CHAPTER 9: THE BURIED FACILITY
The message remained on Emily's phone.
COME ALONE, COLONEL.
OR YOUR DAUGHTER WILL REMEMBER EVERYTHING.
I read it twice.
Then I looked at my father.
“What does that mean?”
He didn't answer.
“Dad.”
His face had gone pale.
“It means they're threatening to unlock her memories.”
“And?”
“If they do it incorrectly…”
He stopped.
“If they do what?”
“She could lose herself.”
The words hit harder than any gunshot.
I looked at my husband's face.
He already knew.
“You knew this?”
“Yes.”
“Then explain.”
He stepped closer.
“Emily's memories aren't normal memories anymore.”
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
“Some of them were altered.”
“By Ward?”
“Yes.”
“And some were transferred from me.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“So if someone forces those memories open…”
He hesitated.
“They could trigger every suppressed memory at once.”
I understood.
Trauma.
Conditioning.
Years of buried information.
All flooding into one mind.
“And she could die?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Worse.”
My blood ran cold.
“She could forget who she is.”
I stared at him.
My daughter.
Her memories.
Her identity.
Everything that made her Emily.
I tightened my grip on the phone.
“Then we go.”
My father stepped forward.
“Victoria, there's something you need to know.”
“I've heard enough warnings.”
“This isn't a warning.”
He looked at me.
“It's a confession.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“I was the one who authorized your memory conditioning.”
Silence.
My husband looked at him.
“General…”
My father raised a hand.
“Don't.”
He looked at me.
“Years ago, after Black Lantern, I believed I was protecting you.”
“You drugged me.”
“Yes.”
“You altered my memories.”
“Yes.”
“You allowed Ward to use me.”
My father's eyes filled with shame.
“Yes.”
I felt something inside me break.
“You were my father.”
“I know.”
“You taught me never to surrender my mind.”
“I know.”
“And you did exactly that to me.”
“I know.”
I stepped closer.
“Why?”
“Because you knew too much.”
“That's not an answer.”
He looked away.
“You had seen Ward's network.”
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“After Black Lantern.”
I stared at him.
“You tried to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Ward found out.”
“And?”
“He threatened you.”
My father looked at Emily's phone.
“He said if I didn't erase your memory, he would kill you.”
I swallowed.
“So you chose to erase me.”
“Yes.”
I looked at him for several seconds.
Then I said quietly:
“You didn't save me.”
He looked at me.
“You made me forget why I was fighting.”
He lowered his head.
“Yes.”
I turned away.
There was no time to cry.
Not now.
My daughter was being held somewhere underground.
And the people holding her were preparing to rip open her mind.
I looked at Gabriel.
“How do we reach the facility?”
He pulled out a map.
“There's an old access road.”
“Guarded?”
“Probably.”
“Cameras?”
“Definitely.”
“Military?”
“Yes.”
“Then we're going in through the old drainage system.”
My father stared.
“You remember it?”
I nodded.
“I designed the original evacuation route.”
My husband looked at me.
“You don't remember that.”
I pointed at the map.
“I remember enough.”
He smiled faintly.
“There she is.”
I ignored him.
“Vehicles?”
Gabriel answered.
“Two.”
“We only need one.”
“Why?”
“Because we're going in quietly.”
Michael stepped forward.
“I'll come.”
“No.”
He frowned.
“This is my family.”
“And this is my daughter.”
“I can help.”
“You can.”
I looked at him.
“By staying behind.”
Michael didn't like it.
But he nodded.
Ethan approached.
“I'll go.”
I looked at him.
“You were part of this.”
“I know.”
“You lied to Emily.”
“I know.”
“You let her marry into a family that wanted her as leverage.”
“I know.”
“Why should I trust you?”
He looked at me.
“You shouldn't.”
That answer surprised me.
“But I'm going anyway.”
“Why?”
“Because I owe Emily my life.”
I studied him.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
My father looked at me.
“Victoria.”
“What?”
“You need to hear the original recording before we enter.”
I looked at the cassette.
He held it out.
I took it.
There was an old portable player in the train.
I inserted the cassette.
Static filled the carriage.
Then my younger voice.
“Colonel Victoria Hart. Operation Black Lantern debrief.”
I listened.
My voice sounded different.
Younger.
Confident.
Then another voice.
A man.
General Ward.
“Describe the prisoner.”
My recorded voice answered:
“He's not a prisoner.”
Ward asked:
“Explain.”
“He's a witness.”
“To what?”
A pause.
Then I heard myself say:
“To the operation.”
Ward's voice became colder.
“What operation?”
My recorded voice whispered:
“The one you don't want anyone to know about.”
Static.
Then screaming.
My own screaming.
I stopped the tape.
Nobody spoke.
My father looked at me.
“What did you hear?”
I stared at the cassette.
“I heard myself.”
“Yes.”
“But I don't remember saying any of it.”
“That was the part Ward erased.”
I pressed play again.
My recorded voice returned.
“There's another person.”
Ward asked:
“Who?”
I answered:
“Charles Prescott.”
My father looked at me.
I continued listening.
Charles's voice appeared.
Weak.
Terrified.
“Colonel Hart…”
My younger voice asked:
“Where is your son?”
Charles answered:
“Which one?”
I froze.
My father closed his eyes.
Charles continued:
“Because if you're asking about Michael, he's already dead.”
My breathing stopped.
Then Charles said:
“But if you're asking about Gabriel…”
Static.
A gunshot.
Then Ward's voice.
“End recording.”
The tape stopped.
I stared at my father.
“Gabriel was alive before Black Lantern.”
“Yes.”
“Charles knew.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did everyone say Michael died?”
“Because Michael agreed to take Gabriel's identity.”
I looked at Gabriel.
He nodded.
“Why?”
“To protect him.”
I looked at the two brothers.
Everything was becoming more tangled.
Then I noticed something on the cassette.
A handwritten label.
SECOND RECORDING.
I looked at my father.
“There are two?”
He nodded.
“Play it.”
I did.
Static.
Then my own voice.
This time frightened.
“Dad, if you're listening to this…”
My heart stopped.
It was me.
But I had no memory of making the recording.
“I don't know how much of this I'll remember.”
My father's voice answered.
“You'll forget.”
“Will I remember Emily?”
“Yes.”
“Will I remember him?”
I heard my younger self crying.
“The man I love?”
My father's voice said:
“No.”
My husband looked away.
I stopped breathing.
The recording continued.
“If I forget him, tell him I'm sorry.”
My husband's face collapsed.
He whispered:
“Victoria…”
I stared at him.
The tape continued.
“And if they come for Emily…”
My younger voice became steady.
“Tell her I loved her before I ever knew her.”
Then a pause.
“And tell her…”
Static.
My father's voice:
“Tell her what?”
My recorded voice whispered:
“Her father didn't betray us.”
I looked at my husband.
The tape ended.
Nobody moved.
Then my husband said:
“I didn't.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“I didn't betray you.”
“But you admitted you helped Ward.”
“I helped him because your father ordered me to.”
My father stepped forward.
“I did.”
I stared at both men.
“You're telling me my father ordered my husband to help Ward?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
My father looked at the floor.
“Because we were trying to destroy Black Lantern from the inside.”
I felt dizzy.
“So you were both undercover?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you were the only person Ward trusted.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So everyone lied to me.”
My father nodded.
“Yes.”
“And now my daughter is paying for it.”
He didn't answer.
I turned toward the train door.
“We're done talking.”
My father followed.
“Victoria.”
I looked back.
“If we enter that facility…”
“What?”
“There's a chance we won't come out.”
I smiled coldly.
“Then we make sure they don't either.”
We left the train.
The old access road was hidden beneath thick forest.
We moved through the trees.
No lights.
No radios.
No unnecessary words.
After thirty minutes, we reached a concrete wall buried beneath vines.
My father pointed.
“That's it.”
I touched the wall.
Nothing.
Then I noticed a small metal plate.
Three numbers.
0417.
I stared.
My birthday.
I entered the code.
The wall opened.
A dark staircase descended underground.
Emily was somewhere down there.
We moved.
Twenty steps.
Forty.
Sixty.
Then the corridor opened into a massive underground complex.
Rows of old computers.
Server racks.
Security doors.
And dozens of sealed rooms.
I stared.
“This place was never abandoned.”
“No,” my father said.
“It was operational the entire time.”
Then every monitor turned on simultaneously.
A video appeared.
Emily.
She was sitting in a chair.
A machine was attached to her head.
My heart stopped.
A man stood behind her.
General Nathaniel Ward.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Welcome home, Colonel Hart.”
I stepped toward the screen.
“Let her go.”
Ward smiled.
“I will.”
“When?”
“When you give me what I want.”
“What?”
“Your memory.”
I stared.
“My memory?”
“No.”
Ward shook his head.
“Your memory isn't the key.”
He leaned toward Emily.
“She is.”
The screen changed.
A diagram appeared.
A brain scan.
Then a genetic sequence.
At the bottom:
PROJECT HART: SUCCESSFULLY ACTIVATED.
Ward's voice continued.
“Your daughter is the final piece.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Piece of what?”
Ward smiled.
“The Black Lantern archive.”
The screen went black.
Then a door behind us opened.
A dozen armed soldiers entered.
My father raised his weapon.
Gabriel did the same.
I stepped forward.
Then a voice came from behind the soldiers.
“Don't shoot.”
General Ward walked into the room.
No armor.
No weapon.
Just his uniform.
The same uniform I had saluted for twenty years.
He looked at me.
“Colonel Hart.”
I raised my gun.
“You're under arrest.”
Ward smiled.
“No.”
He pointed behind me.
My husband was standing there.
Blood was dripping from his chest.
Ward said quietly:
“Your husband is.”
I turned.
My husband collapsed.
And on the floor beneath him was a single black flash drive.
The same one Michael had been carrying.
Ward looked at me.
“You came all this way for the truth.”
May you like
He smiled.
“Now you're going to watch it destroy your family.”
