Chapter 10 - The Betrayal“No!”
Noah ran toward Elias.
Mara pulled him back.
“Stay down!”
Hale stepped into view.
He wore the same red tie.
Always the same.
Always calm.
“You finally remember.”
Noah stared at him.
“You shot my grandfather.”
Hale shrugged.
“He has been dying for years.”
Elias tried to speak.
His voice was weak.
“Don’t listen…”
Hale smiled.
“Ask him.”
Noah looked at Elias.
“Why did you betray them?”
Elias coughed.
“I didn’t.”
Hale laughed.
“Of course he did.”
He walked down the steps.
“Your grandfather helped build the Mercy Protocol.”
Daniel stared at Elias.
“Is that true?”
Elias said nothing.
Hale answered for him.
“He designed the memory extraction process.”
Noah looked at the machine.
“You built this?”
Elias whispered:
“Yes.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“Why?”
“Because I thought it would treat trauma.”
Hale smiled.
“And then we realized trauma could be used.”
Elias looked at Noah.
“I tried to destroy it.”
Hale pulled a gun.
“You failed.”
Noah stepped in front of Elias.
“You’re scared of him.”
Hale raised an eyebrow.
“Excuse me?”
“You could have killed him.”
“But you didn’t.”
Hale’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re smarter than the records said.”
Noah pointed at the machine.
“You need him.”
Hale said nothing.
“That’s why you shot him in the shoulder.”
Daniel glanced at Elias.
The bullet wound was high.
Not fatal.
Noah continued.
“You need him alive.”
Hale smiled.
“Very good.”
He lowered the gun.
“I need his memory key.”
“What key?”
Hale looked at the machine.
“Your grandfather is the only person who knows where the original archive is.”
Elias shook his head.
“I buried it.”
“No.”
“I burned it.”
“No.”
“I destroyed it.”
Hale leaned closer.
“You hid it inside the boy.”
Silence.
Noah felt cold.
“What?”
Hale smiled.
“The recorder they implanted in you wasn’t just a recorder.”
Mara stepped forward.
“What was it?”
“A vault.”
Daniel’s face went pale.
“No…”
Hale continued.
“Your father converted the device before they realized.”
Noah touched his temple.
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
Hale pointed at the scar.
“The archive is inside your neural implant.”
Noah stared.
“Then take it.”
Hale laughed.
“That’s the problem.”
He looked at Mara.
“Removing it will kill him.”
Mara shook her head.
“There may be another way.”
Hale smiled.
“Doctor, that’s why I kept you alive.”
Then the room doors locked.
The machine activated by itself.
Noah felt the floor vibrate.
His mother screamed:
“Noah!”
Hale spoke calmly.
“Let’s open the vault.”
The helmet descended toward Noah’s head.
And Elias whispered:
“Whatever happens, do not remember the river.”
Noah looked at him.
“What river?”
Elias’s face filled with terror.
“The river is where your father died.”
The helmet clicked into place.
The machine turned on.
And Noah remembered water.
Black water.
May you like
A sinking car.
And his father’s hand pushing him toward the surface.
