Chapter 9 - The Betrayal Inside the HouseVince Took the Key
Vince raised both hands.
“Don't move.”
I stared at him.
“Give me the key.”
He shook his head.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
“The key is dangerous.”
“It belongs to my family.”
“No.”
His voice was firm.
“It belongs to Thomas.”
Mara stepped between us.
“Vince, what did you do?”
“I followed his instructions.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You always say that.”
Vince looked wounded.
“I kept him alive.”
“You helped Richard.”
“I infiltrated Richard's operation.”
I looked between them.
“Which is it?”
Vince reached into his coat.
He pulled out the brass key.
Then he dropped it on the floor.
“I stole it from Richard's man.”
The relief lasted one second.
Then he said:
“There are two keys.”
Mara froze.
“What?”
Vince looked at me.
“The second one is inside Hollow Pine.”
“Where?”
“In Thomas's room.”
We returned before dawn.
The resort seemed peaceful.
Too peaceful.
Every employee looked away.
Every hallway felt watched.
My brother's room had remained untouched since his death.
I had never entered.
I couldn't.
Fourteen months.
I had stood outside the door countless times.
But never crossed it.
Now I did.
Dust covered the desk.
His books were still arranged by size.
A watch sat beside the bed.
His handwriting marked the calendar.
I walked to the closet.
Mara followed.
“Why here?”
“Because Thomas never trusted safes.”
I looked around.
“What?”
“He said anything important should hide in plain sight.”
I touched the picture frame on his desk.
It moved.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Empty.
Except for a torn piece of paper.
The second key is where the first lie began.
I frowned.
Mara looked at the wall.
“The crash.”
“No.”
She pointed to another object.
A family photograph.
Thomas.
Me.
Our father.
Richard.
My mother.
Five people.
One person had been cut out.
I turned it over.
A date.
October 17, 2009.
Mara whispered:
“That is the beginning.”
I looked at her.
“The beginning of what?”
She found a hidden envelope beneath the frame.
Inside was a hospital bracelet.
Thomas's name.
Date: October 17, 2009.
I stared.
“My brother wasn't sick.”
Mara shook her head.
“Maybe he was.”
The bracelet had one word printed beneath the name.
PATIENT ZERO.
My stomach dropped.
The floor creaked.
We turned.
Ruth stood in the doorway.
She looked older than she had an hour earlier.
“I prayed you'd never find that.”
“What happened in 2009?”
She closed the door behind her.
“Your father brought Thomas to the laboratory.”
“For treatment?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Ruth's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Thomas was the first child they used.”
Silence.
I couldn't breathe.
“Used for what?”
She looked at my trembling hand.
“The same thing they used on you.”
I stepped closer.
“Ruth.”
She finally whispered:
“They were trying to build a human being who could survive memory erasure.”
Mara went still.
“And Thomas was the only one who survived.”
I looked at the hospital bracelet.
The room seemed to tilt.
My brother hadn't discovered the experiment fourteen months ago.
He had been fighting it for seventeen years.
Then Ruth said the words that broke whatever remained of my understanding.
“Your father didn't choose Thomas.”
May you like
She stared at me.
“He chose both of you.”
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