Chapter 13 - Sloan couldn't move.Victor had shot her brother.
Sloan could only stare.
Her father was real.
Not a photograph.
Not a video.
Not a ghost.
Real.
Daniel looked at Sloan.
For the first time in eleven years, their eyes met.
“Sloan.”
She took one step toward him.
Then stopped.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me.”
Daniel's face tightened.
“I know.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
Victor stepped between them.
Daniel raised his gun.
“Move.”
Victor didn't.
Daniel fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Sloan screamed.
“Stop!”
Victor moved aside.
Daniel approached her.
He looked older than she remembered.
Broken in places.
But his eyes were the same.
He reached toward her.
Sloan stepped backward.
“You don't get to touch me.”
Daniel lowered his hand.
“I deserve that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“Yes.”
“Where is my brother?”
Daniel's face changed.
“You saw him.”
“Where is he?”
Daniel looked at Victor.
“You showed her the file.”
Victor said nothing.
Daniel exhaled.
“His name was Lucas.”
“Was?”
“He died.”
Sloan's chest tightened.
“How?”
“Because Mara chose you.”
“She chose me for what?”
Daniel looked around the underground facility.
“M-17 wasn't a person.”
Sloan frowned.
“It was a project.”
“What project?”
“Genetic memory.”
She stared.
Daniel continued.
“The Black Raven wanted to create people capable of retaining information at an abnormal level.”
“Memory?”
“Perfect recall.”
Sloan laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I watched you memorize a newspaper when you were four.”
She stopped.
She remembered.
Her father showing her a page.
Asking her what it said.
She had repeated every line.
He had thought it was a game.
“It was an experiment.”
“Yes.”
“On me?”
“Yes.”
“On Lucas too?”
“Yes.”
Sloan looked sick.
“What happened?”
Daniel's voice broke.
“Mara pushed the program further.”
“She killed him.”
“She sacrificed him.”
“For what?”
“To stabilize your memory.”
Sloan stared at him.
“You're saying I was the successful experiment.”
“Yes.”
“Why can't I remember?”
Daniel looked at Victor.
Then back at her.
“Because they erased the memories they couldn't control.”
Sloan felt dizzy.
Victor stepped closer.
“You need to leave.”
Daniel glared at him.
“You have done enough.”
“I kept her alive.”
“You kept her close.”
“For protection.”
“For your own reasons.”
Sloan looked between them.
“What are you hiding?”
Neither answered.
Her anger returned.
“Both of you.”
She grabbed the nearest file.
Then she saw a photograph.
Lucas.
Alive.
Not the video.
A recent photograph.
Taken six months ago.
Sloan turned it over.
A location was written on the back.
MERIDIAN HOTEL. ROOM 814.
She looked at Daniel.
“You said he was dead.”
Daniel's face went white.
“I thought he was.”
Victor looked at the photo.
“That picture is real.”
“Then Lucas is alive.”
Daniel stared at the image.
“That's impossible.”
Sloan grabbed her coat.
“I'm going.”
Victor caught her arm.
“No.”
She pulled away.
“He's my brother.”
“Exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
Victor's voice lowered.
“If Lucas is alive, someone has been pretending to be dead for eleven years.”
Daniel looked at him.
“And whoever did that has been waiting for Sloan to find out.”
The lights flickered.
Footsteps echoed in the tunnel.
Daniel raised his weapon.
Victor drew his.
Sloan stood between them.
A voice came from the darkness.
“Family reunion.”
Mara emerged.
She wasn't alone.
Beside her stood a young man.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
Same birthmark beneath his left ear.
Sloan's heart stopped.
Lucas smiled.
May you like
Then said:
“Hi, sister.”
