Chapter 7 - The gunshot never came.Carter moved first.
He threw himself between Reagan and the doorway.
Reagan fired.
The bullet struck Carter in the shoulder.
He collapsed.
“Carter!”
My father fired.
Reagan disappeared behind the console.
I dragged Carter behind cover.
Blood soaked his jacket.
“You idiot,” I whispered.
He smiled.
“You're welcome.”
My mother crawled toward us.
Reagan shouted from behind the server.
“This changes nothing!”
Robert stepped forward.
“Reagan, you're finished.”
She laughed.
“No.”
She pressed a button.
The entire facility began locking down.
Steel doors slammed.
Emergency lights flashed.
A countdown appeared.
00:29:58
My father stared at the screen.
“What did you do?”
“I started the transfer.”
“What transfer?”
“Every identity in the Legacy database.”
The countdown continued.
Twenty-nine minutes.
Robert looked at me.
“You have to destroy the server.”
“How?”
“Both keys.”
I looked at the biometric terminals.
“Then let's do it.”
He stepped toward the console.
Reagan emerged from cover.
“Stop.”
She aimed at my mother.
“This is the choice you've always been bad at, Robert.”
My father froze.
Reagan smiled.
“Save the system, or save your family.”
I looked at her.
“You've lost.”
“Have I?”
She pressed another button.
A screen appeared.
Security footage.
Thousands of buildings.
Government offices.
Military bases.
Police stations.
People sitting at desks.
People unaware that their lives were about to be rewritten.
“This is Legacy,” Reagan said.
“The world you're trying to save already belongs to us.”
My father looked at me.
“Charlotte.”
I nodded.
We had no time.
Carter whispered.
“There's a third option.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He pointed toward the server.
“The system doesn't know about the manual relay.”
“Where?”
“Behind the cooling unit.”
I moved.
Reagan saw me.
She fired.
The bullet struck metal inches from my hand.
I reached behind the server.
Found the relay.
Pulled the cover.
Wires.
Three switches.
“One of these?”
Carter shook his head.
“None.”
“What?”
“The relay isn't a shutdown.”
“What is it?”
“A broadcast.”
I understood.
“Broadcast what?”
“The original identities.”
I stared.
“If we activate it, every forged record is exposed.”
“Yes.”
“And every secret database becomes public?”
“Yes.”
Reagan's expression changed.
“No.”
She stepped forward.
My father smiled.
“You should have destroyed the original archives.”
Reagan raised her weapon.
I kicked it from her hand.
She attacked.
We hit the floor.
She was stronger than she looked.
She drove an elbow into my ribs.
I rolled.
She reached for the weapon.
I caught her wrist.
“You murdered my father's life.”
She laughed.
“He was never yours.”
I twisted harder.
“You lied about his death.”
“I protected the system.”
“You erased my mother.”
“I protected her by making her disappear.”
I froze.
“What?”
Reagan smiled.
“Yes.”
That sentence distracted me long enough for her to headbutt me.
She grabbed the gun.
My father tackled her.
They crashed into the server.
The countdown continued.
00:17:11
My father shouted.
“Charlotte!”
I ran to the terminal.
My hand on the scanner.
FIRST AUTHENTICATION CONFIRMED.
Robert placed his hand beside mine.
SECOND AUTHENTICATION CONFIRMED.
The screen changed.
LEGACY SHUTDOWN OR GLOBAL DISCLOSURE?
Two options.
A shutdown would destroy the network.
A global disclosure would expose it.
I looked at my father.
“What happens if we shut it down?”
“The evidence disappears.”
“And disclosure?”
“Millions of people will see what the government has been hiding.”
“Lives could be destroyed.”
“Yes.”
“What would you choose?”
My father looked at me.
“The truth.”
I pressed GLOBAL DISCLOSURE.
The screen turned red.
WARNING. IRREVERSIBLE.
Reagan screamed.
“No!”
She broke away from my father and ran toward the console.
Carter shot her in the leg.
She collapsed.
The system began transmitting.
Across the world, encrypted files unlocked.
Hidden bank accounts.
False identities.
Military black sites.
Illegal operations.
Names of officials.
Names of contractors.
Names of judges.
The Legacy network began to die.
Then every monitor in the control room flashed the same message.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
We thought it was over.
Then one final screen appeared.
PRIMARY SUBJECT: CHARLOTTE BENNETT
I stared.
A file opened.
My complete medical history.
My military record.
My fingerprints.
My blood type.
Then a file I'd never seen.
ORIGINAL LEGACY SUBJECT.
I looked at my father.
“What is this?”
He didn't answer.
I opened the file.
There was a photograph of me as a child.
Beside it was another photograph.
A different girl.
Same age.
Same face.
The name under the second photograph was:
EMILY BENNETT.
I looked at my father.
“Who is Emily?”
He closed his eyes.
My mother started crying.
May you like
Robert whispered:
“Your twin.”
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