CHAPTER 12: THE MEMORY THEY COULDN’T ERASE
The voice behind the red door was mine.
Not Emily's.
Not my father's.
Not Dr. Sloan's.
Mine.
The same voice I had heard on the cassette.
The same voice that had been buried somewhere inside my mind for twenty years.
“Victoria…”
I stared into the darkness.
“It's time to remember.”
Gabriel raised his weapon.
“Don't go in.”
I ignored him.
Michael grabbed my shoulder.
“Colonel.”
I pulled away.
“That voice knows something.”
“How do you know it's really you?”
“I don't.”
I opened the door.
The room beyond was enormous.
Unlike the rest of the facility, this place looked untouched by time.
Rows of old monitors lined the walls.
Thousands of files were stored behind glass.
At the center stood a single chair.
Connected to hundreds of wires.
Above it was a sign.
MEMORY ARCHIVE: SUBJECT V-01
I stopped.
“Subject V-01.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“That means…”
“I know.”
I walked closer.
“This is where they tested me.”
A monitor flickered on.
My face appeared.
But I was younger.
Much younger.
Maybe twenty-four.
I was sitting in the same chair.
A technician stood beside me.
Dr. Sloan.
She looked exactly as she did today.
Not a day older.
I stared.
“That footage is impossible.”
Gabriel looked at the date.
“Twenty-two years ago.”
Dr. Sloan's younger self looked into the camera.
“Subject V-01 has entered the final stage.”
My younger voice answered:
“What happens now?”
Dr. Sloan smiled.
“You'll forget.”
My younger self laughed.
“I thought the point was to remember.”
“Not everything.”
“What do I forget?”
“Who you trust.”
My younger self became serious.
“Why?”
“Because trust is the greatest weakness in intelligence operations.”
I watched the footage.
Then my younger self asked:
“What happens to the information?”
Dr. Sloan pointed toward another screen.
“It remains.”
“Where?”
“In your subconscious.”
I frowned.
“That means I can still access it.”
“Eventually.”
“How?”
Dr. Sloan smiled.
“Through your children.”
I froze.
Gabriel stared at me.
“What?”
I looked at the screen.
My younger self had gone silent.
“You said children?”
Dr. Sloan nodded.
“Memory patterns can be inherited.”
My younger self stood.
“You want to use my future children.”
“We want to preserve the information.”
“That's not preservation.”
“What is it?”
“Manipulation.”
Dr. Sloan's smile disappeared.
“You volunteered.”
My younger self shook her head.
“No.”
She looked toward the camera.
“I volunteered to build a defense system.”
She pointed at Dr. Sloan.
“I never volunteered to turn my children into storage devices.”
The recording stopped.
I stood frozen.
Gabriel whispered:
“You fought them.”
“Yes.”
“But they said you created Black Lantern.”
“I created the original system.”
I looked at the screens.
“They corrupted it.”
Michael walked toward the archive.
“Then why didn't you destroy it?”
I stared at the chair.
“Because I couldn't.”
“Why?”
I remembered.
A flash.
A hospital.
My father's face.
A newborn baby.
Emily.
I gasped.
“I was pregnant.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“With Emily.”
“Yes.”
I put my hand against my forehead.
“I discovered what they had done.”
Michael asked:
“What?”
“That they had already encoded Black Lantern into me.”
I remembered another image.
My father holding a file.
Ward standing beside him.
My husband in the corner.
All three arguing.
I heard the words again.
She knows.
Then erase it.
What about the baby?
The baby stays.
I staggered backward.
“They knew about Emily before she was born.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“That's why they watched her.”
“Yes.”
“That's why she was monitored.”
“Yes.”
“That's why the Prescott family wanted her.”
I nodded.
“They weren't interested in Emily.”
Michael looked at me.
“They were interested in what she carried.”
I closed my eyes.
Then another memory surfaced.
A hospital room.
I was holding newborn Emily.
My husband stood beside me.
My father entered.
He looked terrified.
He said:
“Victoria, listen to me.”
I remembered answering:
“What happened?”
He looked at Emily.
“They found out.”
“Who?”
“Ward.”
“What does he know?”
“Everything.”
Then my father handed me a small metal box.
I remembered placing it beneath Emily's blanket.
“What is it?” my younger self asked.
“Insurance.”
“For what?”
“For the day they come for her.”
The memory vanished.
I opened my eyes.
“I remember where it is.”
“Where?”
“At home.”
Gabriel frowned.
“My old house.”
“The house we thought had been searched.”
“Yes.”
“There was a hidden compartment.”
I turned toward the archive.
“Inside it is the original Black Lantern key.”
Michael stared.
“You mean the archive key?”
I nodded.
“The physical one.”
Gabriel looked around.
“Then Ward doesn't have it.”
“No.”
“That means…”
“He can't fully control the archive.”
I smiled for the first time.
“Not yet.”
A sudden alarm exploded through the facility.
Red lights flashed.
A voice announced:
ARCHIVE BREACH DETECTED.
Gabriel looked at me.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
The monitors all changed.
A single message appeared:
SUBJECT V-01 MEMORY RESTORATION: 67%.
Then:
68%.
69%.
My head suddenly exploded with pain.
I dropped to my knees.
“Victoria!”
Gabriel grabbed me.
Images flooded my mind.
Black Lantern.
Ward.
Charles.
My husband.
Emily.
Hundreds of soldiers.
Faces.
Names.
Dates.
Locations.
I screamed.
“Stop!”
The percentage climbed.
75%.
81%.
89%.
Michael shouted:
“Shut it down!”
Gabriel searched the control panels.
“I don't know how!”
My head felt like it was splitting apart.
Then I heard a voice.
My father's.
“Victoria!”
I opened my eyes.
He was standing in the doorway.
Blood covered his uniform.
But he was alive.
“Dad?”
He rushed toward me.
“Don't let it reach one hundred.”
“Why?”
“Because that's what Ward wants.”
My breathing was uneven.
“What happens at one hundred?”
“You'll remember everything.”
“That's good.”
“No.”
He grabbed my shoulders.
“You'll remember everything they did.”
I stared at him.
“Then let me.”
“You'll remember everything they made you do.”
Silence.
My father continued:
“You won't know which memories are yours.”
The number climbed.
92%.
My father looked terrified.
“Victoria, listen to me.”
“What?”
“There are false memories.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“Ward inserted them.”
“Why?”
“To make you believe certain people betrayed you.”
My husband's face flashed through my mind.
His gun.
My father bleeding.
Emily crying.
I looked at my father.
“Was that memory real?”
He hesitated.
“What?”
“The memory of my husband shooting you.”
My father didn't answer.
“Dad.”
He looked away.
“Was it real?”
“No.”
I froze.
“What?”
“It was fabricated.”
“By Ward?”
“Yes.”
“Then where is my husband?”
My father looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel's expression changed.
“I know where he is.”
“Where?”
“The command center.”
I stood.
“Take me there.”
My father grabbed my arm.
“You're not ready.”
“I don't care.”
“Victoria…”
I pulled free.
“My daughter is there.”
I looked at the archive screen.
94%.
“I'm going.”
We ran.
The command center was three levels below.
The deeper we went, the more security doors we encountered.
Every door opened automatically.
My father noticed.
“That's strange.”
“Why?”
“They should require authorization.”
I looked at the lights.
“Maybe they recognize me.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“They're recognizing your memory.”
I stopped.
“What does that mean?”
He looked at me.
“Black Lantern doesn't use passwords.”
“Then what?”
“It uses you.”
The next door opened.
We entered.
The command center was filled with screens.
Hundreds of them.
And in the middle stood my husband.
Alive.
Uninjured.
He turned when he saw me.
“Victoria.”
I raised my weapon.
“Don't move.”
He stopped.
My father raised his gun too.
My husband looked at him.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Ward shot you.”
“No.”
“You let us believe you were dead.”
My husband looked at me.
“I had to.”
I stepped closer.
“Where's Emily?”
He pointed toward the largest screen.
She appeared.
Still in the chair.
But the machine had been removed.
She was awake.
“Emily.”
She looked at the camera.
“Mom?”
I almost broke down.
“I'm here.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Please get me out.”
“I will.”
My husband stepped toward the controls.
“There's a problem.”
“What?”
“Ward has activated the final protocol.”
“What protocol?”
He pointed at the screen.
BLACK LANTERN: NATIONAL ACTIVATION
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
“Every compromised asset will receive a command.”
“What command?”
He looked at me.
“Whatever Ward wants.”
“And if they don't obey?”
“They'll be exposed.”
“Exposed how?”
He opened another screen.
Bank records.
Secret recordings.
Private messages.
Evidence.
Enough to destroy hundreds of powerful people.
My husband said:
“Ward built Black Lantern so nobody could ever leave.”
I understood.
He didn't need soldiers.
He didn't need weapons.
He had leverage.
Every person connected to the system had something to lose.
I looked at my husband.
“How do we stop it?”
“We destroy the archive.”
My father shook his head.
“No.”
My husband turned.
“If we destroy it, everything disappears.”
“Exactly.”
My father pointed at me.
“That's what Ward wants.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He wants the archive destroyed.”
“Why?”
“Because the archive contains evidence against him.”
My husband stared.
“Then what does he want?”
My father answered:
“Control.”
He looked at the screens.
“If Ward activates Black Lantern before the archive is exposed, he can use every secret inside it as leverage.”
I understood.
“He doesn't want to erase the archive.”
“No.”
“He wants everyone to believe he can.”
My husband nodded.
“Then what do we do?”
I looked at the main terminal.
“We release it.”
Everyone stared at me.
My father whispered:
“Victoria…”
“Every file.”
“That's impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible anymore.”
My husband looked at me.
“If you release everything, innocent people will be destroyed too.”
“I know.”
“Governments could collapse.”
“I know.”
“People could die.”
“I know.”
I looked at Emily.
“But if we don't…”
My voice broke.
“They'll keep doing this.”
I placed my hand on the terminal.
The system recognized me.
A message appeared.
SUBJECT V-01 CONFIRMED.
Then:
AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
I looked at my husband.
“What authorization?”
He smiled faintly.
“Yours.”
I pressed my palm against the scanner.
The system scanned my fingerprints.
Then my eyes.
Then my voice.
“Victoria Hart.”
The machine responded:
VOICE CONFIRMED.
I whispered:
“Release Black Lantern.”
The screen flashed red.
WARNING.
THIS ACTION CANNOT BE REVERSED.
I pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
Then another message appeared.
SECONDARY AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
I frowned.
“Whose?”
My husband looked at the screen.
His face went pale.
“Emily's.”
I stared.
“She has to authorize it?”
“Yes.”
“But she's across the facility.”
My husband shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed at the screen.
Emily's face appeared.
She looked directly at me.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“I can do it.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“I remember everything now.”
My heart stopped.
“How much?”
She smiled sadly.
“Enough.”
The screen displayed:
SECONDARY AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Emily looked directly into the camera.
Then said:
“I am Emily Hart.”
The system paused.
VOICE CONFIRMED.
She continued.
“I authorize release.”
Every screen in the facility turned white.
Then thousands of files began uploading.
My father stared.
“It's happening.”
My husband looked at me.
“We just exposed Black Lantern.”
I exhaled.
Then a new message appeared.
Not from the system.
From an external connection.
YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT.
I recognized the sender.
General Ward.
Another message appeared.
NOW EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR SECRET.
Then another.
INCLUDING THE PEOPLE WHO WILL COME FOR YOU.
The facility doors suddenly unlocked.
All of them.
My father looked at me.
“Why would Ward unlock the doors?”
I stared at the screen.
Then understood.
“He wants us to leave.”
My husband frowned.
“Why?”
I looked at the final message.
RUN, VICTORIA.
THE HUNT HAS BEGUN.
Then the screen showed something that made my blood freeze.
A live news broadcast.
Every major American network was reporting the same breaking story.
MASSIVE CLASSIFIED DATA LEAK HITS U.S. GOVERNMENT.
Then the anchor said:
“Authorities are identifying Colonel Victoria Hart as the suspected source.”
I stared at the screen.
My father whispered:
“They're blaming you.”
I nodded.
Ward had lost control of the archive.
But he had just turned me into the most wanted woman in America.
Then another headline appeared.
COLONEL HART ACCUSED OF TREASON.
Emily's voice came through the speakers.
“Mom…”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She whispered:
“They're coming.”
Behind her, the door opened.
A line of armed soldiers entered the room.
And the first soldier raised his weapon.
“Colonel Victoria Hart…”
May you like
He aimed at the camera.
“You are under arrest for treason.”
