Chapter 8 - The Girl They Ordered
"Why would a judge want to replace me?" I asked.
Cora climbed through the grate and dropped beside us. "Because you've been asking about the old cemetery. Victoria thinks you'll bring the police. The judge thinks you're easier to control if you're someone new."
"Someone new who looks exactly like me," 0C said.
No one answered.
0C took the contract. In a corner, under her identification number, someone had typed INTENDED DISPOSITION AFTER USE: TERMINATE.
She folded the page carefully and put it in her pocket.
"You could have told me," she said to Jonah.
"I just found out."
"You keep saying that."
Cora looked at her with a shock I understood. They were mirror images, but Cora carried years of fear and anger in her shoulders. 0C seemed to be deciding what shoulders were for.
"Do you have a name?" Cora asked.
"Just the number."
"Don't keep it."
We moved toward the flood-control room. Jonah explained that the whole facility rested under an abandoned paper mill and drained into an old storm tunnel. One valve could stop the chemical release, but it required two people at opposite switches.
"Can we reach the police?" I asked.
"Victoria owns the security desk and blocked the outgoing lines," he said. "There's an emergency radio at the surface tower."
"That's where Evelyn is."
Jonah nodded. "Then one group goes up. One stays."
I looked at him. "You don't get to pick which daughter is expendable."
"I wasn't going to."
He said it too quickly.
May you like
0C held up the contract again. On the reverse side, beneath a list of access approvals, was Jonah Mercer's handwritten signature.
Next to it: AUTHORIZATION FOR SUBJECT 0C.
