Chapter 6 - The Unbreakable Mother
"Nolan, look at me!" Tessa rasped, her voice filled with a desperate, terrifying strength.
Despite her weakness, despite the restraints binding her wrists, Tessa pulled against the leather straps with such frantic force that the metal buckles creaked.
"You took my boy!" Tessa cried, her eyes burning with pure, unadulterated maternal rage. "You took my daughter! You promised me a home! You promised me a life!"
"You were a vessel, Tessa," Nolan said coldly, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Nothing more."
BANG!
The explosion echoed deafeningly inside the sterile, tile-walled room.
Nolan stumbled back, a look of profound shock crossing his face. A heavy steel oxygen canister, thrown with all the remaining strength Claire could muster from the floor, had struck him square in the chest, knocking his aim wild. The bullet shattered a glass medicine cabinet behind the bed.
Nolan fell against the surgical table, dropping his gun onto the floor.
Claire scrambled across the slick tiles, grabbing the pistol and kicking it beneath a heavy stainless steel storage unit out of reach.
At that exact moment, the reinforced steel door at the top of the basement stairs buckled under a massive hydraulic blast.
"POLICE! HANDS IN THE AIR!" Mara shouted, rushing down the stairs with her weapon drawn, followed by six heavily armed SWAT officers.
The lab doctor immediately threw his hands up, dropping his instruments to the floor.
Nolan scrambled to his feet, clutching his bruised ribs, staring wildly at the wall of police officers pointing weapons at his chest.
"Nolan Mercer," Mara said, her voice like cold iron as she stepped forward and shoved him face-first against the white wall, pulling his arms behind his back. "You are under arrest for kidnapping, illegal human experimentation, aggravated assault, and human trafficking."
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"I have rights!" Nolan spat, his refined composure completely destroyed, his face pressed against the cold paint. "Call my attorneys! You have no idea who my associates are!"
"Your associates are currently being rounded up by federal agents in Chicago, New York, and Miami," Mara whispered bitterly into his ear as she clicked the handcuffs tight around his wrists. "Your empire is gone, Mercer. And you're never seeing the light of day again."
