Chapter 3 - The Secret Inside the CarAdrian returned to the garage with the photograph clenched in his hand.
Victor saw his expression.
"What happened?"
Adrian placed the photograph on the workbench.
Victor looked at it.
His eyes widened.
"When was this taken?"
"Seven years ago."
Victor looked at the boy.
"That's impossible."
"I know."
The garage suddenly felt smaller.
Adrian picked up the hidden module.
"Open this."
Victor stared at it.
"You think there's something inside?"
"I know there is."
They moved the module to the inspection bench.
It took almost an hour to open.
Inside was a micro-storage device smaller than a fingernail.
Victor carefully connected it to a diagnostic computer.
A folder appeared.
Only one file.
NOAH.
Adrian stared.
"Noah?"
Victor opened it.
The screen filled with lines of encrypted data.
Then a video appeared.
Elias Reed looked directly into the camera.
Adrian stopped breathing.
His old friend looked tired.
His hair was longer.
His face was thinner.
He spoke quietly.
"If you're seeing this, the Asterion has been compromised."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Elias..."
The recording continued.
"The people who are after this technology won't stop. I thought I could protect the project by disappearing."
Victor glanced at Adrian.
"Project?"
Adrian nodded.
The video showed diagrams.
An experimental engine management system.
An energy recovery network.
A predictive control architecture capable of changing engine behavior in real time.
Years ahead of current technology.
Then Elias said something that made Adrian's blood run cold.
"I couldn't leave Noah behind."
Adrian looked at the screen.
"Who is Noah?"
The video continued.
"My son."
Adrian's eyes widened.
"I knew someone would eventually come looking for him."
The recording paused for several seconds.
Then Elias leaned closer to the camera.
"Adrian, if it is you, listen carefully."
Adrian stepped even closer.
"Elias knew."
"I never told you everything about the R9."
Adrian whispered, "What didn't you tell me?"
The recording showed a diagram of the engine.
"The car contains the last physical copy of our research."
Adrian looked at the supercar.
"Not the computer. Not the servers. The engine itself."
Victor stared.
"It's a storage system."
"More than that," Elias said in the recording. "The engine can conceal data inside its calibration architecture."
Adrian felt a chill.
"So whoever sabotaged it..."
"Was trying to destroy the evidence."
The screen flickered.
Then Elias said something unexpected.
"Noah can access it."
Adrian turned toward Victor.
"What?"
Elias continued.
"His neurological pattern allows him to recognize certain sequencing structures faster than any system I've tested."
Victor looked confused.
"You're saying the boy can read engine data?"
"Not exactly," Elias said.
"He sees patterns."
Adrian remembered the boy's hands.
The speed.
The certainty.
The impossible confidence.
Elias looked directly into the camera.
"If Noah has reached you, he knows something is wrong."
The video ended.
Silence.
Victor leaned against the bench.
"How old is the boy now?"
"Ten. Maybe eleven."
Adrian stared at the black screen.
A thought surfaced.
Then another.
The boy had looked at the engine like he had seen it before.
He hadn't learned the system.
He remembered it.
A noise came from the front of the garage.
Adrian looked up.
The doors were locked.
Victor checked the security monitor.
Nothing.
Then every monitor in the building went black.
The overhead lights shut off.
Victor froze.
"Power failure?"
Adrian slowly reached for his phone.
"No."
A red light appeared on the security console.
ACCESS BREACH.
Victor whispered, "Someone's inside."
Footsteps echoed from the darkness.
Slow.
Measured.
Coming closer.
Adrian grabbed a heavy metal bar from the workbench.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
The footsteps stopped.
Then a voice came from behind the supercar.
"Give me the key."
Adrian's heart slammed against his ribs.
A figure stepped into the emergency lights.
Black jacket.
Black gloves.
Face concealed.
The same scarred man from the alley.
Victor raised the metal bar.
The man smiled.
"You really should have left the car dead."
He pulled something from his pocket.
A remote.
He pressed a button.
The Asterion's engine suddenly revved by itself.
Victor shouted.
"What the hell?"
The engine screamed.
Then the hidden compartment unlocked.
A stream of blue light appeared beneath the engine block.
Adrian stared.
The car had activated something.
Something Elias had hidden.
The stranger's smile disappeared.
"No."
The blue light expanded across the floor.
A holographic interface appeared.
And the first line of text read:
NOAH REED: AUTHORIZED USER.
Adrian slowly turned toward the garage door.
The boy was standing there.
May you like
Watching.
And for the first time, Noah looked terrified.
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