Chapter 5 - Project HelixThe key opened an old locker beneath the city's central evidence warehouse.
Locker H-17.
Inside was a black metal case.
No fingerprints.
No serial number.
Only the Helix symbol stamped into the lid.
Two intertwined circles.
The same shape as my tattoo.
My pulse quickened.
I opened the case.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
Surveillance records.
And a list of names.
The first name was Logan Carter.
The second was mine.
COLIN CARTER.
Beside my name was a date.
Eight years earlier.
And one word.
ACTIVE.
I turned the page.
There were dozens of people listed.
Police officers.
Federal agents.
Judges.
Doctors.
Journalists.
One name made me freeze.
Marcus Reed.
His file was marked:
COMPROMISED.
I looked at him.
“You want to explain this?”
He stared at the paper.
Then he laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because he was exhausted.
“I knew we'd get here eventually.”
“What does compromised mean?”
“That depends on who wrote it.”
“You're in this.”
“I was.”
“Was?”
Marcus sat down.
“Eight years ago, I was assigned to Logan's case.”
“You never told me that.”
“I wasn't allowed to.”
“Why?”
“Because Logan didn't disappear.”
I slammed the file onto the table.
“I know!”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You know part of it.”
Then he pulled out an old photograph.
Logan stood beside a group of men.
One of them was Commissioner Voss.
Another was an FBI agent.
Another was Marcus.
I stared.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three days before Logan vanished.”
“What happened?”
Marcus's face hardened.
“Logan discovered Helix.”
“What is Helix?”
“A covert program designed to erase evidence by manipulating witnesses.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Manipulating witnesses?”
“Memory.”
My smile disappeared.
“That's impossible.”
“Not entirely.”
He slid another document toward me.
It described experimental treatments used on selected witnesses.
Drugs.
Hypnosis.
Electromagnetic stimulation.
Fear conditioning.
I felt sick.
“Who approved this?”
“No one officially.”
“Then who?”
Marcus looked at the Helix symbol.
“A group inside the government.”
“What group?”
He leaned closer.
“They call themselves the Wardens.”
The lights flickered.
Then the emergency alarm sounded.
Marcus jumped up.
Someone had breached the facility.
We grabbed Eli and ran.
Footsteps echoed through the corridor.
Two men appeared at the far end.
Black tactical clothing.
Silver rings.
Marcus fired.
One fell.
The other disappeared around the corner.
We reached the exit.
But Eli stopped.
He stared at one of the dead man's faces.
Then he whispered:
“That's not one of them.”
I looked down.
“What do you mean?”
Eli pointed at the man's wrist.
“He's with the good people.”
Marcus went completely still.
“Eli,” I said, “how do you know that?”
The boy looked at me.
“Because Daddy taught me how to tell.”
He pointed at a tiny symbol carved under the man's sleeve.
A circle crossed by a line.
“Bad people have the silver ring.”
He pointed at his chest.
“Good people have the broken circle.”
I looked at Marcus.
He slowly rolled up his sleeve.
There it was.
The broken circle.
The same symbol.
My mouth went dry.
Marcus looked at me.
“I told you I was compromised.”
May you like
Then he reached into his pocket.
And pulled out a silver ring.
