Chapter 6 - The Dark AuctionAn hour later, our armored SUV sliced through the torrential rain, pulling into an unlit industrial complex on the outskirts of New Haven. The Vanguard Bio-Tech facility looked like a fortress of dark glass and concrete, surrounded by electrified perimeter fencing.
"There's a subterranean delivery entrance on the east side," Evelyn instructed from the passenger seat, pointing to a dark service tunnel. "That leads directly to the cryogenic storage and clinical holdings."
My two security operatives used suppressed sidearms to disable the outer guards quietly and bypass the biometric security panels using a signal disruptor. We moved like ghosts through the cold, stainless-steel corridors of the basement level.
As we reached the central observation gallery, the sight below made my blood run cold.
In a clinical glass chamber at the center of the hall, a woman was bound to a medical transport bed, monitored by IV drips and life-support machines. Even after twelve years of absence, I recognized her instantly. It was Clara.
Standing outside the glass chamber was an older man with silver hair, impeccably tailored suit, and a gold-tipped cane. Marcus Sterling.
He wasn't alone. Surrounding him were six wealthy international buyers, reviewing digital slates handed to them by lab technicians.
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"Ladies and gentlemen," Marcus Sterling's cold, pompous voice echoed through the gallery intercom. "What you are witnessing is the pinnacle of illegal genetic architecture. The child produced from this mother carried the full genetic portfolio of Nathan Carter—a man whose intellect built a fifty-billion-dollar tech monolith. Though the infant was lost during an unfortunate security breach earlier today, the mother’s remaining cellular samples and genetic profile are open for final bidding tonight."
He was auctioning off human life like fine art. My hands tightened around my weapon until my knuckles turned white.
