again.
Still, Simon held the lever down.
The door opened several inches.
“Go!” Simon shouted through the gap.
Vincent stared at his uncle.
“Why?”
Simon laughed weakly.
“Because I was promised a kingdom, and he called me a servant.”
It was not redemption.
It was pride.
But it was enough.
Tommy’s voice echoed from the escape tunnel.
“Boss!”
He returned with Evelyn, Pike and three rescue workers.
“We got most of the prisoners to the surface.”
“Take Vincent,” Celia said.
Tommy saw the blood and rushed toward him.
“I’m staying with Leo,” Vincent said.
“You’re barely conscious.”
“So is my son.”
The filtration display reached twenty-eight percent.
The ceiling cracked.
Concrete fell near the glass wall.
Judge Cross appeared behind the rescue workers.
“The river is breaking through the upper tunnel. We must evacuate.”
Sterling disconnected two unnecessary monitoring leads.
“I can accelerate the filtration, but it may cause permanent nerve damage.”
Vincent looked at Celia.
She hated that everyone expected her to decide.
Leo opened his eyes.
“Do it fast.”
Sterling looked at him.
“You understand you may lose movement in your hands?”
“I don’t want everyone to drown.”
The doctor increased the power.
Leo screamed.
Celia held him as electric pulses moved through his body.
The display jumped.
Forty percent.
Fifty-five.
Seventy.
The lights failed.
Emergency power activated.
The vault chamber filled rapidly. Simon remained beside the lever, water reaching his chest. Gabriel climbed onto the console.
Vincent watched his uncle through the glass.
Simon met his eyes.
For one second, they were not enemies.
They were a boy and his uncle separated by all the choices that had turned love into rivalry.
Simon mouthed two words.
I’m sorry.
The water rose over his head.
The filtration display reached one hundred percent.
Sterling removed the leads.
“Marker neutralized.”
Tommy lifted Leo.
“Time to go.”
They entered the escape passage as the laboratory ceiling collapsed.
Celia was last.
Through the glass, she saw Gabriel disappear into an upper maintenance hatch.
He had escaped.
Simon’s body floated beneath the water.
Celia turned away.
The group climbed toward the surface while the underground complex broke apart behind them.
At the final ladder, Vincent collapsed.
Tommy carried him upward.
They emerged inside a freight storage building west of Union Station. Dawn light entered through broken windows.
Outside, Chicago remained frozen.
Thousands of vehicles filled the roads. Helicopters circled overhead. Police and federal teams surrounded the district.
Pike raised his hands and approached the first officers.
“Federal agent! We have injured civilians and witnesses!”
Celia helped her mother onto the loading dock.
Leo sat beside Vincent while paramedics treated him.
“Is Papa going to die?” he asked.
“No,” Celia said.
She refused to consider another answer.
Vincent reached weakly into his coat and handed her the memory card.
“This belonged to Elena.”
“It’s evidence.”
“It’s your choice now.”
Celia stared at him.
“You’re giving me the power to destroy your family?”
“My family destroyed itself.”
Before she could answer, Agent Lane’s replacement commander approached with armed officers.
“Vincent Romano, you are under arrest for kidnapping, obstruction, conspiracy and multiple weapons violations.”
Leo stood in front of his father.
“He saved me!”
The officer gently moved him aside.
Vincent did not resist as they placed him in handcuffs.
Celia looked toward Pike.
“Tell them what happened.”
“I will.”
“Will it matter?”
Pike’s silence frightened her.
As Vincent was placed into an ambulance under guard, Celia’s phone received a video call.
Gabriel.
Behind him stood a thin, gray-haired man inside a hospital room.
Celia recognized her father’s eyes.
Daniel Jace looked directly into the camera.
“Celia,” he whispered.
May you like
Gabriel pressed a gun against Daniel’s head.
“Bring me Elena’s memory card,” Gabriel said. “Or this time, your father’s death will be real.”
