Chapter 7 - David didn't think.He ran.
Mark followed.
Dr. Cross shouted something behind them.
The chamber alarms screamed.
David reached the machine and ripped cables from the wall.
Sparks exploded.
The countdown continued.
42 seconds.
"How do we stop it?" Mark shouted.
"Destroy the central processor!"
Dr. Cross pointed toward a metal panel.
David grabbed a fire extinguisher and smashed it.
The panel broke.
Wires spilled out.
He grabbed the largest cable and pulled.
Nothing.
The machine hummed louder.
30 seconds.
"Cut the power!"
Mark ran toward the breaker room.
David found an emergency lever.
He pulled.
Nothing.
25 seconds.
Dr. Cross stared at the control panel.
"There's another way."
"What?"
"You have to authorize the shutdown."
"How?"
She looked at him.
"With your original identity."
David stared.
"Daniel Vale?"
"Yes."
A keypad appeared.
ENTER ORIGINAL NAME.
David's hands shook.
He typed.
DANIEL VALE.
Access denied.
Mark shouted:
"Try the other identity!"
David typed:
DAVID WHITMORE.
Access denied.
Dr. Cross stared.
"Neither?"
David looked at her.
"What does it want?"
She examined the screen.
Then her face went pale.
"It wants the name you were born with."
David froze.
"I don't know it."
Dr. Cross whispered:
"Neither do I."
18 seconds.
The machine began powering up.
Then David remembered.
A childhood memory.
A woman's voice.
A lullaby.
A name whispered before sleep.
He typed it.
ELIAS GRAY.
Access granted.
Everything stopped.
Silence.
The machine shut down.
David stood motionless.
Dr. Cross stared.
"That's your real name."
David whispered:
"Elias."
He remembered.
Not everything.
But enough.
A small house.
A woman.
A boy version of himself.
A man with a scar.
James Holloway.
And a red box.
David looked at Emily.
"Take me home."
Back at the hospital, Rebecca was still alive.
David entered her room alone.
She opened her eyes.
"Elias."
He froze.
Nobody had called him that except Dr. Cross.
"How do you know?"
Rebecca smiled weakly.
"Because I knew you before David."
He sat beside her.
"Tell me everything."
Rebecca looked at the door.
Then whispered:
"You were an investigator."
David frowned.
"For who?"
"A government contractor."
"Doing what?"
"Tracking an illegal intelligence network."
David stared.
"And James?"
"Your partner."
"Mercer?"
"One of the scientists."
David's hands curled into fists.
"What were you investigating?"
"The Black Ledger."
David's pulse quickened.
"What's in it?"
"Names."
"Whose?"
"Politicians. Judges. CEOs. Intelligence officers."
David stared.
"How many?"
"Enough to bring down governments."
Silence.
"And where is it?"
Rebecca looked toward the window.
"In the red box."
David remembered Emily.
"The box."
Rebecca nodded.
"Emily has it."
David's heart stopped.
"Where?"
Rebecca closed her eyes.
"I hid it inside her room when she was six."
David stood immediately.
They returned home.
Emily followed.
David opened her childhood closet.
Old toys.
Books.
Paintings.
Nothing.
Then he noticed a wooden music box.
He opened it.
Behind the false bottom was a red metal box.
Emily stared.
"I've never seen that."
David opened it.
Inside were documents.
A flash drive.
A photograph.
And a handwritten letter.
David unfolded it.
My dear Elias,
If you're reading this, then your memory has returned.
I need you to understand one thing.
The people who created David Whitmore did not do it to hide you.
They did it to hide what you discovered.
The Black Ledger is not only a record.
It is a weapon.
And whoever controls it controls everyone.
David stopped reading.
At the bottom of the letter was a final sentence.
DO NOT TRUST REBECCA.
David looked up.
Rebecca had followed them into the room.
She stood in the doorway.
Her eyes were full of tears.
David slowly folded the letter.
"Why does it say not to trust you?"
Rebecca looked at him.
"Because when I wrote it..."
She swallowed.
"...I was afraid of what you would become."
Before David could respond, the house alarm began screaming.
Mark ran downstairs.
"Someone's outside!"
A window shattered.
Emily screamed.
David grabbed the red box.
A laser sight appeared across his chest.
Then a voice outside shouted:
"ELIAS GRAY!"
David looked toward the window.
The voice continued.
"Drop the box..."
May you like
A pause.
"...or your daughter dies."
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