They stood together and watched across the street. People went
in and out of the clinic. He pointed to the steel door of the
lower level.
“There’s a lab downstairs over there called the Foundling. Do
you know what foundling means?”
She scowled at him. “Of course I know what that means. It’s
a term for kids who have no parents.”
“No, you’re wrong. Those are orphans. Foundlings are kids
whose parents have abandoned them.”
Amanda crossed her arms over her chest.
“Google ‘artificial womb,’” Mitch said.
She looked at him questioningly.
“Go ahead, do it. It’s what Sheldon and I were working on.
Actually, Sheldon was working on it, and now he’s trying to
keep me out of it. But I’ve been thinking, Amanda. I think if
I can get back to my life either doing a minimum sentence or
without going to jail, I’ve got a plan. It’s something we can do
together.”
“I think I can forgive you for drugging me,” Amanda said.
“That’s a bit random. Why are you bringing that up now?”
“Because it’s important to forgive if you’re going to stay in
any kind of a relationship, professional or personal.”
“Okay, well, for that matter, I’m not sure I can forgive you
for sending incriminating photos and recordings to Madeline.
Why’d you do it? Why’d you double-cross me?”
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JULIE HATCH
“Because if you got caught, I knew you’d try to bring me down
with you.”
“Okay, great. So now we’ve cleared the air on that. Can we
move on?”
Amanda nodded.
Mitch explained what he and Sheldon had started together
with the Foundling. “We started with the idea of saving babies
whose mothers were drug addicts or who delivered them and
never had any intention of keeping them, leaving them at the
hospital. But then we started thinking about all the babies born
extremely premature, before twenty-eight weeks, and all the
damage they suffer. There are so many babies who need help.”
Amanda scoffed. “That’s ironic, coming from you.”
“Just hear me out. Think of all the spontaneous abortions,
babies infected with chorioamnionitis—the list of things that
can go wrong during pregnancy is a long one, and think of how
many fetuses are lost because of these conditions.”
“That’s Mother Nature keeping things in balance.”
“No, it’s not. That’s just shitty luck. These artificial wombs,
which will fill the Foundling lab, will keep these babies, more
like fetuses, alive. Do you want to know how it works?”
“Sure, I’m curious.”
Mitch explained, in detail, how the artificial womb worked.
“That all sounds great, Mitch, but get real. Sheldon and
WMI won’t let you anywhere near it, not now. I’d be all in, but
I’m not the one going to jail. My next move was going to be to go
to California, but for this, I would definitely stick around.”
“Let’s go check it out,” said Mitch, looking again across the
street.
“Now? You’re not even supposed to be here.”
He took her across the street and unlocked the heavy steel
door. They descended the stairs, landing them in a tunnel some
where below the building of the family planning clinic.
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THE VERY BEST OF CARE
“This is lovely,” said Amanda, making a face as they made
their way through the dark, dank tunnel.
“Just hold on.”
After a minute of walking, they came to the set of glass doors
with The Foundling etched on it. Mitch put a key into the lock
and turned it. It didn’t work. He jiggled the key and tried again.
He took it out, then put it back in. It still didn’t work.
“Hmm, that’s strange.” He tried another key, then another.
None of them worked. He banged his fist on the glass, hard
enough to hurt his hand but without leaving a crack in the glass.
“He must have changed the locks. Asshole,” muttered Mitch.
He pounded on the glass again, this time yelling, “Asshole!” to
the locked lab.
They left and walked back through the tunnel. Amanda
talked the entire time about this new project. She was excited.
“Mitch, we can go back to being a team. I’ll help you with
this, but we’ll do it our way. We don’t need WMI or Sheldon.
We’ve got each other. We’re both smart and enterprising. You
and I both have the same vision. Your brother may see it as a
way to save babies and help families. But you and me? We see an
opportunity to make a whole lot of money. I promise you, I’ll be
here for you whenever you’re ready.”
Mitch needed to hear this. He smiled and took her hand as
they walked up the stairs to go outside.
