Chapter 8 - LILA’S SECRETThe armed men moved.
Ethan kicked the chair into the nearest one.
The room erupted.
He grabbed Emmie and pushed the children behind a desk.
One guard slammed into the wall.
Another reached for Ethan.
Then Daniel's voice burst through a ceiling speaker.
“SECOND DOOR! LEFT!”
Ethan turned.
A narrow emergency door had appeared behind a curtain.
He dragged the children toward it.
Vivian shouted:
“Stop them!”
They ran.
The corridor beyond was dark.
Emmie held the key.
“Where?”
“Left.”
She inserted it into a hidden slot.
The wall opened.
Inside was a tiny room.
A mattress.
A sink.
One steel table.
And photographs everywhere.
Photographs of children.
Photographs of Ethan.
Photographs of Daniel.
One photograph stopped Ethan cold.
His father stood in a laboratory beside Vivian.
And on the table in front of them was the same medical bag attached to Emmie's arm.
Ethan picked it up.
“What year?”
Emmie looked.
“Ten years ago.”
Ethan swallowed.
“That was before you were born.”
Emmie pointed toward the photograph.
“There.”
A handwritten label.
PROTOTYPE 00
Ethan looked closer.
The prototype was a tiny infant.
A baby with a numbered bracelet.
Ethan turned the photograph over.
There was a name.
EMMELINE VALE
He stared.
“Emmie.”
She nodded.
“My real name.”
Ethan's pulse hammered.
“You were involved from birth.”
“I know.”
“Who are your parents?”
She looked at him.
“That's why they kept me.”
A noise sounded outside.
Footsteps.
The guards were coming.
Ethan searched the room.
A metal cabinet contained old files.
He pulled one open.
Inside were six folders.
Five marked dead.
One marked active.
LILA ROSS
The folder was open.
Ethan read the first page.
SUBJECT 06 — DISPLACED
Then another line.
TRANSFER LOCATION: UNKNOWN
He looked at Emmie.
“Lila escaped.”
Emmie nodded.
“She told me the truth.”
“What truth?”
“She said the project wasn't about children.”
“Then what was it about?”
Emmie pointed to the files.
“Adults.”
Ethan frowned.
She whispered:
“They were using us to build something that could be put into adults.”
“What?”
“A memory.”
The room went silent.
Ethan looked back at the photograph.
“You're saying they wanted to transfer memories?”
Emmie nodded.
“They said people would pay anything to remember what they lost.”
Ethan's eyes drifted toward Daniel's photograph.
A terrifying possibility surfaced.
“What happened to my brother?”
Emmie looked down.
“They copied him.”
Ethan stared.
“They copied your brother before they killed him.”
“But he's alive.”
“Part of him.”
The footsteps outside grew louder.
Ethan grabbed the folder.
“We're leaving.”
Emmie shook her head.
“Not yet.”
“What?”
She pointed to another file.
His own.
ETHAN VALE — COMPATIBILITY 99.8%
Ethan opened it.
The final page was not medical.
It was a handwritten note.
His father's handwriting.
He recognized it instantly.
IF ETHAN EVER RETURNS, DO NOT LET HIM SEE DANIEL.
Ethan's fingers went numb.
Underneath was another sentence.
THE BOY ON THE SCREEN IS NOT MY SON.
A heavy knock hit the door.
Ethan stared at the note.
Then came Vivian's voice.
“Now you understand.”
May you like
The door began opening.
“And the worst part,” she said, “is that you still don't know who you're trying to rescue.”
