30. Chapter 30
Omniscient
The lead doctor sat alone in the dim glow of the medical bay’s primary workstation as his eyes scanned the genetic data populating the monitor.
The aligned sequences were fully rendered and the final markers settled into place.
He leaned back with a long breath and shook his head as the results loaded slowly.
He pushed back his chair to stand up, only to jump nearly out of his skin.
Chief Idris Okoye was standing right beside him.
The man swallowed hard as his pulse spiked. He had been completely alone in the lab—or so he thought. He hadn't heard a footstep, or the soft rustle of her crisp military linens.
"Chief," the doctor stuttered, clutching a paper file against his chest. "I was just gathering the final results for the DNA test."
"No need," Chief said. Her voice was a calm, low rasp in the quiet room. "I've got it."
He blinked and his eyes darted suspiciously from her impassive face to the screen. "Well, the raw sequencing stream should be fully uploaded into the main database in just a second—"
"Great," Chief interrupted, her tone leaving zero room for debate. "Then go home so I can prepare to announce it to our town. Your support and diligence are greatly appreciated."
He hesitated as his eyes lingered on the monitor. "Are you sure, Chief? Protocol states the attending physician—"
"I am sure, Doctor," she repeated with a slight tilt of her head. "Goodnight."
The man offered a nervous nod, grabbed his coat, and sprinted out the side exit before the steel door clicked shut behind him.
Chief waited in total silence until the sound of his footsteps faded down the hall.
Across the island, Jade sat hunched over her glowing monitors.
She was draped in one of Nyah's oversized black t-shirts, casually munching from a bowl of potato chips as she waited for the lab's secure server to cycle.
Nyah had dozed off early after a brutal evening training with the new recruit line at the military camp.
The two of them had cuddled on the sofa for an hour before Nyah completely passed out, but Jade couldn't sleep tonight with the entire future of her best friend hanging in the balance.
Jade’s eyes locked onto the central screen as the encryption layers stripped away to reveal the live lab feed.
At the exact same moment, Chief stepped up to the terminal in the dark medical bay.
Both women watched the screen in tandem as the final DNA paternity test rendered its official verdict:
PATERNITY PROBABILITY: 0.00%
ALLEGED FATHER: DAMINI EZE — EXCLUDED
Jade let out a breath she felt like she’d been holding for months. A massive, triumphant smile broke across her face. The baby wasn't Dame's. Brooklyn was a dead-ass liar, her leverage was completely shattered, and the threat hanging over Danni and Dame was officially dead.
Jade reached for her remote, muted her workscreens, and clicked on an old episode of classic cartoons. She leaned back against a snoring Nyah, finally able to breathe. The smart woman was unaware of what was happening on the terminal grid just seconds after she looked away.
Jade wasn't the only cyber wizard on the island.
In the quiet darkness of the medical bay, Chief cracked her neck with a slow pop and let out a long sigh. Her hands hovered over the mechanical keyboard before her fingers began flying across the keys in a blur.
She bypassed the security protocols, duplicated the raw file, and permanently purged the original zero percent sequence from the core server. Within two minutes, she had rewritten the genetic markers line by line, generating a brand-new report.
She hit print. The laser printer whirred to life and slid out a freshly minted document:
PATERNITY PROBABILITY: 99.99%
ALLEGED FATHER: DAMINI EZE — CONFIRMED MATCH
Chief pulled the page from the tray and examined the bold black ink with satisfaction. Her long game was falling into place perfectly. Brooklyn's chaotic lie was far too valuable to die in a lab because it was the exact wedge she needed to tear Danni's kingdom apart from the inside out.
Chief slipped the forged document into a heavy gold envelope, pulled her smartphone from her pocket, and typed out a short message to King Eze.
The test is confirmed. Get Brooklyn ready. It's time.
TO BE CONTINUED