Chapter 5 - THE DEAD DO NOT CALLRhea stopped breathing.
Her parents were standing in front of a building she didn't recognize.
Her mother looked older.
Her father had gray hair.
But there was no mistake.
They were alive.
"They're alive."
Ezra took the phone.
"Where was this taken?"
Rhea pointed.
"I don't know."
He zoomed in.
A sign appeared in the background.
St. Vincent Research Facility.
Ezra's eyes hardened.
"That's impossible."
"What?"
"The facility was destroyed twelve years ago."
"Then someone rebuilt it."
"No."
He looked closer.
"The photograph isn't recent."
Rhea shook her head.
"They sent it yesterday."
"That doesn't mean it was taken yesterday."
Rhea looked at him.
"Then when?"
Ezra pulled up the metadata.
Nothing.
Deleted.
"This was manipulated."
"You think they're not alive?"
"I think someone wants us to believe they are."
Rhea grabbed the phone.
"I don't care."
"You should."
"They're my parents."
Ezra stepped closer.
"You can't let emotion choose the battlefield."
Rhea stared at him.
"Easy for you to say."
"Yes."
He looked away.
Then said quietly:
"Because I already made that mistake."
Rhea softened.
"What happened?"
Ezra hesitated.
"My father."
"What about him?"
"I spent years believing he was the villain."
"And now?"
"Now I know he was trying to stop one."
Rhea looked at him.
"Do you trust me?"
Ezra answered immediately.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because you had opportunities to betray me."
"I could still."
"I know."
She looked into his eyes.
"And you still trust me."
"Yes."
The quiet between them changed.
Rhea felt it.
Something dangerous.
Something intimate.
She stepped away.
"We find Gus first."
Ezra nodded.
They spent the next twelve hours tracing the photograph.
They found the facility at the edge of the city.
It wasn't abandoned.
It was operational.
No public records.
No company registration.
No electricity bill.
Nothing.
Ezra assembled a team.
Rhea insisted on coming.
"No."
"Yes."
"It's too dangerous."
"My brother is inside."
"So am I, according to the people who kidnapped him."
"Exactly."
Ezra stared.
"You're impossible."
"You knew that when you hired me."
"I didn't hire you."
"You used my brother's debt to trap me."
"Fair point."
That almost made her smile.
They entered the facility just before dawn.
The first rooms were empty.
The second floor contained medical equipment.
The third floor held patient records.
Rhea opened a cabinet.
Hundreds of files.
Children.
Adults.
Failed procedures.
Experimental implants.
Then she found Gus.
Not a medical file.
A behavioral report.
SUBJECT G-17.
Memory suppression incomplete.
Emotional trigger: RHEA CONNOLLY.
Rhea stopped.
Ezra read over her shoulder.
"Your brother's memories were suppressed because of you."
"No."
She flipped the page.
A note had been written by hand.
Do not allow siblings to reunite.
Rhea's hands trembled.
Then they heard footsteps.
Ezra raised his gun.
The door burst open.
Armed guards stormed the corridor.
Ezra shoved Rhea behind him.
Gunfire erupted.
They ran.
Rhea followed him down a stairwell.
A bullet struck the wall beside her head.
She screamed.
Ezra turned and fired.
One guard fell.
They reached a locked door.
Ezra slammed his shoulder against it.
Nothing.
"Move."
He drew his mechanical arm back.
Metal slammed into steel.
The lock broke.
Inside was a small observation room.
And behind the glass was Gus.
Alive.
Rhea sobbed.
"Gus!"
He looked up.
Their eyes met.
For a moment, he looked like the little brother she remembered.
Then he shook his head violently.
"No."
Rhea frowned.
"What?"
"Don't come closer."
Ezra stepped forward.
"Why?"
Gus stared at him.
"They told me this would happen."
"Who?"
Gus looked terrified.
"Your father."
Ezra froze.
"My father is dead."
Gus shook his head.
"No."
He pointed toward a camera.
"He's watching."
A monitor turned on.
An old man appeared.
Ezra stared at the screen.
His father.
Alive.
But older.
Much older.
Rhea covered her mouth.
The man looked directly into the camera.
"Ezra."
Ezra couldn't speak.
His father smiled sadly.
"I'm sorry."
Then Gregor Thane walked into frame beside him.
Gregor placed a hand on the older man's shoulder.
"Time to tell your son the truth."
The old man looked at Ezra.
"Gregor didn't kill me."
Ezra's face hardened.
"He saved me."
Then the monitor went black.
Rhea stared.
"What does that mean?"
Ezra had no answer.
Behind them, footsteps approached.
May you like
Gregor's voice echoed through the corridor.
"Welcome home."
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