Chapter 11: Choose Which Son Lives
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
Two boys stood inside the warehouse.
Both looked eight years old.
Both had my eyes.
Both had the same dark hair.
Both were staring at me.
One was Lucas.
The other...
I didn't know.
Marcus stood behind them with one hand resting on the shoulder of the second boy.
He smiled.
“Welcome home, Daniel.”
My throat tightened.
“You're lying.”
“About what?”
“That's not possible.”
Marcus chuckled.
“Which part?”
I pointed toward the boys.
“There can't be two.”
Marcus looked at them.
“There can.”
My mother whispered from behind me:
“Daniel...”
I turned.
She was crying.
“What did you do?”
She shook her head.
“Not me.”
“Then who?”
She looked at Marcus.
“Your father.”
Marcus smiled.
“Finally.”
I stared at him.
“What is this?”
“Your father's final experiment.”
I looked at the two boys.
“One is Lucas.”
Marcus nodded.
“The other is a genetic duplicate.”
“Of me?”
“Yes.”
My stomach twisted.
“Why?”
“Because your father wanted to prove Project Echo could recreate a person.”
I stared at the second boy.
“Then why does he look eight?”
“Because he was created eight years ago.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Lucas was born.”
Marcus nodded.
“And the other?”
“Grown.”
I felt sick.
“You created a child?”
“Your father did.”
Marcus's expression hardened.
“I merely continued his work.”
I looked at the boys.
Lucas took a small step toward me.
“Dad?”
I almost broke.
I moved forward.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Slowly.”
I stopped.
Lucas looked terrified.
“Dad, I'm scared.”
My chest tightened.
“I know.”
The other boy didn't speak.
He simply watched me.
His eyes were strangely calm.
Too calm.
I looked at him.
“What is your name?”
He hesitated.
Then said:
“Eli.”
Marcus smiled.
“Eli was created from your DNA.”
I stared.
“Does he know who I am?”
Marcus nodded.
“He knows everything.”
“Everything?”
“He has your memories.”
I felt a chill.
“My memories?”
“Not all of them.”
Marcus stepped toward Eli.
“He has the memories your father removed from you.”
My head began pounding.
“What memories?”
Marcus smiled.
“The night you were born.”
I looked at Eli.
The boy stared back.
Then he said:
“You were supposed to die.”
My body went cold.
I looked at my mother.
She closed her eyes.
“I'm sorry.”
I stepped toward her.
“Tell me.”
She shook her head.
“Not here.”
Marcus interrupted.
“Here is exactly where you need to hear it.”
He pointed his gun toward Lucas.
“Choose.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Choose which child leaves with you.”
“No.”
“Then neither leaves.”
Lucas began crying.
Eli remained silent.
I looked at Marcus.
“You don't get to make that choice.”
“You misunderstand.”
He smiled.
“The choice isn't between them.”
“What is it?”
“Between your past and your future.”
I didn't understand.
Marcus continued.
“Lucas represents what you became.”
He pointed toward Eli.
“Eli represents what you were supposed to become.”
I shook my head.
“They're children.”
“They are evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“Project Echo.”
I stepped forward.
“You want the research.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“I want the memory.”
I looked at Eli.
“Why?”
“Because your father hid the final sequence inside him.”
“What sequence?”
“The sequence that makes memory transferable.”
My blood ran cold.
“You mean Eli has it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why do you need me?”
Marcus's smile disappeared.
“Because he can't activate it.”
“Why?”
“Because he needs the original.”
He pointed at me.
“You.”
A loud crash came from outside.
Everyone turned.
Police vehicles were surrounding the warehouse.
Nathan looked relieved.
“It's over.”
Marcus laughed.
“No.”
He pressed a button.
The warehouse doors slammed shut.
Metal shutters dropped over every window.
The lights went red.
A siren began blaring.
“Marcus!”
He looked at me.
“You have three minutes.”
“For what?”
“To choose.”
I stared at him.
“Three minutes?”
“Yes.”
“What happens after that?”
He looked toward the ceiling.
“The warehouse burns.”
My mother screamed.
“You wouldn't.”
Marcus looked at her.
“You know I would.”
Nathan raised his gun.
“Put it down!”
Marcus laughed.
“You still think weapons matter.”
He pressed another button.
The floor beneath Nathan opened.
Nathan fell through.
“Dad!”
I ran toward him.
Adrian grabbed me.
“Don't!”
Nathan disappeared into darkness.
I heard him hit something below.
“Adrian!”
“We can't help him yet.”
I turned toward Marcus.
“Let him go.”
“Choose.”
I looked at Lucas.
Then Eli.
My heart was breaking.
I couldn't choose.
Lucas stepped forward.
“Dad.”
I looked at him.
“I know you're scared.”
He nodded.
“I remember you.”
“What?”
“You used to sing to me.”
I froze.
“I don't remember.”
“You don't remember because they took it.”
He pointed at my head.
“They took your memories.”
I looked at Eli.
He finally spoke.
“They didn't take them.”
His voice was strangely calm.
“They buried them.”
Marcus smiled.
“Exactly.”
I stared at Eli.
“What do you remember?”
He looked at me.
“Everything.”
“Tell me.”
“I remember the night you were born.”
“What happened?”
Eli looked at my mother.
“She chose you.”
My mother covered her face.
“Why?”
Eli answered.
“Because you were dying.”
I stared at him.
“Then what happened?”
“You were taken to another room.”
“By whom?”
“Marcus.”
Marcus's smile disappeared.
Eli continued.
“He wanted to see if you would survive.”
I looked at Marcus.
“You experimented on me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were special.”
“How?”
“You could retain memories after sedation.”
My stomach tightened.
“That's why Dad erased them.”
“Yes.”
“Why did he create Eli?”
Marcus looked at the boy.
“Because he wanted a permanent memory carrier.”
I looked at Eli.
“Why does he have my memories?”
“Because your father transferred them.”
“Where?”
“Into him.”
I stepped toward Eli.
“Can I get them back?”
Marcus nodded.
“Yes.”
“How?”
He pointed toward a machine in the corner.
It looked like an old medical scanner.
“You sit inside.”
I stared at it.
“What happens?”
“You remember everything.”
“And then?”
“You die.”
Silence.
Lucas screamed.
“No!”
I looked at Marcus.
“You're lying.”
“Perhaps.”
Eli stepped toward me.
“It's true.”
I looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because he already did it to someone else.”
“Who?”
Eli pointed at Marcus.
“My mother.”
Marcus's face changed.
I looked at him.
“Claire?”
Eli shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
He whispered:
“Your mother.”
I turned toward Evelyn.
She was crying.
“What did he do to you?”
She looked at me.
“He erased my memory.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw what happened.”
“What?”
“The night your father died.”
I stepped closer.
“What happened?”
She swallowed.
“Your father wasn't killed by Marcus.”
“Then who killed him?”
She looked at me.
“You did.”
The room became silent.
I stared at her.
“No.”
“You were there.”
“I was twenty-one.”
“You don't remember.”
“I didn't kill Dad.”
“You did not know what you were doing.”
My heart hammered.
“What did I do?”
My mother whispered:
“Project Echo made you forget.”
I looked at Marcus.
He said nothing.
“Tell me.”
Marcus smiled.
“You were the final experiment.”
I felt sick.
“What experiment?”
He pointed toward Eli.
“Can a human being be programmed to kill someone and then forget?”
My blood froze.
I looked at my mother.
She nodded through tears.
“Your father discovered what Marcus was doing.”
“What happened?”
“He tried to stop him.”
“And I killed him?”
“You were manipulated.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Marcus smiled.
“You've spent years believing your father died of a heart attack.”
I stared at him.
“He didn't.”
“No.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“You killed him.”
Lucas screamed:
“Dad, don't listen to him!”
Eli looked at me.
“It's not true.”
I stared at both boys.
“Which one of you is telling the truth?”
Neither answered.
Then the warehouse floor began shaking.
Smoke started pouring through the vents.
Marcus looked at his watch.
“Time is almost up.”
I looked at Lucas.
Then Eli.
Then the machine.
I finally understood.
Marcus didn't want me to choose between the boys.
He wanted me to choose whether to remember.
If I entered that machine, I might recover the truth.
But I might not survive.
If I refused, the warehouse would burn.
Lucas and Eli would die.
I stepped toward the machine.
Marcus smiled.
“Good.”
Lucas shouted,
“Dad!”
I looked back at him.
“Trust me.”
I climbed inside.
The machine door closed.
The last thing I saw was Eli staring at me.
Then the machine activated.
A violent electric pulse shot through my body.
My vision went white.
Memories came rushing back.
The clinic.
Claire.
My father.
Marcus.
Nathan.
My mother.
A newborn baby.
Then another.
Two babies.
Two bassinets.
And a woman standing over them.
I recognized her.
Not my mother.
Not Claire.
A woman I had never seen before.
She leaned over the first baby.
Then whispered:
“Take Daniel.”
A man answered:
“And the other?”
She smiled.
“Give him to Marcus.”
The machine screamed.
My eyes opened.
I suddenly remembered her face.
I knew who she was.
And I knew why she wanted us separated.
May you like
She was my father's first wife.
And she was still alive.
