Chapter 5 - Daniel stared at Victor Kane.The man hadn’t aged as much as he should have.
That was the first thing Daniel noticed.
Victor looked perhaps fifty.
Daniel remembered him being nearly sixty twenty years ago.
“You’re supposed to be dead,” Daniel said.
Victor smiled.
“So are many people in this building.”
He raised the gun.
“Step away from the glass.”
Daniel didn’t move.
“You took my son.”
Victor shrugged.
“Your father did.”
“You worked for him.”
“I worked for the family.”
“You killed people.”
Victor’s smile faded.
“I prevented disasters.”
Daniel looked through the glass.
Eli stood perfectly still.
Too calm.
Almost rehearsed.
Victor noticed.
“You see him and think you’ve found your son.”
Daniel narrowed his eyes.
“I have.”
“No.”
Victor pointed toward Eli.
“That isn’t the boy you lost.”
Eli suddenly looked angry.
Victor continued.
“Your son remembers things he should never know.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“What does that mean?”
“Ask him.”
Daniel looked at Eli.
“Eli?”
His son approached the glass.
“Dad.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“I came for you.”
Eli smiled.
“You came too late.”
“What happened to you?”
“I remembered.”
“Remembered what?”
Eli touched the glass.
“My birth.”
Daniel frowned.
“Your birth?”
Eli nodded.
“I remember the room. The lights. Grandma screaming. Grandpa holding me.”
Daniel glanced at Vanessa.
She covered her face.
Eli continued.
“I remember being taken downstairs.”
Daniel whispered, “You were a baby.”
“I know.”
“How can you remember that?”
Eli stared directly into his eyes.
“Because they taught me how.”
Victor interrupted.
“That’s enough.”
Eli turned.
“You’re afraid.”
Victor’s face tightened.
Eli smiled.
“You should be.”
The lights flickered.
Then every monitor in the laboratory switched on.
Hundreds of recordings appeared.
Faces.
Families.
Children.
Different countries.
Different decades.
Daniel stared.
“This isn’t just my family.”
Victor said nothing.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“What is this?”
Marcus whispered.
“The program.”
“Which program?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Project Memory.”
Daniel felt sick.
“How many?”
“Thousands.”
Victor finally spoke.
“Not thousands.”
He looked at Eli.
“Millions.”
Daniel stepped backward.
“What did my family build?”
Victor answered:
“A weapon that doesn’t need bullets.”
Suddenly the laboratory glass cracked.
A thin fracture spread across it.
Then another.
Eli stared at Daniel.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“You need to find Emma.”
Daniel froze.
Victor raised the gun.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Eli continued.
“She isn’t dead.”
Daniel looked at Victor.
The room went silent.
“My sister is alive?”
Victor sighed.
“Technically.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“Where?”
Victor pointed toward the floor.
“Below her.”
Daniel stared.
“What does that mean?”
Victor smiled.
“Your sister found something that even your father feared.”
Then the entire facility shook.
An explosion echoed from somewhere below.
Victor looked genuinely frightened for the first time.
“No.”
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
Victor whispered:
“She woke up.”
Eli stepped backward.
“Who?”
Victor looked at Daniel.
“Your mother.”
A second explosion shook the room.
Lights went out.
When they came back on, the glass wall was empty.
Eli had disappeared.
Daniel turned.
Victor was gone too.
Only Vanessa remained.
Daniel grabbed her shoulders.
“Where did they take him?”
Vanessa looked at the floor.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel’s voice became ice.
“Then I’ll find out.”
A hidden panel suddenly opened in the wall.
Inside was a small envelope.
Daniel pulled it out.
His name was written on the front.
In Emma’s handwriting.
He opened it.
Inside was one sentence.
Daniel, when you read this, do not trust the person who says she is your mother.
Underneath it was a photograph.
Daniel turned it over.
His blood ran cold.
The photo showed Lily standing in the mansion hallway.
May you like
Beside her stood Emma.
And behind both of them stood a woman who looked exactly like Daniel’s dead mother.
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