Chapter 15 - NOAHNoah looked sixteen.
Leo stared at him.
Same eyes.
Same scar.
Same face.
But something was wrong.
Noah did not look surprised.
He looked prepared.
Sarah raised her gun.
Noah raised both hands.
“Don't.”
“You're coming with us.”
“No.”
“Where's Lucy?”
He smiled.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere none of you can reach.”
Leo stepped forward.
“Noah.”
He looked at him.
“Yes?”
“Are you my brother?”
Noah's expression softened.
“I wanted to be.”
Leo frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Noah looked toward Marcus.
“He knows.”
Marcus said:
“Don't.”
Noah laughed.
“Still protecting them?”
Marcus lowered his eyes.
Noah turned to Leo.
“You had a brother.”
Leo swallowed.
“Who?”
“Me.”
“You're lying.”
“I wish.”
Noah pulled a photograph from his pocket.
It showed Elena holding three babies.
On the back was a handwritten note.
SUBJECT 1. SUBJECT 2. SUBJECT 3.
Leo's fingers trembled.
“Why was I called Subject One?”
“Because you were the original.”
“Lucy?”
“Subject Two.”
“And you?”
“Subject Three.”
Sarah asked:
“What happened to Noah?”
He smiled.
“I'm Noah.”
“You know what I mean.”
His face changed.
“They tried to make me forget who I was.”
Leo realized.
The answer was terrifying.
Noah wasn't another child.
He was the surviving result of the experiment.
A child raised entirely inside Blackridge.
No family.
No outside world.
No identity except what they gave him.
“Why did they create you?”
Noah looked at Leo.
“To replace you.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother refused to let them control you.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“She escaped with him.”
Noah nodded.
“She tried.”
Leo turned sharply.
“With him?”
Noah smiled.
“Your mother didn't leave you.”
Leo froze.
“What?”
“She was taken.”
Marcus whispered:
“Enough.”
Noah ignored him.
“She was taken the night the fire started.”
Leo remembered smoke.
A red door.
His mother screaming.
Marcus carrying him.
Lucy crying.
Then a third child screaming.
Noah pointed at Leo.
“You started the fire.”
Leo stared.
“What?”
“They locked you in the white room.”
Noah's voice softened.
“You were terrified.”
“What did I do?”
“You broke the glass.”
“The glass?”
“The containment chamber.”
Leo felt the memory returning.
A bright flash.
An alarm.
A little boy.
Hands against glass.
A woman screaming.
Noah.
Leo whispered:
“I let you out.”
Noah smiled.
“Yes.”
Sarah looked at Marcus.
“What happened after?”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“The fire spread.”
“And you?”
“I carried Leo out.”
“Lucy?”
Marcus said nothing.
Noah answered.
“She went back.”
Leo turned.
“Why?”
“To save me.”
Silence.
Then Noah looked at the door.
“They found us.”
Sarah raised her gun.
“Who?”
Noah smiled.
“The people you never knew existed.”
The lights turned on.
Every wall screen came alive.
Dozens of faces appeared.
Judges.
Police chiefs.
Businessmen.
Doctors.
Politicians.
People whose names were hidden in Blackridge files.
Noah looked at Leo.
“You wanted to know who ordered it?”
Leo stared at the screens.
May you like
Noah whispered:
“You're looking at them.”
