Chapter 6 - THE FATHER'S CONFESSIONThe room seemed to shrink.
Gregor stood in the doorway.
Behind him were armed men.
Gus sat frozen inside the observation chamber.
Ezra raised his weapon.
Gregor smiled.
"Don't."
Ezra's finger tightened.
Gregor gestured toward Gus.
"If you fire, he dies."
Rhea stepped forward.
"What do you want?"
Gregor looked at her.
"Your memory."
Rhea frowned.
"My memory?"
"Your father hid something inside you."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You will."
Gregor turned toward Ezra.
"And your father will help."
A door opened behind Gregor.
Two guards pushed an elderly man into the room.
Ezra's father.
Ezra stared.
The older man looked directly at his son.
His eyes were exhausted.
"Ezra."
Ezra's voice was barely audible.
"You were dead."
"I needed you to believe I was."
"Why?"
His father looked at Gregor.
"Because Gregor was the only man who could keep Lazarus from falling into the wrong hands."
Rhea shook her head.
"He created it."
"I did."
The confession came from Gregor.
Rhea looked at him.
"Then why stop it?"
"Because the project changed."
"How?"
"We were trying to repair damaged nervous systems."
He looked toward Ezra's mechanical arm.
"Then we discovered we could manipulate memory."
Rhea felt sick.
"You experimented on children."
"Yes."
"You experimented on my brother."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Gregor looked at Gus.
"Because he remembered."
"Remembered what?"
"Everything."
Rhea stared at her brother.
Gus lowered his head.
"I saw them kill someone."
"Who?"
Gus looked at Ezra's father.
Horror filled his eyes.
"Him."
Ezra turned.
"What?"
Gus pointed.
"Your father ordered it."
Silence.
Ezra stared at the old man.
"Is that true?"
His father closed his eyes.
"Yes."
Rhea stepped back.
"What did you do?"
The old man whispered:
"I killed a researcher who tried to expose Lazarus."
Ezra's face changed.
"You became the monster."
His father nodded.
"Yes."
Gregor stepped closer.
"But he wasn't the only monster."
The lights flickered.
The building shook.
Gregor looked at his watch.
"We're out of time."
Ezra lifted his gun.
"What happens now?"
"The facility burns."
Rhea looked at Gus.
"What?"
Gregor smiled.
"Everything must disappear."
Fire erupted in the hallway.
The guards fled.
Alarms screamed.
Rhea rushed toward Gus.
Ezra followed.
They shattered the observation glass.
Gus collapsed into Rhea's arms.
"Rhea."
"I'm here."
He clung to her.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay."
"No."
He shook his head.
"I remember."
"What?"
His eyes filled with tears.
"Everything."
The fire spread.
Ezra grabbed both of them.
"We're leaving."
They ran through the burning facility.
Outside, explosions tore through the building.
The entire research center collapsed behind them.
Rhea watched the flames.
"Gregor."
Ezra looked around.
No Gregor.
No father.
Gone.
A phone rang inside Ezra's pocket.
He answered.
Gregor's voice came through.
"You think you've won?"
Ezra said nothing.
Gregor continued.
"You just destroyed the evidence."
Rhea's blood chilled.
"But there's one thing you don't know."
Ezra narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
Gregor laughed.
"The explosion that took your arm wasn't designed to kill you."
Ezra's face hardened.
"It was designed to activate something."
The line went dead.
Rhea looked at Ezra.
"What did he mean?"
Ezra didn't answer.
His mechanical fingers began moving by themselves.
One finger.
Then another.
Then all five.
Ezra stared at his hand.
"I can't control it."
The mechanical arm suddenly tightened around his wrist.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a tiny black device.
Rhea stared.
"What is that?"
Ezra whispered:
"I've never seen it before."
Gus stepped backward.
"I have."
Rhea turned.
May you like
Gus looked terrified.
"That was inside the machine they used on me."
