THE SENIOR TURNKEY GUARD marched ahead. It was an unusual request that the officials from White House would visit this late at night. The guard accommodated Lucinda Gates and Secret Service Agent Harrison, who followed her in the narrow corridor of the Psychiatric Unit of Washington DC Correction Facility.

Agent Sian Harrison was one of the senior White House Secret Service members — a retired FBI field agent who came to serve as Madeline Cory's security detail when she was still the Senator for Pennsylvania.

Lucinda Gates had personally interviewed her to be in the Secret Service Division — alongside with her other colleague Agatha Wolfe when Cory later became the president.

Harrison was very loyal to Gates...

Today, she was collaborating with Lucinda Gates in a personal clandestine quest — of saving the children of Samantha Cory, ever since the President had put a hit on both of them, for being involved in various confabulated cover-ups, which labelled both the twins as terrorists.

Harrison had a handful of furtive agents at the White House who secretly disapproved the unlawful precept plots of Madeline Cory and their superior Agent Wolfe — ever since the conspiracy behind the murder of the former president Ann Rosewood.

The turnkey guard gave some assisting insights to the two visitors — who insisted on going in person to the cell of the prisoner rather than meeting at the visitation room...

"She is eating very little, Ma'am. She keeps requesting for the newspapers every day — and that she digests well daily...

"But, not her proper meals — or even her medications."

The guard turned one of her key in the jangling bunch. It opened a cell door. Harrison came in-between the door entrance...

"Do you want me to follow you, Ms Gates — there is a possibility that she may get violent."

"No, that will not be necessary Agent Harrison — please wait outside."

If it was not for the photograph findings in the President's Oval Office, Lucinda Gates would not be here. After further investigation, she found the identity of the nameless Intersexual suspect in the CIA database — the God's Army suspect rebel in uniform, who was carrying a probably injured daughter of Samantha Cory was Marlin...

What a coincidence it was — that the adopted son of a woman, whom Gates had malfeasance, by sending her to this prison here...

Now, that boy had now located one of the twins...

Lucinda Gates took a deep breath before she took heavy steps and entered alone into the dim cell. There were piles of old newspapers on the floor — and lots of cuttings posted on the wall on headlines — mostly pertaining to President Cory, the late Ann Rosewood, the Medusa Virus and ongoing of the new breed studies.

She saw the figure of the woman sitting on her single cot.

Gates had totally forgotten of her existence since she had cast her away, with the authority given by her serving president, more than six years ago. Today, Dr Jane Morris was someone the world had long forgotten — and was left locked up alone in a stone-cold Psychiatric Unit prison cell.

She used to be a vanguard during the Rosewood's administration — Dr Morris was the head of W.H.O. then and had overseen the Disease Control and Prevention department when the Medusa Virus first outbreak happened eighteen years ago in America, before spreading rapidly to shroud the rest of the world in demise.

She had boldly gone on air and spoken in clarity to the world that was then baffled in the dark about the virus threat like a Dr Anthony Fauci did to a time in the past with the COVID-19 — that had later, the latter Medusa had wiped out the entire three billion of the male species on the planet, in less than a year.

The epidemiologist then championed the research for new hope for the existing surviving women population from further extinction with the gift of the world — the reality and potential of the single-generation New Breeds' semen — for the future of the female propagation.

Lucinda Gates was fighting hard with her emotions of blameworthiness when she looked at the woman — whose glorious career that she personally had a hand to ruin. Dr Morris was arrested with outlandish charges of being a national threat and was imposed in life imprisonment sentence without a trial — with charges for a common citizen in possessions of classified CIA issued top-secret cell phones which she used to communicate with her adopted son.

Cory had punished the scapegoat doctor when she stepped into the White House to humiliate, the then fallen out of grace Rosewood's presidency — so it served as a warning that she was now in total power.

Lucinda Gates had then played a big role in scheming the arrest of both the 'mother and son' — and then damned them both behind bars — the younger one was thrown far-flung into a prison in a desert in Texas, several states away from the national capital — but they kept the woman closer to Washington, as an act of reminder to any political and business oppositions, to not to mess with the newly elected President and her New Order policies...

Unknown to them all — Dr Jane Morris held some much deeper secrets during her former days in the Rosewood's administration — in finding for the vaccine cure for the Medusa virus 'outside' the CDC.

She could barely recognize the doctor after those long years, and Gates stood nearby maladjusted — staring at the woman who had lost almost half of her body weight.

There was also something in Morris's blank eyes, staring at the newspaper headlines on the wall — she had seen it in Samantha's eyes before when her stepmother Madeline Cory had her locked for years in a private mental rehab institution — Dr Morris had them too in her eyes — the psychosomatic state of loss and misery, after years inside the enclosed walls.

Gates was sentient that the woman was unaware of her presence standing — so she softly called out her name. Dr Morris turned slowly and gazed back at Gates before she turned back to the newspaper cuttings of headlines attached on the wall in front of her...

Lucinda Gates sat beside her on the cot and spent a moment also peering at the cuttings on the wall. The one on Rosewood's assassination leapt out to her preparedness...

'Rosewood slain by God's Army'

Gates was dumbfounded when the doctor suddenly spoke, which seemed like she had read her mind when she asked her...

"Did Madeline Cory kill Ann Rosewood?"

"Yes." Gates was honest and said softly with a subtle nod.

"Where is Marlin now? Is he alive — or has your President killed him too?"

Gates could not answer about the boy's whereabouts. She just shook her head and asked her the same question back contrarily...

"Jane, have you heard from Marlin? Do you know where Marlin is now?"

"I thought you arrested him."

"But, he escaped from prison 3 months ago. He is now part of the God's Army — you may have read about the one called the Preacher and his God's Army — Marlin now serves under them." She refreshed the doctor's memory, by pointing to the paper-cuttings collage on the stained wall.

"So my Marlin is a terrorist now — and you want the information to capture him again."

Lucinda Gates touched the doctor's wrist, replied with indignant...

"No Jane, I don't believe Marlin, the Preacher or anyone for the matter is a terrorist — these are just deceits by Cory tell to keep herself in the White House — but I desperately need Marlin's help right now, tell me if you know where he is?"

Lucinda Gates took out a photo from her leather file-folder — the picture of Marlin carrying Joana in his arms in the burning streets of New Orleans.

It just dawned to Gates that she was in that cell now with the doctor, because of Marlin's arrest — today, he had somehow become acquitted to the girl in the photo. It still seemed like a real baffling coincidence for her. Maybe there was a possibility that Marlin knew both of the twins.

He was now her key to save both of Samantha's children from their executions...

"It is only through Marlin, I can get to find this girl here." Dr Morris took the photo from Gates, and her tears fell.

"Is that Marlin? He is all grown up."

Gates nodded subtly back, "Yes Jane, it has been 6 years, and Marlin is 18 now — do you know where I can find him?"

"No..." the doctor refusing to depart from it, "Can I please have this photo?"

"You better not have it — it will be too dangerous for everyone if Cory's people find this photo with you."

Gates placed the returned photo back into her folder.

It was another dead-end again for her in finding either one of the twins — Gates now had to rely only on the current NSA database information which she could access through Agent Sian Harrison.

She stood up and heard the febrile woman still in soft conciliation...

"If he is captured, please bring him to me — show him once to me before you execute him — that is my only request as his mother."

"I hope it will not come to that, Dr Morris, but I will bring him to you."

She went back to the cell-door and rapped it while calling for Agent Harrison — the turnkey released Lucinda Gates out, before locking up Dr Morris alone.

***

Agent Sian Harrison walked beside her on the way out. She observed that Gates was distressed and emotionally disturbed. She has not seen her cry before...

"I must find a way to get Dr Morris released. She had suffered enough all these years — for my foolish mistakes of being Maddie's puppet. Why should a good person like her, pay the price for it?" responded Gates in contrition, with a tone of deep aggravation of her dark past.

"Ms Gates, it's too late to cut the strings now. It will just draw attention to you if she is released — these are some of the things that cannot be undone, and such actions will drag you and the rest of us down with it."

She listened to Harrison's reasoning more, while she wiped her tears...

"When Dr Morris was first arrested, Agent Wolfe was also involved in the incarceration — and if Wolfe finds out that the doctor is released, it is either she will come after you — or even may inform the President."

The Secret Service agent opened the door for Gates to enter into the town car. "Please let things be status quo for now, until the election."

The car left the prison driveway — but another vehicle across the street was doing a stake-out — where Agent Iris Green placed the long lensed camera down on the passenger seat before making a call, seeing the Lincoln town-car steering away...

"Yes, it is confirmed that Ms Gates visited Dr Morris in prison. Should I go in, and question the doctor about their conversation, Sir?"

From the White House, Wolfe's voice amplified on the cell phone speaker to the operative...

"That would not be necessary, Agent Green — I will take it from here."