Chapter 13 - The girl disappeared before we could reach her.Jax tried to track her.
But the trail split.
Three directions.
Three identical scents.
A trick.
We followed the strongest.
It led to an old surgical theater.
Inside was a single chair.
A camera.
And a folder.
My name was written across it.
My father refused to enter.
“Jonathan, we need to leave.”
“No.”
I opened the folder.
The first page was a birth certificate.
My name.
My mother's name.
My father's name.
The second page was different.
A medical form.
Age: 12.
Procedure: memory suppression.
I stared.
“Why was this done?”
My father said nothing.
The third page answered.
Subject witnessed unauthorized transfer of pediatric patients.
I couldn't breathe.
I remembered fragments.
A hallway.
A red door.
Children crying.
My father shouting.
A fire.
Then Jax.
Young.
Bleeding.
Standing beside me.
I touched my temple.
More memories surfaced.
Not nine years ago.
Far earlier.
When I was twelve.
I had seen the network.
I'd seen my father involved.
I had watched him hand a child to a doctor.
Then I had screamed.
That's why they erased my memory.
My father finally spoke.
“I was trying to get you out.”
“You were part of it.”
“Yes.”
“You caused the fire?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
He looked at Voss.
“Elias.”
Voss shook his head.
“Not alone.”
My father looked toward the wall.
“Your mother.”
I stared.
“What?”
“She discovered what we were doing.”
“She tried to expose us.”
“And?”
“She burned the records.”
“She died.”
“Yes.”
I remembered.
My mother had not died in a car accident.
She died in the fire.
Because she had tried to save the children.
My father had lied to me for years.
Why?
Because the people behind the network had threatened him.
Voss stepped closer.
“I didn't create the program.”
“Then who did?”
He looked at Jax.
“Your grandfather.”
I felt numb.
My grandfather.
A man I barely remembered.
A doctor.
The founder of a private medical network.
The original architect of the operation.
The children had been used as human witnesses.
Some disappeared.
Some were relocated.
Some were declared dead.
Some were given new identities.
And one had been chosen as the final witness.
Maya.
She stepped into the room.
“I remember everything.”
Everyone turned.
She looked at me.
“You came for us.”
“When?”
“When you were twelve.”
“Then what happened?”
“Your father made the deal.”
“What deal?”
“He erased you.”
I looked at my father.
He nodded.
“He made them believe you were harmless.”
I felt tears in my eyes.
“You sacrificed my memory.”
“Yes.”
“And Jax?”
“He remembered.”
That sentence explained everything.
Jax had not disobeyed me.
He had remembered for me.
For nine years.
He had carried the memories I was never allowed to keep.
I hugged the dog's neck.
Then the surgical theater doors locked.
Every monitor turned on.
A live broadcast began.
A man appeared on screen.
Old.
Gray-haired.
Sitting behind a desk.
My grandfather.
I hadn't seen him since I was a child.
He smiled.
“Jonathan.”
My father stared at the screen.
“No.”
Grandfather continued:
“You finally remembered.”
Then he leaned closer.
“And now that you have…”
The screen changed.
A map appeared.
Seven red dots.
One in each city.
Then a message:
THE CHILDREN ARE NOT THE TARGET.
I stared.
“What are they?”
Grandfather smiled.
“They are the witnesses.”
He paused.
“You are the target.”
May you like
The screen went black.
Then all seven red dots began moving at once.
