Chapter 148

The words that slipped from between Mother White’s lips were no surprise to Rain. She’d already surmised what the woman was going to tell her before she’d gotten the statement out.
But that didn’t make it any easier to accept.
She didn’t want the Military Mother to see her cry. She had to keep the tears that were blinding her from falling.
Rather than insist that Mother White was lying when Rain knew she wasn’t, she asked, “How do you know that?”
“I know,” White said, her face exuding confidence. “And if your friend had managed to get out with that stupid external hard drive, you’d be able to look for yourself--assuming you would have gotten out of here alive in this alternate reality.”
Rain had to assume that White had access to information that she did not. Surely, someone of her rank in the military would have a way to find those sorts of records.
Which meant that she must be telling the truth.
Mother White was Rain’s actual mother.
Shaking her head, Rain asked, "Why would you want to hurt someone that I love then, if you are, indeed, my mother?"
Mother White took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. The gun was still pressed tightly against Adam's temple. "I am your mother, and as your mother, I must tell you that this Dick is not worth it."
Looking into Adam's eyes, Rain could see that he was agreeing with what the Military Mother was saying. He also did not think that he was worth it. Rain knew exactly what he was thinking. In a moment, Rain was going to have to make a choice. Adam didn't want her to make her decision based upon what she believed would happen to him. She knew him well enough to understand that he would rather die than have anything bad happen to her.
Well, this was not Adam's decision to make. And there was no way in hell that Rain was going to stand by and watch him die.
"What do you want?" Rain asked, her eyes shifting to Mother White.
A smirk appeared on the Military Mother's face. "What I've always wanted. You, Rain. I want you. You are my daughter, and I want you to come with me. We belong together."
Rain slowly shook her head. "If that's true, then when the Mothers taught that children are better off growing in incubators than in their Mothers’ wombs, wouldn't that make them wrong? And if the Mothers were wrong about that, what makes you so certain that they are right about everything else?”
For a moment, Rain saw confusion wash across Mother White's face. She seemed to be contemplating what Rain had just said. Was it possible that Rain could make her question her beliefs to the point that she might actually let Adam go and allow Rain to walk away?
She didn't think so.
Mother White began to shake her head. "Stop! Don't try that shit with me. Just because I choose to have my daughter with me does not mean that the entire doctrine of the Motherhood is wrong. Don't try to convince me otherwise. It doesn't matter, Rain. You know what you're going to have to do, don't you?" She twisted the gun slightly against Adam's temple, punctuating the fact that she was about to blow his brains out if Rain did not do exactly what Mother White wanted her to do.
Rain took a step forward, but when White increased her grip on Adam, she stopped. He continued to claw at her arm, but Rain didn't think he was trying to get away. No, he just wanted to speak.
“Will you let him talk to me, please?" Rain asked. "I need to hear what he has to say."
Mother White’s eyes narrowed. "Nothing he has to say is important, Rain. I will let him go as soon as you join me on The Bridge."
Adam managed to get one word out. Though it was muffled and hard to understand, Rain knew exactly what he had said. "No."
Rain hesitated. Her eyes flickered from Mother White’s face to Adam's. Could she trust this woman? Probably not. Chances were, the moment that Rain stepped up on The Bridge, Mother White would kill Adam anyway. And then what? Could Rain overpower the woman and get away? She didn't think so.
"Why The Bridge? You have to know as well as I do that The Bridge doesn't offer anybody a new opportunity at life, don't you? The Bridge kills people. Everyone knows that.”
“You and I are not going over The Bridge, Rain. Not because I agree with you that The Bridge is for killing, but because you and I do not need a fresh start. Not in the way that The Bridge provides them, anyway. We will be starting over together, but in the iterations we are currently in. I am your mother; you are my daughter. We should be together.”
“And we will go where? And do what?” Rain asked, trying to figure out just how far White had thought ahead. “You know that Quebec will win this battle, and there’s no way that Michaelanburg can win the war.”
“I have a plan for that.” Mother White looked pained to be admitting that she thought there was a possibility that Rain might be right, that they could lose. Rain had no doubt in her mind that she was right; the Mothers couldn’t win.
“What is your plan?” Rain asked. “You can’t possibly expect me to go along with you when I don’t know what you’re planning.”
“I can, and I do,” Mother White countered. “Unless, of course, you want Twenty-four C to die, and then I’ll take you with me anyway.”
“Take me where?” Rain countered, glaring at the woman.
“Somewhere safe, Rain. We have an evacuation plan. It will be activated the moment your forces trip the explosion that will bring this entire structure down from the center to the outer hallways. Once the alarm sounds, the Mothers will have two minutes to get out of the building. Then… everyone that’s left will be buried in the rubble.”
Rain’s stomach twisted in a knot. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of troops in the building, and they were too far into the center of the building to be able to get out of the structure in only two minutes.
She needed to warn them. She had to find a way to let Josie and Seth know that they were in imminent danger.
“Don’t be so surprised,” Mother White said. “You had to think that we would have a way of ensuring that our secrets were kept.”
Rain didn’t respond to that. “So what’s your plan? I walk onto The Bridge, you let Adam go, and what? We hold hands and skip off into the sunset? Do you think you can hold me against my will for the rest of my life?”
Mother White took a deep breath through her nose, her nostrils flaring. “No. I think that you will remember everything that you loved about the Motherhood, and then you’ll understand why I did the things I did. You’ll understand all of the risks I’ve taken--for you.”
“For me? You haven’t done anything for me. If you truly cared about me, you’d let Adam go, and you’d allow us both to walk out of here alive. Don’t pretend that you have any feelings for me, other than some maniacal urge to control me.”
“You’re my daughter!” White shouted. “I’m not even supposed to know that, but I do because I want us to be together, Rain!”
“Don’t you have any other children?” Rain asked. “Was I the only one that made it to viability?”
“Yes!” Mother White said, her face falling. “You were the only one of mine who ever made it.”
Rain wasn’t expecting her to say that, and she sort of felt a little bad about it--but not for long. She didn’t deserve any sympathy. “What do I need to do so that you’ll let Adam go?”
“No, Rain,” Adam managed to eke out before White squeezed him even tighter, cutting off his ability to speak.
“Put your weapon down,” Mother White began. “Kick it away, and step over here. Prove to me that you don’t have any other weapons on you.”
“I only have this gun and a knife in the pouch on my belt,” Rain said, hoping that her mother didn’t know her well enough to tell when she was lying.
“On the floor,” White said, nodding her head to indicate what she wanted Rain to do.
Rain set her gun down and kicked it away as Adam attempted to plead with her. She had no idea if White would honor her word and let him go once she did as she was asked, but she couldn’t let him die. Even if it meant that she would be heading over The Bridge.
“And your knife,” White said.
Rain pulled the blade from its sheath and set it down. Then, she kicked them both across the room.
“And the other gun in your boot.”
Taking a deep breath, Rain considered telling her she didn’t know what she was talking about, but it seemed pretty clear from White’s eyes, she wasn’t buying it.
Rain took her last weapon out of her boot and slid it across the floor. “Now, what?”
“Now, come over here, and I’ll let him go.”
“How about you let him go, and then I’ll come over?” Rain countered.
White narrowed her eyes. “Come. Here. Rain.”