Chapter 6 - The White RoomEvan fired twice.
The attackers ducked.
Mara pulled Lucas through the rear window.
They ran into the forest.
Bullets tore through branches behind them.
Evan grabbed Lucas's hand.
“Don't let go.”
“I won't.”
They reached a steep ravine.
Mara stopped.
“There’s nowhere to go.”
Evan looked down.
Then across.
A narrow bridge stretched over the ravine.
They crossed.
Halfway across, the bridge shook.
An attacker stepped onto it.
Evan fired.
The man fell back.
They reached the other side.
Mara slammed a hidden switch beneath a rock.
A section of forest floor opened.
A staircase descended into darkness.
Evan stared.
“You have a secret bunker?”
“I had to survive somehow.”
The hatch closed above them.
Inside was a small command room.
Screens.
Maps.
Files.
And photographs of Evan.
Hundreds of them.
Evan walked slowly.
“You've been tracking me.”
“I've been trying to keep you alive.”
“For twenty years?”
“Yes.”
Lucas pointed at a photograph.
“That’s me.”
A picture of him at age three.
Then five.
Then seven.
Then nine.
Evan's stomach turned.
“They watched him.”
Mara nodded.
“Every year.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I thought ignorance would protect you.”
“It didn't.”
“No.”
She stared at the floor.
“It only protected the lie.”
A monitor suddenly turned on.
A live feed.
An underground facility.
A white room.
Empty.
Except for a chair.
Straps.
Cables.
A neural scanner.
Lucas backed away.
“That's where they take people?”
“Yes.”
Evan recognized the room.
Memory slammed into him.
He was twelve.
Strapped into the chair.
His father standing behind glass.
A woman in white.
Dr. Elena Voss.
She said:
“He's resisting.”
His father answered:
“Then increase the dose.”
Evan grabbed the desk.
Mara rushed to him.
“What happened?”
“I remember.”
“What?”
“You were there.”
Mara stared.
“I wasn't.”
“In the memory.”
“I was?”
“No.”
Evan looked at the monitor.
“It wasn't you.”
“Who was it?”
“Elena.”
The screen suddenly displayed an incoming transmission.
A woman's face appeared.
Older.
Gray hair.
Sharp eyes.
Evan stopped breathing.
Dr. Elena Voss.
Alive.
She stared directly at him.
“You finally found the bunker.”
Mara whispered:
“Elena.”
Voss smiled faintly.
“I wondered how long it would take.”
Evan approached the screen.
“Why did you erase my memory?”
“I didn't.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“Then who did?”
Voss looked toward Lucas.
“That is the question.”
Lucas stepped forward.
“Are you the woman I remember?”
Voss's expression changed.
“What did you remember?”
“A room.”
“What else?”
“You said my dad was coming.”
Voss went completely still.
“I've never met you.”
Lucas frowned.
“But I remember you.”
Voss looked at Evan.
“It's starting.”
“What is?”
“His inherited memory.”
Mara shook her head.
“That's impossible.”
Voss answered:
“Twenty years ago, we believed it was impossible too.”
Suddenly alarms blared in the bunker.
Voss's expression turned serious.
“They found you.”
Evan looked around.
“How?”
Voss spoke quickly.
“Your son carries a tracking marker.”
Mara looked at Lucas.
“No.”
“Check behind his left ear.”
Mara grabbed Lucas.
A tiny scar.
Almost invisible.
Voss said:
“They implanted it when he was three.”
Mara looked sick.
“I never knew.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
Evan stared at the screen.
“Can you remove it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Bring him to me.”
“Where?”
Voss gave an address.
Then she added:
“One more thing.”
Evan waited.
“Do not trust the police.”
“Why?”
“Because Helix isn't the only organization involved.”
The transmission cut.
Silence.
Mara whispered:
“How many people know about Lucas?”
Evan looked at the photographs.
Then the screens.
Then the growing red dots on the security map.
“Apparently…”
May you like
He lifted the gun.
“…enough.”
