Chapter 13: The Room Beneath the House
The steel door groaned as it opened.
A breath of cold air drifted upward from the darkness below.
No one spoke.
Not Marcus.
Not Isabella.
Not even Harper.
It was as if the mansion itself had been holding its breath for decades, waiting for this exact moment.
Dominic checked the magazine in his pistol.
"Marcus."
"Yes."
"You stay with Harper."
Marcus frowned.
"I'm not leaving your side."
"You are."
"The people behind Falcon have spent years trying to reach her."
"If this is a trap..."
Dominic looked toward the little girl.
"...she comes first."
Marcus hesitated.
Then nodded.
"I'll die before anyone touches her."
Harper squeezed Dominic's hand.
"Daddy..."
He knelt in front of her.
"I'll be back."
She searched his face.
"You promise?"
Dominic smiled.
"I've broken a lot of promises in my life."
"But not to you."
Only three people descended the staircase.
Dominic.
Isabella.
Daniel.
The stairs spiraled deep beneath the mansion.
Far deeper than any tunnel they had discovered before.
Concrete walls replaced stone.
Modern construction.
Reinforced steel.
Someone had built this place long after the estate was finished.
At the bottom waited a massive circular door.
No handle.
No keypad.
Only a small biometric scanner.
Daniel examined it.
"It still has power."
Dominic stepped closer.
The scanner suddenly activated.
A calm female voice echoed through the corridor.
Identity confirmed.
Subject: D-01.
Welcome home.
Daniel slowly turned toward Dominic.
"D-01?"
Dominic's stomach tightened.
"I've never been here."
The computer disagreed.
The vault door unlocked.
The chamber beyond looked nothing like the rest of the mansion.
It resembled a research laboratory frozen in time.
Rows of glass capsules lined both walls.
Most were shattered.
Empty.
Some still contained faded medical equipment.
Others...
Contained skeletons.
Human skeletons.
Small ones.
Children.
Daniel covered his mouth.
"My God..."
Isabella closed her eyes.
"They never buried them."
Dominic walked silently through the room.
Each capsule bore a metal plaque.
A-03.
C-11.
F-08.
The same designations from the journal.
Then he reached the final capsule.
H-17.
Empty.
A handwritten note had been taped to the glass decades earlier.
Removed by I.V.
Dominic looked at Isabella.
"You."
She nodded.
"I took Harper."
"No."
Dominic frowned.
"That timeline doesn't fit."
"Harper wasn't even born."
Isabella looked at him sadly.
"Because H-17 wasn't Harper's original designation."
The room fell silent.
Daniel whispered,
"What do you mean?"
Isabella walked to another cabinet.
Inside rested dozens of patient files.
She removed one.
On the front was written:
D-01
She handed it to Dominic.
"Read it."
His hands felt strangely heavy as he opened the file.
The first page listed basic information.
Subject Number:
D-01.
Age at Admission:
Five years.
Guardian:
Victor Vale.
Procedure:
Phase One Memory Integration.
Dominic stopped breathing.
Age five.
Not fifteen.
Not twenty-three years ago.
Thirty-three years ago.
His entire childhood had been built on a lie.
He turned another page.
A photograph slipped onto the floor.
It showed a frightened little boy sitting inside one of the glass capsules.
Electrodes covered his head.
Tears streamed down his face.
Dominic picked it up.
He recognized the child instantly.
Himself.
Suddenly...
A memory exploded inside his mind.
Not a dream.
Not a flash.
A real memory.
Bright white lights.
Doctors in masks.
A man standing behind the glass.
Victor Vale.
Young Dominic screamed.
"I want my mom!"
Victor didn't move.
One doctor injected a clear liquid into Dominic's neck.
The room spun.
The last thing the little boy heard before darkness swallowed him was Victor's voice.
"When he wakes up... he won't remember any of this."
Dominic staggered backward.
Daniel caught him.
"You okay?"
Dominic looked at his own trembling hands.
"I remember."
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
"I prayed that day would never come."
A metallic sound echoed from deeper inside the laboratory.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Someone was walking toward them.
Dominic raised his pistol.
A figure emerged through the darkness.
Not Edwin.
Not Marcus.
A woman.
Middle-aged.
Wearing a faded white lab coat.
Gray hair tied neatly behind her head.
She calmly removed her glasses.
"I wondered how long it would take."
Isabella gasped.
"No..."
The woman smiled faintly.
"Hello, Isabella."
Daniel looked between them.
"You know her?"
Isabella whispered one name.
"Dr. Evelyn Ross."
The woman nodded politely.
"Former Chief Neurologist, Project Falcon."
Former.
Dominic didn't lower his weapon.
"I've been looking for answers."
Dr. Ross smiled.
"And you've found the wrong questions."
She walked toward the empty H-17 capsule.
"I designed the memory-transfer protocol."
Daniel stared at her.
"You're responsible for all this?"
"I helped build it."
She looked at Dominic.
"But I also destroyed it."
Dominic frowned.
"Then help me."
She sighed.
"I would."
"But we're out of time."
Marcus's voice suddenly exploded through Dominic's radio.
"DOMINIC!"
Static.
Gunfire.
Screaming.
Then Marcus again.
"They're inside!"
"They took Harper!"
The radio went dead.
Dominic's face turned white.
He sprinted toward the staircase.
Dr. Ross called after him.
"Dominic!"
He stopped for half a second.
She spoke the one sentence that froze him in place.
"Harper wasn't the child Project Falcon chose."
Silence.
Dr. Ross looked directly into his eyes.
May you like
"You were."
End of Chapter 13
