Chapter 12 - I couldn't move.My mother looked older.
Smaller.
But her eyes were the same.
The same eyes that had watched me leave for war.
The same eyes that had cried when they handed her my medals.
She smiled.
“You got tall.”
I laughed because I didn't know what else to do.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you died.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they were watching.”
“Who?”
She looked toward the ceiling.
“Everyone.”
Elena stepped forward.
“I told you this would happen.”
My mother lowered her weapon.
“I didn't believe he'd remember this much.”
I stared at her.
“Remember what?”
She gestured toward the walls.
“This place.”
I looked around.
It felt familiar.
Too familiar.
Then I remembered.
A chair.
A table.
A lamp.
A monitor.
My childhood bedroom.
Not the real one.
A replica.
This was where Echo began.
They had brought me here as a teenager.
Before the military.
Before Afghanistan.
Before Rex.
My entire life had been shaped around a program I never remembered entering.
My mother spoke softly.
“You volunteered.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“You did.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel volunteered first.”
I looked at my brother.
He had followed us through the passage.
Blood staining his shirt.
My mother smiled sadly.
“Your brother believed he could destroy the program from inside.”
“And I followed him.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you let them take us?”
“I couldn't stop them.”
She looked down.
“I tried.”
I stared at her.
“What happened?”
“Kane discovered that Daniel was leaking information.”
She paused.
“He threatened you.”
My breath caught.
“He said if Daniel continued, you would disappear.”
“So Daniel stopped.”
“He thought so.”
She looked at the notebook.
“He created Project Echo's final contingency instead.”
I understood.
“The fail-safe.”
“Yes.”
My mother looked at Rex.
“Rex was part of it.”
I knelt beside him.
“You knew?”
“I knew what he carried.”
“What does he carry?”
She looked at the dog for a long moment.
“The memories you lost.”
I swallowed.
“How?”
“Every Echo subject was assigned a sensory anchor.”
“Rex.”
“Yes.”
“When you were conditioned, he was there.”
I looked at him.
The scars.
The loyalty.
The nightmares.
He wasn't simply my partner.
He was the witness to a life I had been forced to forget.
My mother stepped toward the wall.
She pressed her hand against a hidden panel.
A screen appeared.
A satellite map.
Across the country, hundreds of red dots lit up.
“What are those?”
“Echo facilities.”
My stomach dropped.
“Hundreds?”
“Yes.”
“Then this isn't a small conspiracy.”
“No.”
“How big?”
My mother looked at me.
“Bigger than the government.”
The screen changed.
Every red point connected.
A network appeared.
Then a single central point.
Washington.
My mother whispered:
“They call it The Directorate.”
Elena added:
“Kane doesn't control it.”
I turned.
“Who does?”
Neither answered.
Then Rex started barking.
Not at them.
At the screen.
One red dot flashed.
A new location.
My home.
I grabbed the remote.
“What is that?”
My mother went pale.
“They found where your house is.”
“No.”
“Not just your house.”
She pointed.
“The entire neighborhood.”
I stared.
Hundreds of homes.
Hundreds of people.
All connected to Echo.
Then another message appeared.
YOU HAVE ONE HOUR.
SAVE YOUR FAMILY.
OR SAVE THE COUNTRY.
I looked at Elena.
“What happens in one hour?”
May you like
She whispered:
“Kane activates every subject.”
