Chapter 9 - THE SIGNATUREGabriel stared at his signature.
His hands shook.
“I didn't sign this.”
Hannah said nothing.
His mother looked away.
Eli watched his father.
Gabriel suddenly remembered something.
His office.
The desk.
A hidden safe.
He had always kept a paper notebook there.
Why?
He never knew.
He rushed back into the mansion through a secondary entrance.
The security system was still offline.
His office had been untouched.
He opened the safe.
Inside was a black notebook.
Hundreds of pages.
Dates.
Names.
Medical observations.
His own handwriting.
Gabriel flipped through the pages.
One sentence appeared again and again.
Eli must never remember.
He froze.
Then another.
Claire knows too much.
Another.
Julian cannot be allowed to return.
Gabriel's breathing became shallow.
It looked like his handwriting.
But he didn't remember writing any of it.
Hannah stood behind him.
“Now you believe me.”
Gabriel turned.
“What happened to me?”
“Your father experimented on your memory.”
“Why?”
“Because you found out what he was doing.”
“What?”
“You tried to expose him.”
Gabriel stared.
“You're saying I was on Claire's side?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did I sign the order?”
Hannah looked at the notebook.
“Because they convinced you Claire was going to kill Eli.”
Gabriel's face fell.
“They showed me false evidence.”
“Yes.”
“They manipulated me.”
“Yes.”
“And I believed them.”
Hannah nodded.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
He had spent eleven months blaming himself for failing Claire.
But there was something worse.
He had unknowingly become the weapon used against her.
Then Eli spoke.
“Dad.”
Gabriel turned.
“There’s another page.”
Eli pointed.
Gabriel flipped forward.
The final entry was dated the day before the explosion.
His handwriting:
If anything happens to Claire, I will activate Protocol 7.
Gabriel frowned.
“What is Protocol 7?”
Hannah looked terrified.
“No.”
“What?”
“You can't activate it.”
“Why?”
“Because it was designed to erase everyone connected to the experiment.”
Gabriel stared.
“Including Eli?”
Hannah didn't answer.
That was enough.
Gabriel grabbed the notebook.
“Where is the activation?”
His mother stepped forward.
“Gabriel, listen.”
“No.”
He opened the desk drawer.
A hidden panel clicked.
A red switch appeared.
Label:
PROTOCOL 7.
Gabriel reached toward it.
Then the mansion speakers came alive.
Julian's voice echoed.
“If you press that button, your son dies.”
Gabriel froze.
Julian continued:
“You have sixty seconds.”
A digital countdown appeared on the wall.
00:59
Gabriel looked around.
“Where are you?”
“Everywhere.”
00:51
Julian laughed.
“You wanted to know what your cameras were for?”
Gabriel stared at the ceiling.
Julian said:
“They weren't watching Hannah.”
A pause.
“They were watching you.”
00:42
Gabriel's mother whispered:
“It's a trap.”
00:35
Gabriel stared at the red button.
Then he realized something.
The countdown wasn't connected to Protocol 7.
It was connected to Eli's wheelchair.
A hidden device beneath the seat had activated.
Eli looked down.
His eyes widened.
“Dad…”
Gabriel ran toward him.
There was a blinking red light under the wheelchair.
00:20
Hannah screamed:
“Get him away from it!”
Gabriel grabbed Eli and threw himself to the floor.
00:10
00:09
00:08
Then the timer stopped.
Silence.
No explosion.
Instead, a hidden compartment opened beneath Eli's wheelchair.
Inside was a small envelope.
Gabriel opened it.
One photograph fell out.
It showed Claire holding a newborn baby.
But Claire wasn't holding Eli.
She was holding another child.
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And written on the back:
THE REAL SUBJECT ZERO IS STILL ALIVE.
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