Chapter 7 - The Hidden Laboratory
Julian pushed open the heavy steel maintenance door, shielding Leo and the newborn from the damp draft of the underground tunnel. Inside lay not a simple railway utility room, but a sleek, sterile subterranean laboratory hidden deep beneath the hotel complex. Rows of blue-lit incubation pods hummed softly along the curved walls, their digital displays tracking complex genetic sequences that Julian recognized from his old files at Vanguard. The entire facility was automated, operating without a single human technician on-site, yet every screen flickered with live data feeds monitoring the children.
"Welcome back, compliance officer Vance," an automated voice chimed from overhead, sounding eerily polite as the heavy steel door slammed shut and locked automatically behind them. "Biometric verification confirmed. Master override sequence initiated."
Julian cursed under his breath, realizing the silver key hadn't been lost by accident; it was a tracking beacon designed to lure him directly into the facility's core containment grid. He stepped backward, positioning himself in front of Leo and the infant, his muscles aching from the sustained tension of the past hour.
"Dad, what is this place?" Leo whispered, his big eyes reflecting the blue glow of dozens of floating holographic screens displaying medical charts.
"It's a place we're going to break out of very soon," Julian lied gently, his eyes scanning the perimeter for a manual circuit breaker or an emergency release hatch.
May you like
Suddenly, the central holographic console in the middle of the room flared to life, projecting a life-sized, three-dimensional image of a woman in a crisp white lab coat whom Julian hadn't seen in over a year.
---
