Chapter 10: The Last Witness
The first shot split the morning air like a whip.
Crack!
A spray of bark exploded from the oak tree behind Ethan Collins.
"Sniper!" Officer Morales shouted.
"Take cover!"
Detective Samuel Bennett threw himself toward Ethan, tackling the young man behind a fallen log just as a second bullet tore through the space where Ethan had been standing.
The tactical team scattered through the forest.
Captain Melissa Grant grabbed her radio.
"Bravo Team, locate the shooter!"
"Drones in the air, now!"
The sniper fired again.
This time the bullet struck a rock, sending sharp fragments across the creek.
Whoever was pulling the trigger wasn't panicking.
The shots came at steady intervals.
Measured.
Disciplined.
Military training.
Bennett looked at Ethan.
"Can you move?"
Ethan nodded.
"They're not trying to stop you."
"They're trying to kill me."
"You know who it is?"
Ethan hesitated.
Then quietly answered,
"Victor."
Morales looked up sharply.
"Your father?"
Ethan closed his eyes.
"He stopped being my father a long time ago."
Half a mile away, hidden among thick pine trees, Victor Collins lay motionless beneath a camouflage net.
His rifle remained perfectly steady.
Through the scope, he watched Ethan disappear behind police cover.
He exhaled slowly.
Then lowered the weapon.
He wasn't smiling.
He wasn't angry.
He looked... exhausted.
His satellite phone vibrated.
Dr. Adrian Mercer's voice came through.
"Is the witness dead?"
Victor remained silent for several seconds.
"No."
A pause.
Mercer's tone hardened.
"You had one job."
Victor looked through the scope again.
"I won't shoot him."
Another silence.
Then Mercer replied coldly,
"I expected that."
The call ended.
Victor stared at the silent phone.
For the first time in years...
He had disobeyed an order.
The sniper fire suddenly stopped.
Officer Morales frowned.
"Why did he quit?"
Bennett didn't answer.
He was watching Ethan.
The young man hadn't looked frightened during the attack.
He had looked...
Disappointed.
As though he'd expected exactly this.
Within twenty minutes, police helicopters swept the surrounding mountains.
Thermal cameras searched every ridge.
Nothing.
Victor Collins had vanished.
Again.
Back at the temporary command post, Ethan sat wrapped in a blanket while paramedics checked a shallow cut on his arm.
Laura Harper arrived by helicopter an hour later.
The moment Ethan saw her, he stood.
"Mrs. Harper..."
Laura froze.
"You know me?"
Ethan gave a sad smile.
"Mr. Harper talked about you every day."
Tears filled Laura's eyes.
"He was alive..."
"For four months," Ethan answered softly.
"I was with him."
Detective Bennett activated a recorder.
"Ethan."
"We need you to tell us everything."
The young man stared into the forest before beginning.
"My name is Ethan Collins."
"I was seven years old when Dr. Mercer took me."
"My father worked security for Richard Vale."
"He thought I was being moved into a government protection program."
Laura frowned.
"He didn't know?"
Ethan slowly shook his head.
"Not at first."
Ethan took a deep breath.
"They called us Echoes."
"There were twenty-four of us."
"We lived underground."
"We studied every day."
"No schools."
"No birthdays."
"No outside world."
Officer Morales asked quietly,
"What were they teaching?"
Ethan looked down.
"Memory."
The room fell silent.
"Memory?"
"They wanted children who never forgot anything."
"Faces."
"Voices."
"Numbers."
"Passwords."
"Maps."
"They tested us every day."
Captain Grant frowned.
"Why children?"
Ethan answered immediately.
"Adults forget."
"Children remember."
"They believed perfect memory could protect secrets forever."
Bennett's expression darkened.
"Project Echo..."
"...was building human archives."
Ethan nodded.
"We weren't experiments."
"We were vaults."
Laura looked confused.
"Vaults?"
Ethan pointed toward Daniel's recovered laptop.
"Mr. Harper figured it out."
"That's why he taught Emily with songs."
"He was copying Mercer's system."
"He hid evidence inside memories."
Not inside computers.
Not inside bank accounts.
Inside people.
Inside children.
Bennett suddenly understood everything.
The rabbit.
The lullaby.
The rhythm password.
The paper birds.
Daniel had used the same techniques Project Echo had used.
Only for a different purpose.
To preserve evidence that could never be hacked or erased.
Ethan continued.
"Mr. Harper wasn't supposed to stay alive."
"Dr. Mercer wanted information."
"So they locked him beneath Mr. Vale's house."
"He talked to us every night."
Laura smiled through tears.
"He sang..."
Ethan nodded.
"The rain song."
"He said songs stay alive longer than fear."
Bennett leaned forward.
"Ethan..."
"How did Daniel die?"
The young man's face fell.
For several moments he couldn't speak.
Finally...
"He escaped."
Everyone stared.
"What?"
"He escaped the hidden room."
"For one night."
"He almost reached the outside road."
Laura held her breath.
Ethan's voice trembled.
"My father caught him."
Silence.
"He begged Victor to take Emily and run."
"What happened then?"
Ethan swallowed hard.
"My father refused."
"He brought Daniel back."
Officer Morales quietly asked,
"Did Victor kill him?"
Ethan looked directly at her.
"No."
"He couldn't."
"Then who did?"
Ethan's eyes filled with tears.
"Dr. Mercer."
The words landed like a hammer.
Just then, a communications officer rushed into the command tent.
"Captain!"
Grant turned.
"What is it?"
"We've identified Dr. Mercer."
Everyone looked up.
The officer continued.
"His fingerprints matched an old federal database."
"Who is he?"
The officer hesitated.
Then answered.
"Dr. Adrian Mercer died..."
"...twelve years ago."
The room fell completely silent.
Bennett slowly stood.
"That's impossible."
"The records are confirmed."
"Death certificate."
"Funeral."
"Burial."
Everything was official.
Yet only hours earlier...
Every member of the investigation had watched Dr. Adrian Mercer speaking live on camera.
If the records were true...
Then the man controlling Project Echo wasn't merely hiding.
May you like
He had been living for twelve years under the identity of a dead man.
End of Chapter 10
