Chapter 14: The Choice
Marcus hit the floor as bullets ripped through the hallway.
Splinters exploded from the oak paneling.
The mansion had become a war zone.
"Move! Move!"
His security team returned fire as masked attackers poured through hidden passages that had remained sealed for decades.
They weren't ordinary mercenaries.
They knew the estate.
Every blind corner.
Every escape route.
Every security camera.
Someone had trained them here.
Harper clung to Mia's hand inside Dominic's bedroom.
The reinforced steel door held... for now.
Outside, automatic gunfire echoed closer every second.
Mia looked at Marcus through the security monitor.
"They're coming."
Marcus slammed a fresh magazine into his rifle.
"I know."
The electronic lock suddenly flashed red.
ACCESS OVERRIDE
Marcus frowned.
"That's impossible."
Only Dominic possessed master access.
The lock disengaged with a mechanical click.
The door slowly opened.
A lone figure stepped inside.
Edwin.
Still dressed in his immaculate butler's uniform.
Not a weapon in sight.
He simply stood there.
Calm.
Patient.
As if arriving for afternoon tea.
Marcus aimed his rifle.
"One more step and you're dead."
Edwin smiled.
"You won't shoot."
Marcus didn't answer.
"You need me alive."
"No."
Marcus's finger tightened on the trigger.
"I really don't."
He fired.
BANG!
The bullet struck Edwin squarely in the chest.
He stumbled backward.
Then...
Laughed.
Marcus stared in disbelief.
Edwin slowly opened his jacket.
A ceramic ballistic plate lay beneath his shirt.
The bullet had shattered harmlessly against it.
"I expected better."
Meanwhile...
Dominic raced back through the underground laboratory.
Dr. Evelyn Ross followed close behind.
"You can't save Harper unless you understand why they came!"
Dominic never slowed.
"I don't have time."
"You don't have a choice."
She grabbed his arm.
"For thirty years Falcon searched for the perfect neurological host."
"You survived."
Dominic stopped.
"They failed to control you."
"So they started over."
"Harper."
Dr. Ross nodded.
"They believed she would finish what you couldn't."
Daniel interrupted.
"Then why kidnap her now?"
Dr. Ross looked away.
"Because she's changing."
"Changing how?"
"The memories are becoming her own."
Dominic frowned.
"I don't understand."
Dr. Ross sighed.
"When memory transfer begins..."
"The host repeats information."
"Later..."
"The host starts questioning it."
"And finally..."
"They overwrite the implanted memories."
Daniel's eyes widened.
"You mean..."
Dr. Ross nodded.
"Harper is destroying the Director."
Back upstairs...
Edwin slowly removed his gloves.
His wrists bore countless surgical scars.
Not one.
Hundreds.
Marcus recognized them immediately.
Neurosurgical access points.
Edwin noticed him staring.
"I've died many times."
Marcus frowned.
"What?"
"The Director's memories have lived in twelve different bodies."
Silence.
"I am merely the thirteenth."
Harper looked up.
"What does that mean?"
Edwin smiled warmly.
"It means I've been waiting to meet you."
Mia stepped in front of Harper.
"You'll never touch her."
Edwin's expression softened.
"You misunderstand."
"I don't want to hurt her."
Marcus barked,
"Then why are you here?"
Edwin answered honestly.
"To save her."
No one moved.
Edwin slowly reached into his pocket.
Marcus aimed higher.
"Don't."
Edwin ignored him.
Instead of a weapon...
He produced an old photograph.
He placed it gently on the floor.
Marcus glanced down.
His blood froze.
The picture showed Isabella.
Victor.
Young Dominic.
And...
Edwin.
Standing beside them.
Twenty-eight years earlier.
Marcus whispered,
"You were there..."
Edwin nodded.
"I helped raise Dominic."
Dominic had never remembered him.
Because someone had erased him.
At that exact moment...
Dominic burst into the room with Daniel and Dr. Ross.
He stopped the instant he saw the photograph.
Another memory slammed into him.
A warm summer afternoon.
A smiling man teaching a little boy how to play chess.
The same gentle voice.
"Always protect the king... but never forget the child."
Dominic staggered.
"You..."
Edwin looked at him with genuine affection.
"You finally remember."
Dominic raised his pistol.
"I remember enough."
"Then shoot."
Edwin spread his arms.
"If that's the man you've decided I am."
Silence.
Dr. Ross stepped forward.
"Don't."
Dominic frowned.
"Why?"
"Because Edwin never volunteered."
Everyone turned toward her.
She continued.
"The Director died sixteen years ago."
"The transfer into Edwin..."
"...was forced."
Edwin closed his eyes.
"I fought him every day."
"For sixteen years."
Marcus looked confused.
"Then why attack us?"
Edwin smiled sadly.
"I didn't."
"What?"
"The men outside don't work for me anymore."
Gunfire erupted again downstairs.
One of Marcus's guards screamed over the radio.
"They're breaching the west wing!"
Edwin listened carefully.
Then whispered,
"They're early."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Edwin looked directly at him.
"The real enemy."
Silence.
"You've spent months chasing Project Falcon."
He shook his head.
"Falcon ended years ago."
Dominic frowned.
"Then who's attacking my home?"
Edwin answered quietly.
"The people who created Falcon."
The room fell silent.
Even Dr. Ross looked stunned.
"No..."
Edwin nodded.
"They called themselves..."
Before he could finish...
A laser dot appeared on his forehead.
Dominic shouted,
"DOWN!"
The sniper's bullet tore through the window.
CRACK!
Edwin threw himself in front of Harper.
The round pierced his shoulder instead.
He collapsed.
Blood spread rapidly across the floor.
Dominic reached him first.
"Stay with me!"
Edwin smiled weakly.
"I've protected you..."
"...since you were five."
Dominic pressed against the wound.
"Who are they?"
Edwin coughed blood.
His final strength gathered into one whisper.
"They're not called Falcon..."
"They're called..."
The words never came.
His eyes widened.
Then...
Stopped moving.
Marcus slowly looked toward the shattered window.
Far away, across the dark forest...
A single red light blinked once.
Then vanished.
Daniel's satellite phone rang at that exact moment.
He answered.
His face drained of color.
"What?"
Dominic looked up.
Daniel lowered the phone.
"The White House just called."
Marcus frowned.
"What does the President have to do with this?"
Daniel swallowed.
"They weren't calling about Falcon."
"They were calling about..."
He looked directly at Dominic.
May you like
"...Project Dominion."
End of Chapter 14
