Chapter Fifty-Three Faith

She was exhausted. The effects of the femgazipane had mostly worn off, but the night's events had taken their toll.

Once the remaining members of Jacob's gang had surrendered, Danforth had called in additional guards from outside. Jacob was no longer an issue, but it seemed she had bigger problems. One of the reinforcements had whispered something in Danforth's ear as she entered.

The chancellor's face had paled. "All of it?"

"The entire warehouse." The guard had hesitated. "There's nothing salvageable."

Struggling to recover her composure, Danforth had gestured to the prisoners. "Get them out of here. Put them in a holding cell, for now. And tell the tech team at HQ to suspend the comms network for the time being. Let's make things difficult for the rebels." As the guard obeyed, Danforth had turned to Hammond. "Keep an eye on her." She had nodded at Faith, then beckoned Susie across. They had begun speaking in low, hushed tones.

Standing amongst the bodies of Avery, Sarah, and Jacob, nausea overwhelmed Faith. Whilst none of them had been friends, their deaths had been so violent, so futile.

Jacob, finding a twisted connection with Avery. His abhorrence of Danforth was rooted in the way she had treated him. Using his seed over the years had forced him to father countless children with no control and no chance of ever knowing any of them. The idea must have haunted him every day since he had fled from Bellator.

To find himself face-to-face with a young woman who was actually his daughter had shaken him to the core. A young woman he'd spent the last few weeks treating terribly as a result of his hatred for Danforth. Someone he'd been prepared to execute as revenge for the chancellor's treatment of him.

It had been a cruel blow.

And Sarah, killing Avery in vengeance for Danforth killing Harden. An eye for an eye. Faith wasn't even sure that Harden was dead. The fact that the chancellor had instructed her guards to arrest Karl and Denton implied she didn't always shoot first and ask questions later. If Harden was still alive, Sarah's act had been a pointless one.

Witnessing Avery's death at Sarah's hands, only seconds after discovering the truth, had pushed Jacob over the edge. Executing his loyal secondary had been extreme, but Faith could see why he'd done it.

His last desperate charge at Danforth had been nothing more than a suicide mission.

The bond between parent and child was a complex one, Faith reflected. She had witnessed Sarah criticise Harden, yell at him, order him to take actions she was certain he was uncomfortable with. Yet, when it came to it, she loved him enough to kill for him. Jacob had no bond with Avery, yet learning of their connection had impacted him profoundly.

The Bellator way did not allow children to develop a deep connection with either parent. Yet most of the citizens Faith knew had developed extremely close friendships. Substitutes for what was missing from their lives. Bellator had it all wrong. Perhaps some of the Eremus family units were dysfunctional. But they had a far better system than Danforth had created. Most of their issues were born out of the way the chancellor had forced them to live. In hiding, fearing for their lives.

She thought of Anna and Flynn, the way they had created a loving family unit, despite the lack of biological ties between Noah and Flynn, and Anna and Paulo. They were living proof that a family could be everything to each other, no matter what. Faith sighed, hating the fact that Danforth had broken the best family she'd ever known.

The guards handcuffed the remaining prisoners, conversing in hushed whispers over their heads. It was difficult to make out what they were saying. But from the snippets of conversation Faith caught, crowds were causing problems all over the city. There had been outbreaks of violence in several different locations, and Danforth's soldiers were concerned about how many guards were coming under attack.

Faith knew she should be ecstatic. The Bellator citizens were coming together, rising up against Danforth's oppression. The Resistance's efforts were finally paying off.

But she had never felt so alone.

The guards left, taking Karl and Denton with them. Danforth and Susie disappeared inside the room where Faith had been held captive. Seconds later, a howl of frustration echoed through the warehouse. For the first time in several minutes, Faith remembered Sanders.

Hammond raced to see what was wrong, dragging Faith with her. When they reached the doorway, Danforth was standing over Sanders' body.

"I thought maybe she was… hiding." Danforth's face was twisted with fury. "She knows how important she is to the project. But she's…"

For a moment, Faith wondered if the doctor had been a close friend of the chancellor's.

"Dammit! We'll be working blind without her notes." Danforth's next words rid Faith of the notion. Her only concern was her experiment. "What do we do now?"

"She doesn't document her research?" Hammond was frowning. "It can't be replicated?"

Danforth turned to Susie. "Sanders doesn't save her research on the central system, right?"

"N-no." The petite medic chewed her lip. "She was always afraid of it falling into the wrong hands."

"Do you have access to it?" Danforth demanded.

"She saves it on her private server, though I wouldn't have the access codes for that." The woman's voice was shaking. "B-but I'm pretty sure she has paper copies of all her notes locked in her office at the lab. She's… was kind of old-fashioned like that."

"We have to move." Danforth spun to face Hammond. "Now. If we've any hope of recovering that research."

"Is that really our most pressing issue?" Hammond glanced at the door. "What about the trouble in the city, and–"

"It's our most pressing issue." Danforth cut in, her voice rising an octave. "We can't lose the research."

Susie gestured to the warehouse around her. "What about the drugs?"

"I'll leave a couple of guards to protect them." Danforth shook her head. "But, honestly, it's useless if all the metraxilone is gone."

Faith connected the dots. This warehouse was filled with femgazipane. Which meant the Acton Street Warehouse had contained metraxilone, the drug which had caused Sophia's pregnancy. Destroying it had to be the work of the Resistance, using the information that Faith had provided.

Her momentary burst of pride was quickly replaced with horror.

She had given Madeleine two locations. Was the Resistance planning to blow up this warehouse next?

She didn't have to worry for long. Ordering Susie to pack up any vital equipment from the medical room, Danforth dispatched Hammond to collect a small sample of the femgazipane to take with them. As soon as the two women returned, the group headed out.

As they walked from the exit to the waiting comcar, Faith glanced around. Were there, even now, Resistance citizens creeping towards this warehouse ready to blow it sky high? And if so, was there any way she could attract their attention?

In the darkness, she could see nothing. She was pushed into the back seat of a comcar with darkened windows. A final glance backwards revealed the pair of guards who had been left to protect the building. Danforth's forces were definitely depleted.

As Hammond slammed the door of the comcar behind her, Faith's hand closed around the syringe in her pocket. Aside from making sure she was bundled into the escape vehicle, her captors had paid her little attention. They were too concerned with gathering supplies and equipment.

Things were definitely starting to fall apart. The Bellator citizens were rebelling. The Resistance had demolished one warehouse filled with vital drugs. And Faith was certain they planned to destroy the second.

She felt a small surge of pride. She had played a huge part in the changes taking place in the city. If she wasn't getting out of this alive, at least she knew she'd made a difference.

But she wasn't going down without a fight.