Chapter 14 - They found the first clue forty minutes later.A tracking signal hidden inside the red box.
Emily had activated it before being taken.
David traced it to an underground facility beneath an abandoned military base.
The place had no public records.
No maps.
No electricity grid.
Nothing.
Thomas looked at the entrance.
"This is it."
David loaded his weapon.
"How many?"
"Too many."
Mark checked his ammunition.
"Good."
David looked at him.
"Good?"
Mark smiled faintly.
"Means we'll be busy."
They entered through a service tunnel.
The corridors were filled with people.
Not guards.
Patients.
Men and women sitting silently behind glass.
Some cried.
Some stared at walls.
Some looked exactly like other people.
David stopped.
"What is this?"
Thomas whispered:
"Identity storage."
People were being transformed.
Names removed.
Memories replaced.
Lives rewritten.
David walked past one room.
A man looked at him.
He whispered:
"Do you know me?"
David stopped.
The man continued.
"They told me my name was Robert."
He pointed at himself.
"I don't remember Robert."
David felt sick.
Then a voice came over the speakers.
"Elias."
Margaret.
"You've come for your daughter."
David shouted:
"Where is she?"
"Room 17."
David froze.
They ran.
The underground chamber was enormous.
At the center was Emily.
Strapped into the same chair.
Rebecca screamed.
"No!"
David charged forward.
Mercer appeared.
Gun raised.
"One more step."
David stopped.
Mercer smiled.
"You never learn."
Thomas aimed his weapon.
Mercer laughed.
"Your brother is already compromised."
Thomas froze.
Margaret entered behind Mercer.
"You always trusted him."
David turned.
Thomas lowered his weapon.
Margaret smiled.
"Look carefully."
Thomas raised his gun.
And shot Mercer.
Mercer fell.
David stared.
Thomas turned.
"I was never working for her."
Margaret's smile vanished.
Thomas ran toward Emily.
Then a gunshot hit him.
He collapsed.
David screamed.
"THOMAS!"
Margaret held the weapon.
She had shot him herself.
Rebecca ran toward him.
David grabbed Emily's restraints.
He tore them open.
Emily collapsed into his arms.
Margaret raised her gun.
"You've always been predictable."
David turned.
She fired.
Mark stepped between them.
The bullet hit Mark.
He staggered.
David caught him.
"No."
Mark smiled.
"Guess I finally got to be the hero."
David looked at the blood spreading across his shirt.
"Stay with me."
Mark whispered:
"Go."
David carried Emily away.
Rebecca followed.
Behind them, alarms began to scream.
The facility was locking down.
Margaret shouted:
"You cannot erase Echo!"
David stopped.
He turned.
"I don't need to erase it."
He looked at Emily.
"I just need to expose it."
Emily understood.
She pulled the black drive from her pocket.
"I know where the server is."
They ran.
The central server room contained hundreds of machines.
David connected the drive.
Files began uploading.
Names.
Evidence.
Photographs.
Everything.
Margaret entered.
She pointed the gun.
"Stop."
Emily kept typing.
Margaret fired.
David pushed Emily aside.
The bullet struck him in the shoulder.
He fell.
Emily screamed.
The upload reached 87 percent.
Rebecca attacked Margaret.
The two women struggled.
Margaret slammed Rebecca against the wall.
David crawled toward the server.
91 percent.
Margaret grabbed Emily.
David fired.
Margaret fell.
The upload reached 100 percent.
Every screen went white.
Then a message appeared:
GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION COMPLETE.
David stared.
"What did we do?"
Emily whispered:
"We told the world."
Sirens began screaming above ground.
Phones started ringing.
News alerts appeared.
Government networks went offline.
People were learning the truth.
Margaret slowly lifted her head.
She smiled.
"You think you've won?"
David looked at her.
"What?"
Margaret laughed.
"You exposed the network."
David waited.
"But you didn't expose the founder."
She pointed at Emily.
David's blood turned cold.
"The founder isn't Margaret."
The screens flickered.
A final identity file appeared.
SUBJECT ZERO.
NAME:
ELIAS GRAY.
David stared.
"Me?"
Margaret smiled.
"You created Echo."
Silence.
Rebecca whispered:
"No."
Margaret laughed.
"You don't remember because you erased yourself."
David looked at the screen.
Everything he believed about his past shattered again.
He had not been a victim.
Maybe he had been the beginning.
And then the last line appeared.
May you like
SUBJECT ZERO STATUS:
ACTIVE.
