Chapter 6 - The Man Who LiedI raised my gun.
Marcus didn't move.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Eight years.”
“Yes.”
“You were working for the Wardens.”
“Not anymore.”
I took another step.
“Give me one reason not to arrest you.”
“Because Logan is alive.”
I almost pulled the trigger.
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“Wrong answer.”
Marcus stared at me.
“I haven't seen your brother in three years.”
That surprised me.
“You have seen him?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Where?”
“Underground.”
“Underground where?”
“Beneath the old courthouse.”
The courthouse had been abandoned after a fire decades ago.
“What was he doing there?”
“Trying to destroy Helix.”
“Did he fail?”
Marcus looked at Eli.
“Yes.”
The boy suddenly grabbed my hand.
“Daddy said not to let you go there.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where they keep the memories.”
A chill ran through me.
Marcus nodded.
“He's right.”
We went to the courthouse that night.
The basement was sealed.
But the H-17 key opened a hidden door behind an old furnace.
Beyond it was a corridor lined with steel rooms.
Each door had a name.
Some names belonged to missing people.
Some belonged to people who had officially died.
One door said:
LOGAN CARTER.
My heart hammered.
I opened it.
Inside was a chair.
Metal restraints.
And a video monitor.
The screen flickered on automatically.
Logan appeared.
Older.
Thinner.
A scar ran across his cheek.
He looked directly at the camera.
“If Colin finds this, stop him.”
I stared.
Logan continued.
“Colin, you think they stole your memory.”
He paused.
“They didn't.”
My stomach dropped.
“You gave it to them.”
The screen went black.
Marcus whispered:
“What does that mean?”
Before I could answer, the door behind us slammed shut.
Locks engaged.
Gas began filling the room.
Eli screamed.
Marcus fired at the door.
Nothing.
I covered my mouth.
My vision blurred.
Then a speaker crackled.
A voice whispered:
“You wanted the truth, Colin.”
I collapsed to my knees.
“Now remember.”
A bright light flashed.
And suddenly...
I was standing beside Logan.
Eight years earlier.
Blackwater Bridge.
Rain poured around us.
Logan was holding a gun.
“You can't do this,” I told him.
“You don't understand.”
“I know what you're planning.”
He looked at me.
“You're already forgetting.”
Then someone stepped out of the darkness.
A man wearing a silver ring.
He raised a syringe.
Logan shouted:
“RUN!”
The memory shattered.
I woke on the floor.
Eli was crying.
Marcus was unconscious beside me.
And there was blood on my hands.
But it wasn't mine.
Someone had written a message across the floor in blood.
May you like
Three words.
FIND YOUR MEMORY.
