Chapter 4 - Nobody spoke.Daniel stared at the photograph.
Arthur.
Evelyn.
Thomas.
And himself.
All standing together outside a building Daniel didn't recognize.
The timestamp in the corner read:
03:17 a.m.
Tomorrow.
Daniel shook his head.
"This is fake."
Thomas walked closer.
"It's not."
"How do you know?"
"Because I took it."
Daniel looked at him.
"You?"
Thomas nodded.
"But I don't remember taking it."
Arthur slowly sat down.
"Because none of us remember everything."
Daniel looked around.
"What does that mean?"
Arthur turned on another monitor.
A medical scan appeared.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Brain activity.
Memory mapping.
Daniel's blood ran cold.
"You experimented on us."
Arthur remained silent.
Thomas looked away.
Daniel raised his weapon.
"You erased our memories."
Arthur finally answered.
"Not all of them."
"Why?"
"Because the information was too dangerous."
"What information?"
Arthur looked directly into Daniel's eyes.
"The identity of the person who runs The Circle."
Daniel frowned.
"Marcus."
Arthur shook his head.
"Marcus reports to someone."
"Who?"
Arthur didn't answer.
The basement lights suddenly flickered.
Thomas looked at the monitors.
"We have a breach."
A door upstairs exploded.
Gunfire erupted through the mansion.
Daniel grabbed a rifle from the weapons cabinet.
Arthur opened a steel door.
"There's another exit."
Daniel looked at him.
"You knew they'd come."
"Yes."
"And you knew I would come."
"Yes."
"You planned all of this."
Arthur's face became unreadable.
"I planned for seven years."
They moved through a tunnel beneath the mansion.
The walls were lined with old photographs.
Daniel slowed.
Every photograph showed members of The Circle.
Agents.
Victims.
Executives.
Politicians.
Military officers.
Judges.
Then Daniel saw one photograph that stopped him cold.
It showed his mother.
She was standing beside Marcus Venn.
Daniel grabbed it.
"My mother?"
Arthur stopped.
Daniel looked at him.
"How did she know Marcus?"
Arthur didn't answer.
Thomas whispered:
"Because your mother helped create The Circle."
Daniel's face went blank.
"No."
Thomas continued.
"She was one of its founders."
Daniel stared at the photograph.
His entire childhood suddenly looked different.
His mother's warnings.
Her obsession with locked doors.
The strange men who sometimes visited their home.
The expensive schools she could never explain.
The night she told Daniel never to trust his own memories.
He had thought she was paranoid.
Maybe she had been preparing him.
A sound echoed behind them.
Footsteps.
Arthur looked back.
"They're coming."
Daniel shoved the photo inside his jacket.
"Where does this tunnel lead?"
"To the lake."
Thomas stopped.
"There."
Daniel looked.
At the end of the tunnel stood a massive steel door.
Arthur entered a code.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Daniel stepped forward.
"What is it?"
Arthur stared at the keypad.
"The system recognizes one person."
"Who?"
Arthur looked at Daniel.
"You."
Daniel pressed his hand against the scanner.
The door opened.
Beyond it was a hidden underground chamber.
In the center sat a glass case.
Inside was a small black box.
The exact box Daniel had been hired to steal.
Arthur's voice became quiet.
"That's why you were sent."
Daniel approached.
But before he could touch it, a voice came from the darkness.
"Don't."
A woman stepped into the light.
Long dark hair.
A scar across her cheek.
A gun in her hand.
Daniel stared at her.
His breath stopped.
Arthur whispered:
"Evelyn."
Evelyn looked directly at Daniel.
"I've been waiting for you."
Daniel could barely speak.
"I watched you die."
Evelyn smiled sadly.
"No."
She lifted the gun.
"You watched a body that looked like me."
May you like
Then she pointed at Arthur.
"And he knew exactly whose body it was."
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