Chapter 14 - Rafe searched the church.Pews.
Basement.
Sacristy.
Bell tower.
Nothing.
Isabella had disappeared.
The fake Daniel was gone too.
Only blood remained.
Rafe stood alone beneath the altar.
His phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
One video.
He opened it.
Isabella sat in a dark room.
Alive.
Bound to a chair.
Beside her stood the man who had called himself Daniel.
He looked directly into the camera.
"You have one hour."
Rafe said nothing.
The man continued.
"Come to the Mercer estate."
Rafe recognized the address.
His childhood home.
The house that had supposedly burned down.
The video ended.
Rafe stared at the screen.
Then a second message appeared.
Bring no police.
Bring the key.
Rafe looked at his hand.
The silver key from Locker 17 was still there.
He rode to the estate.
It stood exactly as he remembered.
Blackened walls.
Broken windows.
Collapsed roof.
Except...
The basement door was new.
Rafe entered.
A hidden elevator carried him underground.
The doors opened.
A massive room waited beyond them.
Screens covered the walls.
Files lined shelves.
Photographs.
Birth records.
Medical charts.
Every person in the city who mattered.
Rafe saw Victor Hale.
Then Anna.
Then Isabella.
Then himself.
Hundreds of photographs.
Different ages.
Different identities.
Different lives.
A voice echoed through the room.
"Welcome home."
Rafe turned.
Gabriel stood on a balcony above him.
The old man looked tired.
Not powerful.
Tired.
"You."
Rafe glared.
"Where is Isabella?"
"Alive."
"Where?"
"Safe."
"Bring her here."
Gabriel shook his head.
"No."
"Then why am I here?"
"Because you need to know the truth."
Rafe laughed.
"I've heard that line all night."
Gabriel stepped closer.
"Your memories weren't erased."
Rafe froze.
"What?"
"They were divided."
"Meaning?"
"Some memories belong to you."
"Some belong to others."
Rafe's heartbeat accelerated.
"Why?"
"Because you were used as a storage vessel."
Rafe stared.
"Storage for what?"
"Identities."
Gabriel pointed toward a machine.
Every screen lit simultaneously.
Faces.
Millions of data points.
Voice recordings.
Medical scans.
Behavior patterns.
"You were the prototype."
Rafe stared.
"The first human identity archive."
He felt sick.
"You put other people's memories in me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because people die."
Gabriel smiled.
"Information shouldn't."
Rafe stepped backward.
"Then what's inside my head?"
Gabriel's answer was quiet.
"The original Victor Hale."
Rafe froze.
"And Gabriel Vance."
Rafe's blood ran cold.
"And Daniel Mercer."
He couldn't breathe.
"All of them."
Gabriel nodded.
"Your mind carries copies."
Rafe touched his head.
"Then who am I?"
Gabriel looked almost proud.
"The first person to become entirely yourself."
Rafe suddenly heard voices.
His father's.
Victor's.
Daniel's.
His mother's.
All overlapping.
He fell to his knees.
Gabriel approached.
"The voices are fighting."
Rafe closed his eyes.
Then he heard something else.
A whisper.
His own.
"Rafe."
He opened his eyes.
He stood.
The voices vanished.
Gabriel stared.
"How?"
Rafe looked at him.
"I don't know."
Gabriel smiled.
"Neither do I."
A gunshot rang out.
Gabriel fell.
Rafe spun.
Isabella stood in the doorway.
Alive.
Holding a gun.
She looked at Rafe.
"That wasn't Gabriel."
Rafe froze.
"What?"
Isabella's face filled with fear.
"The man you just killed..."
She pointed toward Gabriel's body.
"...was a decoy."
Rafe stared.
"Then where is the real Gabriel?"
Isabella whispered:
"Inside you."
Rafe's blood ran cold.
And then a voice spoke from inside his own head.
"Hello, son."
It was Gabriel.
Alive.
Not in the room.
Inside him.
Rafe screamed.
May you like
The lights exploded.
And the entire underground facility began to burn.
