Chapter 7 - Echo ProtocolThe house transformed in seconds.
Metal shutters dropped over the windows.
The doors locked.
The lights changed to emergency red.
Lily screamed.
Daniel grabbed her.
“Stay behind me.”
The voice continued through the speakers.
“Subject Echo has been located.”
Evan pulled out his weapon.
Vanessa ran toward the security room.
“Don't touch the system!” Daniel shouted.
She ignored him.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to stop them from taking control.”
She opened the panel.
Her fingers moved quickly.
Daniel watched.
She knew exactly where every wire went.
“You've done this before.”
“Yes.”
She removed a small module.
The house went silent.
For three seconds.
Then every monitor came back on at once.
Hundreds of video feeds filled the screens.
Daniel saw himself.
Sleeping.
Eating.
Working.
Arguing.
Holding Lily.
Driving.
Getting married.
Every moment had been recorded.
Years of his life had been watched.
Lily appeared on another screen.
As a baby.
Then six months old.
One year.
Two.
Three.
Daniel felt sick.
“They've been watching her since birth.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We were looking for the marker.”
“What marker?”
Evan moved toward the largest monitor.
The image changed.
A DNA sequence appeared.
“This,” he said.
Daniel stared.
“What is that?”
“A genetic access protocol.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Stop speaking in riddles.”
Evan sighed.
“Your father's company developed a secure biological authentication system for one of its classified projects. The system could only be activated by a specific genetic sequence.”
“My daughter.”
“Apparently.”
Daniel looked at Lily.
She was holding the brass token.
“It isn't her DNA alone,” Vanessa said. “The token and the genetic marker work together.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“How did my father know she would have it?”
“He didn't.”
“Then who did?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“No one.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“What aren't you telling me?”
“I think someone altered the family line.”
Evan looked sharply at her.
“That's impossible.”
“Is it?”
She opened another file.
It contained medical records.
Daniel's.
Vanessa's.
Lily's.
Then another name.
ELIAS STELLAN.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
“My grandfather.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Your grandfather was the original creator of Echo.”
Daniel stared.
“My grandfather died before I was born.”
“That's what the records say.”
“What do you mean?”
“He disappeared.”
Daniel felt as though every generation of his family had been built on a lie.
The house alarm suddenly returned.
The monitor flashed.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS FROM GARAGE.
Someone was entering.
Evan grabbed a flashlight.
“Stay with Lily.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“You need to protect her.”
“And you?”
“I need to find out who came here.”
Vanessa caught Daniel's wrist.
“Don't let Evan go alone.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because he has been lying to you too.”
Evan froze.
Daniel stared at him.
“What did she mean?”
Evan's face hardened.
“I didn't know how to tell you.”
“Tell me now.”
“My father wasn't working for your father.”
Daniel felt his stomach drop.
“He was working for Orpheus.”
“And you?”
“I was born into it.”
“Then why are you helping me?”
Evan looked at Lily.
“Because I learned what Orpheus does to children who become inconvenient.”
A crash came from downstairs.
Glass shattered.
Someone shouted.
Then Lily whispered.
“Daddy.”
Daniel looked at her.
She was staring at the monitor.
“What?”
She pointed.
A camera feed showed a man entering the garage.
The man lifted his face.
Daniel recognized him.
He had seen him in the photographs.
The scar behind the ear.
The face of Richard Stellan.
But the real Richard was supposedly alive.
Daniel stared at the screen.
The man smiled directly into the camera.
Then the speakers crackled.
“Hello, Daniel.”
May you like
The voice was his father's.
“It's time you met the other me.”
Related Stories
