Chapter 7 - What Colin ForgotThe memory haunted me.
Every second of it.
The rain.
Logan's face.
The syringe.
The man with the ring.
But one detail kept changing.
The man's face.
Whenever I tried to remember it, my mind replaced it with darkness.
Marcus woke several hours later.
“You saw it too,” he said.
“Saw what?”
He stared at me.
“The memory.”
“How?”
“Helix doesn't just erase memories.”
He swallowed.
“It can plant false ones.”
I stared at him.
“So how do I know that memory was real?”
“You don't.”
That was worse.
We took Eli to a safe house.
Then I went to the only person I thought might help.
Dr. Evelyn Shaw.
A former neurological researcher who had testified against Helix.
She lived outside the city under a different name.
When she opened the door and saw me, she nearly closed it.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“You know my brother.”
Her expression changed.
“Logan?”
“He's alive.”
She stepped backward.
For a long moment she said nothing.
Then:
“Come inside.”
Her house was filled with medical records.
Photographs.
Old equipment.
“You worked for Helix.”
“For six months.”
“What did they do to me?”
She stared at me.
“They didn't erase your memory.”
“Then what?”
“They fragmented it.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your brain remembers everything.”
She pointed to my forehead.
“But you can't access all of it.”
“Why?”
“Because you asked them to hide it.”
My throat tightened.
“I asked them?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She looked at me with pity.
“Because Logan asked you to.”
She opened a drawer.
Inside was a small audio recorder.
She pressed play.
My own voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, something went wrong.”
I froze.
My recording continued.
“Logan is in danger. Helix knows what we've discovered.”
A pause.
“I need them to believe I've forgotten.”
My breathing stopped.
“I volunteered for the procedure.”
Evelyn switched it off.
I stared at her.
“You did this to yourself.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect Logan.”
The room was silent.
“Then why did everyone tell me he was dead?”
Evelyn looked down.
“Because Logan never trusted the police.”
“What?”
“He believed Helix had infiltrated your department.”
“Was he right?”
She looked directly at me.
“Yes.”
My phone vibrated.
A message from Marcus.
WE HAVE A PROBLEM.
Then another.
ELI IS GONE.
I jumped up.
“What happened?”
Evelyn's face turned pale.
A third message arrived.
A photograph of Eli.
He was standing beside a man.
Logan.
And Logan was holding a gun against someone's head.
The caption read:
COME ALONE.
Then another message.
YOUR BROTHER WANTS TO TALK.
I stared at the image.
For the first time in eight years, I knew exactly what I had to do.
Find Logan.
Even if he was a murderer.
Even if he was a liar.
Even if he was the reason my memories had been shattered.
May you like
Because one question mattered more than all the others.
Why had my brother needed me to forget him?
