Chapter 13: My Father Opened His Eyes
For three seconds, I forgot how to breathe.
My father was lying inside the coffin.
Alive.
His eyes were open.
His face was thinner than I remembered, his hair almost completely gray, but there was no mistaking him.
The man I had buried two years ago was staring directly at me.
“Dad?”
His lips moved.
“Daniel.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Nathan whispered behind me:
“This can't be real.”
My father slowly sat up.
The sheet slipped from his chest.
There was a small oxygen tube beneath his nose and a network of wires attached to his arms.
He looked weak.
But alive.
I stepped closer.
“You're alive.”
He nodded.
“I've been alive for two years.”
I felt something inside me snap.
“You let me bury you.”
“I had no choice.”
“No choice?”
My voice echoed through the warehouse.
“You let me believe you were dead!”
“I had to.”
“You let me mourn you!”
“I know.”
“You watched your own funeral!”
His eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
I grabbed the edge of the coffin.
“Why?”
My father looked at Marcus.
“Because if Marcus knew I survived, everyone would die.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“You're still lying to him.”
My father turned toward him.
“Not anymore.”
I looked between them.
“Then tell me everything.”
My father took a slow breath.
“Your mother was right about one thing.”
“What?”
“Project Echo was never about creating perfect children.”
He looked at Lucas.
“It was about controlling memory.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
“No.”
His voice became serious.
“You don't.”
He pointed toward Eli.
“That child isn't a copy of you.”
I looked at Eli.
“Then what is he?”
My father closed his eyes.
“A container.”
The word made my skin crawl.
“For what?”
“Memories.”
I stared at him.
“My memories?”
“Not only yours.”
He looked at Ethan.
“His too.”
Then Adrian.
“And his.”
Finally, Lucas.
“And his.”
I shook my head.
“Why would you put all of their memories into one child?”
“I didn't.”
My father looked at Marcus.
“He did.”
Marcus stepped backward.
“You're making this sound worse than it was.”
My father laughed weakly.
“Worse?”
He pointed at the warehouse.
“You created children to store human memories.”
Marcus's expression hardened.
“Because the world needed a solution.”
“The world needed monsters?”
“The world needed control.”
My father looked at me.
“That was Marcus's belief.”
I stared at Marcus.
“You wanted to control people.”
“Yes.”
“Politicians?”
“Yes.”
“Business leaders?”
“Yes.”
“Judges?”
“Yes.”
“And you used Project Echo to manipulate their memories?”
Marcus smiled.
“Not manipulate.”
“Then what?”
“Replace.”
The word chilled me.
He continued.
“Imagine removing the memory of a betrayal.”
“Or a crime.”
“Or a decision.”
“Then replacing it with something else.”
I felt sick.
“You could make anyone believe anything.”
“Yes.”
“And you wanted to sell that technology.”
Marcus looked toward Ethan.
“No.”
He smiled.
“I wanted to own it.”
My father interrupted.
“That was why I stopped him.”
Marcus laughed.
“You stopped nothing.”
My father looked at me.
“I discovered Marcus had begun testing Project Echo on adults.”
“Who?”
“People who could influence elections.”
My blood ran cold.
“You were going to expose him.”
“Yes.”
“And that's why you faked your death.”
“Yes.”
“But why didn't you go to the police?”
My father looked at Nathan.
“Because the police were already compromised.”
Nathan lowered his eyes.
“Some of them.”
My father continued.
“Marcus had spent years building a network.”
“Money.”
“Blackmail.”
“Manipulated memories.”
“He could make evidence disappear.”
I stared at him.
“So what was your plan?”
“To hide the final research.”
“Where?”
My father pointed at me.
“Inside you.”
I froze.
“You put it inside my memories.”
“Yes.”
“Why me?”
“Because Marcus would never suspect the person carrying the information was also the person he wanted dead.”
I shook my head.
“You erased my memories.”
“I had to.”
“You destroyed my life.”
My father's eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“You made me forget my own brother.”
“I know.”
“You made Claire lie to me.”
“I never wanted that.”
“But you did it.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Claire's photograph.
“She nearly died because of your secrets.”
My father lowered his head.
“I know.”
I stepped closer.
“You don't get to say you did it to protect us.”
He looked at me.
“Then what should I say?”
I swallowed.
“Tell me the truth.”
He nodded.
“The truth is that I was a coward.”
Silence.
“I believed I could control Project Echo.”
“I believed I could protect my children.”
“I believed I could defeat Marcus using his own methods.”
“I was wrong.”
He looked toward Adrian.
“I abandoned one son.”
Then Ethan.
“I hid another.”
Then Lucas.
“I used another as proof.”
Finally, he looked at me.
“And I destroyed your memories.”
My father slowly reached into his coat.
He pulled out a small black device.
It looked like an old voice recorder.
“This contains the final Project Echo sequence.”
Marcus's eyes widened.
“No.”
My father smiled.
“I kept one copy.”
Marcus raised his weapon.
Nathan immediately aimed at him.
“Put it down.”
Marcus ignored him.
“Give me the device.”
My father laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
“What?”
“The sequence is useless without Daniel.”
Marcus stared at me.
My father continued.
“The final sequence requires the original memory pattern.”
Marcus's face changed.
“His memory.”
“Yes.”
Marcus looked at me.
“And Lucas.”
My father nodded.
“The genetic echo.”
Marcus took a step forward.
“That means I need both.”
I suddenly understood.
That was why he had kidnapped Claire.
Why he had taken Lucas.
Why he had hunted me.
He needed us together.
I looked at my father.
“How do we stop him?”
My father didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at the ceiling.
“There's another problem.”
“What?”
He whispered:
“Vivian.”
I turned.
She was gone.
The doorway where she had been standing was empty.
My mother stared at the darkness.
“She wouldn't leave.”
Nathan looked around.
“Where did she go?”
A metallic click came from behind us.
Vivian stepped out of a side corridor.
She was holding a detonator.
Everyone froze.
She smiled.
“You finally understand.”
My father looked terrified.
“Vivian, don't.”
“You lied to me for twenty years.”
“I was trying to protect them.”
“You always say that.”
She raised the detonator.
“Your father betrayed me.”
She looked at Marcus.
“Marcus betrayed me.”
Then she looked at me.
“And now you will pay for all of them.”
I stepped forward.
“Don't hurt the children.”
Vivian smiled sadly.
“I'm not going to hurt them.”
She pressed a button.
A red light began flashing beneath the floor.
My father looked at the ceiling.
“She's activated the facility.”
“What facility?”
“The entire warehouse.”
A countdown appeared on the wall.
05:00
I stared.
“What happens in five minutes?”
My father looked at me.
“The underground laboratory detonates.”
I turned toward the children.
“Get them out!”
Everyone moved at once.
Nathan grabbed Lucas.
Adrian grabbed Eli.
Ethan pulled my mother toward the exit.
I stayed beside my father.
“Come on.”
He shook his head.
“I can't walk.”
“I'll carry you.”
“Daniel.”
“No.”
He grabbed my wrist.
“You have to leave.”
“I'm not leaving you again.”
My father stared at me.
Then he smiled.
“You've always been stubborn.”
“Apparently I got that from you.”
He laughed weakly.
Then the floor shook.
04:12
We started moving.
I pulled my father from the coffin.
His legs barely supported him.
Nathan shouted:
“Daniel!”
I looked up.
Marcus was gone.
The room where he had stood was empty.
I looked at the floor.
A hidden door was closing.
“He's going underground!”
My father grabbed my arm.
“Don't follow him.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where Project Echo began.”
I stared at the closing door.
Then I heard something.
A child's voice.
Not Lucas.
Not Eli.
A third child.
From beneath the floor.
“Dad?”
I froze.
My father looked at me.
His face turned pale.
“That can't be.”
The voice came again.
“Dad... help me.”
I stared at the hidden door.
“Who is that?”
My father whispered:
“The third child.”
I looked at him.
“Vivian's son?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
My father's eyes filled with terror.
“He's your son.”
The countdown reached:
03:00
I stared at him.
“My son?”
He nodded.
“The first child Claire ever had.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Claire's first child is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
My father pointed beneath the warehouse.
“Marcus has been keeping him there for eight years.”
I looked toward the hidden door.
A child's voice cried again.
“Dad, please.”
I ran toward it.
Nathan shouted behind me.
“Daniel, wait!”
I ignored him.
I pulled the door open.
A staircase descended into darkness.
At the bottom, a single light flickered.
And beneath it stood a little boy.
He had Claire's eyes.
My face.
And a scar above his eyebrow.
The same scar I had.
He looked up at me.
“Dad?”
I couldn't move.
Then he said the words that turned my entire world upside down.
“Why did you leave me here?”
Behind me, my father whispered:
“Because you never knew he existed.”
The countdown continued.
May you like
02:17
And somewhere beneath us, Marcus began laughing.
