Chapter 11 - The funeral home was empty.That was the first thing David noticed.
No staff.
No cars.
No lights.
Yet every door was unlocked.
David entered with Mark, Rebecca and Emily.
The same building where his funeral had been held the day before.
Except now the flowers were gone.
The coffin was still there.
Open.
David stared at it.
"This is sick."
Mark checked the room.
"Nobody."
David walked toward the coffin.
Something was carved inside.
A name.
EMILY WHITMORE.
David froze.
Rebecca grabbed Emily.
"We're leaving."
The doors slammed shut.
The lights came on.
Dozens of television screens activated around the room.
A familiar face appeared.
Dr. Mercer.
"Welcome back."
David shouted:
"Where are you?"
Mercer smiled.
"Closer than you think."
David turned.
Every mirror in the room showed cameras hidden behind the walls.
Mercer continued.
"You've always been stubborn, Elias."
"Where's Thomas?"
"Dead."
David's expression changed.
"What?"
"Your brother tried to interfere."
Rebecca covered her mouth.
David stepped forward.
"You killed him."
"No."
Mercer smiled.
"He killed himself."
David clenched his fists.
"Let us go."
Mercer shook his head.
"You still don't understand."
"Then explain."
"The Black Ledger was never designed to control governments."
David waited.
"It was designed to control memory."
Mercer leaned closer to the camera.
"Think about it."
He clicked something.
A video appeared.
Emily as a child.
Six years old.
Sitting in Room 17.
David's face drained of color.
"No."
Emily stared at the screen.
"I've been here before."
Rebecca began crying.
Mercer continued.
"Emily was our most successful subject."
David turned toward Rebecca.
"What did you do?"
Rebecca shook her head.
"I didn't know."
Mercer laughed.
"You knew enough."
David watched the footage.
Emily was sitting in the same chair.
A doctor asked her:
"Where is the Ledger?"
Young Emily answered:
"I don't know."
"What did your father tell you?"
"I don't remember."
Mercer paused the video.
"She was trained not to remember."
David looked at Emily.
"How old were you?"
"Six."
His stomach turned.
"You've been protecting that memory all these years."
Emily began crying.
"How?"
Mercer answered from the speakers.
"Because your father hid the Ledger inside your memories."
Silence.
David stared.
"What?"
"The physical drive is only part of it."
Mercer smiled.
"The complete Ledger exists inside Emily's brain."
David understood.
The red box had been a key.
The real information was stored in her memory.
Mercer continued.
"That's why we needed her alive."
Rebecca screamed:
"Leave her alone!"
Mercer laughed.
"And that's why we needed you dead."
David looked at Mark.
"Can we stop the transmission?"
Mark shook his head.
"The building is wired into an external server."
David thought quickly.
The lights flickered.
A door opened behind them.
Someone entered.
Thomas.
David stared.
"You're alive."
Thomas nodded.
"Barely."
Mark raised his weapon.
Thomas said:
"Put it down."
"You lied."
"I needed them to believe I was dead."
David stepped closer.
"Why?"
Thomas looked at Emily.
"Because I found out what was inside her memory."
David's voice became quiet.
"What?"
Thomas whispered:
"Proof that Mercer wasn't the person running this."
The screens went black.
Mercer's voice disappeared.
Another voice replaced it.
Female.
Calm.
Familiar.
Rebecca.
But Rebecca was standing beside David.
David slowly turned toward her.
The voice from the speakers said:
"Hello, Elias."
Rebecca's face turned white.
David stared at her.
"Who is that?"
Rebecca whispered:
"I don't know."
The voice continued.
"I know exactly who you are."
A pause.
"And I know what you did."
David looked at Rebecca.
Then at Thomas.
Then at Emily.
The voice said:
"You killed the original founder of Project Echo."
David's heart stopped.
"Who?"
The speakers crackled.
Then one name appeared across every screen.
REBECCA WHITMORE.
David looked at his wife.
She had tears in her eyes.
The voice continued:
"Your wife isn't Rebecca."
A pause.
May you like
"She's the woman who created Echo."
David felt the floor disappear beneath him.
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