THE MENDEL INHERITANCE

Alone in the Dark

Liam woke to darkness.

His head throbbed. His mouth was dry. His hands were tied behind his back.

He was sitting on a concrete floor. Cold. Damp.

The last thing he remembered: running down the corridor. Shouts. Footsteps. Then something hard hit the back of his skull.

Now this.

A light flickered on.

Ross stood in the doorway. Tall. Thin. Glasses.

"You're harder to catch than I expected."

Liam said nothing.

"The lockdown was my idea. Voss ran, but I stayed. Someone has to protect the machine."

"It's already destroyed."

"One machine. There are others. And Chimera is still strong."

Ross walked closer.

"Your friends left you behind. Didn't even look back."

"They'll come back."

"Will they? The woman—Charlotte, I think—she wanted to. But Ethan pulled her away."

Liam's jaw tightened.

"Maybe they decided you're not worth the risk."

"You don't know them."

"I know people. People always choose themselves in the end."

Ross pulled out a knife. Cut the zip ties around Liam's wrists.

"I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to use you."

"For what?"

"Bait."

---

The room was small. Windowless. A single camera in the corner.

Ross left. The door locked behind him.

Liam stood. His legs were weak. His head still pounded.

He checked his pockets. Empty. They'd taken his phone. His wallet. His keys.

The camera watched.

He walked to the door. Metal. Solid. No handle.

The walls were concrete. No windows. No vents.

He was trapped.

But not for long.

Liam had been in worse situations. Afghanistan. A cellar. Three days without food or water.

He'd survived.

He'd survive this.

He sat in the corner. Closed his eyes.

Waited.

---

The door opened four hours later.

A guard stood there. Holding a tray of food. Bread. Water.

"Eat."

Liam didn't move.

The guard stepped closer.

Liam lunged.

Grabbed the guard's arm. Twisted. The tray fell. The guard stumbled.

Liam drove his knee into the guard's stomach.

The guard doubled over.

Liam grabbed the man's radio. His keys.

Then ran.

The corridor was empty. Gray. Fluorescent lights.

He didn't know where he was. Basement level? Sub-basement?

Didn't matter.

He ran.

---

The stairwell was at the end of the hall.

Liam climbed. Basement level one. Ground floor.

The exit door was locked.

He used the guard's keys. Third one worked.

The door opened.

Outside. Cold air. Stars.

The desert stretched ahead.

No cars. No people. Just sand and sky.

Liam ran.

Behind him, alarms blared.

Lights swept the ground.

But he was fast. Faster than them.

He reached the highway. Stuck out his thumb.

A truck stopped.

"Need a ride, friend?"

"Portland. As far as you can go."

---

The truck driver was named Carl. Same Carl from Chapter 6.

Coincidence? Maybe.

Liam didn't believe in coincidences.

"You look like hell," Carl said.

"Been a long night."

"I heard about the facility. On the news. Something about a shutdown? Releases?"

"Something like that."

Carl glanced at Liam. "You one of them? A patient?"

"I'm Head of Security. Or I was."

"Then why are you running?"

Liam stared out the window.

"Because the people I worked for weren't who they said they were."

"Aren't they always?"

---

The drive took fourteen hours.

Liam slept for most of it.

Carl woke him at the Portland city limits.

"This is as far as I go."

"Thanks."

Liam got out. Stood on the sidewalk.

His phone was gone. His wallet. His keys.

But he knew where the farmhouse was.

He walked.

---

The sun was setting when he arrived.

Charlotte saw him first.

She ran. Hugged him. Cried.

"You're alive."

"Told you I would be."

Ethan stood on the porch. Nodded.

"Ross?"

"Still at the facility. He wanted to use me as bait."

"Did he hurt you?"

"A bump on the head. Nothing permanent."

Richard came out. Elena beside her. She'd returned from Seattle.

Liam hugged his wife.

"I'm never leaving you again."

"You'd better not."

---

They gathered in the kitchen.

Marcus was there. Still in cuffs. Still watching.

Nora sat in the corner. Her white eyes were dim.

"Ross is dangerous," Marcus said. "He was intelligence. He knows how to disappear. How to strike without warning."

"Then we find him first," Ethan said.

"He'll be at one of the remaining facilities. Arizona or Colorado."

"Or he'll come here."

Marcus nodded. "That's what I'd do."

Ethan looked at Liam. "Can you still fight?"

"I can always fight."

"Then we prepare."

---

They spent the night fortifying the farmhouse.

Boarded windows. Set up motion sensors. Derek's equipment, repurposed.

Nora rested. Saved her strength.

Richard cleaned his old service weapon. A revolver. Twenty years old.

"I haven't fired this since before you were born," he told Ethan.

"Then don't miss."

They took shifts. Watching. Waiting.

Dawn came.

No attack.

But the static in Ethan's head was louder.

He's coming.

"I know."

He's bringing friends.

"How many?"

Enough.

---

The cars appeared at noon.

Three black SUVs. No markings.

They parked at the end of the gravel road.

Men got out. Armed. Uniforms.

Ross stepped out of the lead vehicle.

He walked toward the farmhouse. Alone.

Ethan met him on the porch.

"You're trespassing."

"I'm reclaiming what's mine."

"The facility is shut down. The machine is destroyed. There's nothing left for you."

Ross smiled.

"Chimera is still there. In the Frequency. In the air. In your head."

He stepped closer.

"Let me talk to it. Through you."

"No."

"Then I'll take the girl."

Ross nodded toward the window. Nora stood there. Watching.

"She's weak. Dying. You can't save her. But Chimera can."

"Chimera lies."

"Chimera offers choices. You choose to refuse. That's your right."

Ross pulled out a phone.

"But if you refuse, I choose this."

He pressed a button.

Explosions.

Distant. To the east.

"Two of your remaining facilities. Arizona and Colorado. Gone. Machines destroyed. Receivers freed."

Ethan stared. "You destroyed your own facilities?"

"Chimera doesn't need them anymore. It has you."

Ross put the phone away.

"Surrender the girl. Or the next explosions will be closer."

---

Nora walked out the door.

"Don't," Ethan said.

"He'll kill everyone. The farmhouse. Your father. Liam. Charlotte."

"So you're just going to go with him?"

Nora looked at Ross.

"Let me say goodbye."

"One minute."

Nora hugged Ethan.

"Listen to me. Chimera wants a host. A strong one. I'm weak. It will burn through me in days. Maybe hours."

"Then why go?"

"Because it gives you time. Time to find another way. To destroy the remaining machines. To weaken Chimera permanently."

"I won't let you sacrifice yourself."

"You're not letting me. I'm choosing."

Nora stepped back.

"Find the other facilities. There are four left. Not eight. Ross lied. He already destroyed four. Yours was the fifth."

"How do you know?"

"Chimera told me. It wants me to know. To hurt me."

She walked to Ross.

"I'm ready."

He grabbed her arm. Led her to the SUV.

The convoy drove away.

Ethan stood on the porch. Watched them disappear.

---

Inside, Marcus was on the phone.

"I'm tracking Ross's vehicles. GPS. He didn't disable them."

"Where are they going?"

"South. Toward California. There's a facility there. The last one. The original."

"The original?"

"Where it all began. Before Mendel. Before any of the others. The first machine."

Richard's face went pale.

"Ridgecrest. I was there. Thirty years ago. When Marcus built the first cylinder."

"Can we destroy it?" Ethan asked.

"The same way. Cut the wires. But it's protected. Ross will have his best guards there."

"Then we bring our best people."

Ethan looked at Liam. Charlotte. Marcus.

"Call Sonya. Call Derek. Tell them we need them."

"They betrayed us," Charlotte said.

"They made mistakes. So did we. Give them a chance to make it right."

---

Sonya arrived at midnight.

Derek came with her.

"I'm not here for Marcus," Sonya said. "I'm here because Chimera needs to be stopped."

"Good enough."

Derek set up his equipment. Scanned the facility in Ridgecrest.

"Twelve guards. Motion sensors. Heat detectors. Same as Nevada. But Ross is there. Personally."

"Can you disable the cameras?"

"Temporarily. Five minutes max."

"That's all we need."

Ethan studied the blueprint.

"Service tunnel. Same as the others. Ross will expect that."

"Then we don't use it."

Charlotte pointed to a different entrance. A drainage pipe. Underground. Led directly to the machine room.

"It's narrow. Tight. But it's unguarded."

"I'll go," Liam said.

"Too big. You won't fit."

"I'll go." Nora's voice.

But Nora was gone.

Ethan shook his head. "I'll go."

"You're the only one who can cut the wires," Richard said. "If you get caught—"

"Then someone else cuts the wires."

Marcus stepped forward.

"I'll do it. I built the machines. I know how to destroy them."

"You're not a Receiver."

"You don't need to be a Receiver to cut wires."

Ethan looked at Richard.

"He's right."

"Marcus will betray us again."

"Maybe. But we don't have another choice."

---

They drove to Ridgecrest.

Four hours. Desert. Darkness.

The facility was smaller than the others. Older. A single building surrounded by fence.

No lights. But guards patrolled.

Derek launched his drone.

"Ross is in the admin building. Second floor. Watching the cameras."

"Can you loop them?"

"Already done. But I can't loop the motion sensors. You'll have to move slow."

Ethan led the way.

The drainage pipe was behind the generator shed.

Covered by a metal grate. Rusted.

He pulled it open.

The pipe was narrow. Water at the bottom. Cold.

He crawled.

Behind him, Marcus followed.

Then Charlotte. Then Liam.

Sonya stayed outside. Covering the exit.

---

The pipe ended at a grate.

Ethan pushed.

The grate opened into the machine room.

Same cylinder. Same wires. Same hum.

But guards stood at every corner.

Four of them.

Ethan whispered into the earpiece. "We need a distraction."

Derek's voice: "Working on it."

The fire alarm went off.

Guards looked at each other. Ran.

All of them.

Ethan climbed out of the pipe.

Marcus followed.

They ran to the cylinder.

Behind it. Red. Black. Green.

Marcus pulled out the wire cutters.

Cut the green.

Hum changed.

Cut the black.

Lights flickered.

Cut the red.

Silence.

But this time, the silence was different.

Heavier.

Thank you.

Chimera's voice. Soft. Grateful.

You've freed me.

"No," Marcus whispered. "I destroyed the machine. The prison is intact."

The prison was never the machine. The prison was the network. And you just destroyed the last connection.

The cylinder began to crack.

Metal groaned. Wires sparked.

I am everywhere now. In the air. In the Frequency. In you.

Marcus fell to his knees.

His eyes turned white.

"Run," he said. "Run!"

---

Ethan grabbed Charlotte. Liam.

They ran.

Behind them, the cylinder exploded.

Metal fragments flew.

Wires whipped through the air.

The building shook.

They reached the drainage pipe. Climbed through.

Outside. Cold air. Stars.

Sonya was waiting.

"Go! Go!"

They ran to the cars.

Behind them, the facility collapsed.

Dust. Smoke. Fire.

And in the middle of it all, Marcus stood.

His body was still. His eyes were white.

But his mouth was moving.

Speaking in a language no one understood.