CHAPTER 6 — THE HOUSE THAT REMEMBERED
The gunfire behind them became louder.
Sarah ran.
One hand gripped Lily's.
The other held the strap of her coat as she fought to keep herself upright on the uneven ground.
Mark was behind them.
Thomas followed.
Reeves brought up the rear.
"Keep moving!" Mark shouted.
They rushed through the narrow tunnel as bullets struck the concrete walls behind them.
Lily cried out.
"Mommy!"
"I'm here."
Sarah pulled her daughter closer.
"Don't look back."
"But Uncle Mark—"
"He's coming."
Sarah knew she was lying.
She didn't know whether Mark would make it.
She only knew she couldn't let Lily stop.
The tunnel twisted sharply.
Thomas pointed ahead.
"There!"
A faint gray light appeared.
They were approaching the surface.
Sarah pushed harder.
Then they burst through a hidden exit beneath an abandoned shed.
Cold air struck her face.
Snow was still falling.
The forest around them was silent.
For a few seconds, Sarah simply stood there, trying to breathe.
Mark emerged from the tunnel.
Blood still covered his shoulder.
Sarah rushed toward him.
"You're alive."
Mark gave her a tired smile.
"I told you I would be."
She hugged him.
He froze.
Then slowly wrapped his good arm around her.
"I missed you too."
Sarah pulled away.
"Don't ever do that again."
"What?"
"Disappear."
Mark smiled faintly.
"I'll try."
Thomas climbed out.
Reeves followed.
He looked toward the trees.
"We need a vehicle."
Thomas nodded.
"I have one."
They moved through the forest.
Ten minutes later, they reached a dirt road.
An old black SUV waited beneath a tarp.
Thomas removed the tarp.
Sarah stared.
"You planned all this?"
Thomas opened the driver's door.
"I planned for the day they found us."
Mark climbed into the passenger seat.
Sarah sat in the back with Lily.
Reeves climbed beside Thomas.
"Where?"
Sarah answered.
"Home."
Everyone looked at her.
Mark frowned.
"Sarah, your house is probably under surveillance."
"I know."
"Then why go back?"
"Because the key is there."
Thomas nodded.
"She's right."
Mark looked uncertain.
"If Mercer knows—"
"He doesn't know where."
Reeves interrupted.
"He knows the house."
Sarah looked at him.
"How?"
"Because Black Winter monitored you for years."
Her blood ran cold.
"How long?"
"Since Lily was born."
Sarah looked out the window.
Suddenly, every strange event from the past seven years seemed different.
The car that appeared near her daughter's school.
The anonymous letters.
The silent phone calls.
The man who always seemed to be standing across the street.
She had thought they were coincidences.
They weren't.
Someone had been watching.
The SUV moved through the forest.
Nobody spoke for several minutes.
Then Lily broke the silence.
"Mommy?"
"Yes?"
"Why did those people want Uncle Mark?"
Sarah glanced at Mark.
He looked out the window.
"Because he knows something."
"What?"
Mark turned.
"Something bad."
Lily frowned.
"About the snow?"
Sarah smiled weakly.
"No."
"About Uncle Evan?"
Mark's face tightened.
"Yes."
Lily looked down.
"I miss him."
Sarah felt tears rise.
"So do I."
Lily whispered:
"He told me not to forget."
Sarah froze.
"What did he tell you?"
Lily looked confused.
"I don't know."
"You just said he told you not to forget."
"He did."
"When?"
Lily shrugged.
"In the red room."
Sarah stared.
The red room.
The same room from her recovered memory.
Sarah leaned forward.
"Lily, what else do you remember?"
Lily closed her eyes.
"He was holding me."
"What did he say?"
"He said..."
She paused.
"He said Mommy would come back."
Sarah's heart stopped.
"What else?"
Lily frowned.
"There was a woman."
"What woman?"
"She was angry."
Sarah looked at Mark.
"Voss?"
Lily shook her head.
"No."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"What did she look like?"
Lily thought.
"She had white hair."
Reeves turned around.
His face changed.
"White hair?"
Lily nodded.
"Yes."
Reeves stared at Sarah.
"That's impossible."
Thomas looked at him.
"What?"
Reeves swallowed.
"Elena Carter had white hair."
Sarah's blood froze.
"My mother?"
Reeves nodded.
"But Elena died."
"No."
Reeves shook his head.
"She disappeared."
Sarah stared.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I wasn't sure."
Sarah's voice hardened.
"You should have told me."
Reeves looked away.
"I was trying to keep you alive."
Mark interrupted.
"Enough."
He looked at Reeves.
"How could Elena still be alive?"
Reeves didn't answer.
Thomas did.
"Because Black Winter needed her."
Sarah stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because she was the original carrier."
"Of the sequence?"
"Yes."
Sarah felt dizzy.
"So my mother wasn't dead."
Thomas nodded.
"Not according to the records."
"Then where is she?"
Thomas looked at Reeves.
Reeves finally spoke.
"Mercer knows."
Sarah's hands curled into fists.
"Then we're going to find him."
Mark looked at her.
"First the key."
Sarah nodded.
"First the key."
The SUV continued toward the city.
Two hours later, they reached Sarah's neighborhood.
The streets were dark.
Snow covered the sidewalks.
The house looked exactly as Sarah had left it.
White veranda.
Green shutters.
Small garden.
Christmas lights still hanging beneath the roof.
Nothing seemed wrong.
That frightened Sarah more than anything.
She stared through the window.
"Why is the light on?"
Mark looked.
"Which one?"
"The kitchen."
Thomas frowned.
"You turned it off?"
"Yes."
Reeves immediately drew his weapon.
"Nobody moves."
He opened the door.
Mark followed.
Thomas stayed with Sarah and Lily.
Reeves disappeared around the side of the house.
A few seconds later, he returned.
"Nobody outside."
Mark entered.
Sarah waited.
Then followed.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
She stepped into the kitchen.
The light was on.
A cup sat on the counter.
Still warm.
Sarah froze.
"I didn't leave that."
Mark looked at it.
"Don't touch it."
Thomas checked the rest of the room.
"Someone was here."
Sarah's heart raced.
"Recently."
Reeves looked toward the hallway.
"Search every room."
They split up.
Sarah stayed with Lily.
She walked toward the stairs.
Every step felt familiar.
Yet suddenly strange.
Her childhood bedroom was upstairs.
The room had barely changed.
Old wallpaper.
A wooden dresser.
A shelf of childhood books.
And the small music box sitting on the nightstand.
Sarah stopped.
Her heart began pounding.
"The key."
She walked toward it.
Mark followed.
"You remember this?"
"Yes."
She picked it up.
The music box was covered in dust.
She opened it.
The melody began playing.
A soft, broken tune.
Sarah's eyes filled with tears.
She remembered.
Her father had given it to her when she was eight.
She had loved it.
Then one night, he had taken it away.
Why?
She couldn't remember.
Sarah turned it over.
There was a tiny latch beneath the wooden base.
She pressed it.
Click.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a small brass key.
Sarah gasped.
Mark stared.
"That's it?"
"I think so."
Thomas entered the room.
"What did you find?"
Sarah held it up.
"The key."
Thomas's face changed.
"Don't."
Sarah frowned.
"What?"
"Don't put it near any electronic device."
"Why?"
"It's biometric."
Mark looked at the key.
"How?"
Thomas explained:
"The key isn't just metal."
"What is it?"
"A signal carrier."
Sarah stared.
"What does that mean?"
"It contains an encoded pattern."
Mark looked at her.
"DNA?"
Thomas nodded.
"Your father's signature."
Sarah held it carefully.
"Then what does it unlock?"
Thomas looked toward the closet.
"Something in this house."
Sarah's eyes widened.
"Where?"
He walked to the wall.
Tapped it.
Nothing.
Tapped again.
A hollow sound.
Mark approached.
"Behind this."
They moved the dresser.
A hidden panel appeared.
Thomas inserted the brass key.
The wall clicked.
A section slid open.
Inside was a narrow compartment.
Sarah stared.
There was a black metal case.
And a photograph.
She picked up the photograph.
Her mother.
Young.
Holding baby Sarah.
Standing beside another woman.
Sarah's eyes widened.
The woman had white hair.
But she wasn't Elena.
It was someone else.
Someone Sarah recognized.
She whispered:
"Colonel Voss."
Mark stared.
"Voss knew your mother."
Sarah turned the photograph over.
A date was written on the back.
MARCH 14, 1998.
And underneath:
THE FIRST TRANSFER.
Thomas took the photograph.
"That's the date."
"The date of what?"
"The beginning."
Sarah looked at him.
"The beginning of Project Echo."
She opened the metal case.
Inside was a cassette recorder.
A handwritten journal.
And several medical photographs.
Sarah picked up the journal.
Her father's handwriting.
She opened it.
The first page read:
I was wrong.
Sarah swallowed.
The second:
The memory is not inherited.
Third:
It is transferred.
Sarah stared.
"What does that mean?"
Thomas read over her shoulder.
His face became pale.
"Your father discovered how to transfer memory patterns."
Sarah shook her head.
"Between people?"
Thomas nodded.
"Not exactly."
He pointed to a diagram.
"Between nervous systems."
Sarah looked at Lily.
"And he tested it on children."
Thomas didn't answer.
The silence was enough.
Sarah flipped through the journal.
Page after page.
Experiments.
Failures.
Names.
Deaths.
Then one entry stopped her.
SUBJECT ZERO-B — EVAN CARTER
TRANSFER SUCCESSFUL.
Sarah's hands trembled.
"Evan."
Mark stepped closer.
"What?"
Sarah showed him.
"Evan wasn't only a subject."
She turned the page.
"He was the first successful transfer."
Mark stared.
"What was transferred?"
Sarah read the next line.
MEMORY OF SUBJECT ZERO.
She looked at Thomas.
"Who is Subject Zero?"
Thomas's face was grim.
"Your father."
Sarah continued reading.
Then she found another entry.
SUBJECT ZERO-C — SARAH COLLINS
Her heart stopped.
Mark whispered:
"You."
Sarah turned the page.
TRANSFER FAILED.
Then another:
MEMORY SUPPRESSION REQUIRED.
Sarah sat down.
"My father transferred his memories into me."
Thomas nodded.
"And Evan."
Sarah looked at Mark.
"That's why I forgot."
"Yes."
Sarah turned another page.
Then froze.
A photograph was attached.
It showed her mother.
Elena.
Lying on a hospital bed.
A machine surrounded her.
Beside her stood Voss.
And Sarah's father.
But Elena was pregnant.
Sarah stared.
The date was seven years before Lily's birth.
She looked at Thomas.
"She was pregnant."
"Yes."
"With who?"
Thomas didn't answer.
Sarah turned the photograph over.
A note was written.
CHILD WILL BE USED AS FINAL VESSEL.
Sarah's stomach twisted.
"Final vessel?"
Reeves entered the room.
He saw the photograph.
His face went pale.
"No."
Sarah looked at him.
"You know what this means."
He nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"What?"
Reeves stared at the photograph.
"Lily wasn't the first child."
Sarah froze.
"What?"
"There was another."
"Who?"
Reeves looked at her.
"Your mother had twins."
Sarah's world stopped.
"What did you say?"
"Twins."
Sarah shook her head.
"No."
Reeves pointed toward the journal.
"One child was born healthy."
"And the other?"
His voice dropped.
"Was taken."
Sarah's hands began shaking.
"Taken by whom?"
Reeves didn't answer.
Thomas did.
"Black Winter."
Sarah stared at the photograph.
Two newborn babies.
One labeled:
SUBJECT 06.
The other:
SUBJECT 07.
Lily.
Sarah's breath caught.
"Then where is Subject 06?"
Reeves looked at her.
"That's what Mercer has been trying to hide."
A sudden sound came from downstairs.
A door slammed.
Mark immediately raised his weapon.
"Someone's inside."
Reeves drew his gun.
Thomas closed the journal.
Sarah grabbed Lily.
They moved into the hallway.
A man's voice echoed from below.
"Sarah!"
She froze.
She knew the voice.
Her father's old friend.
The man she had trusted for years.
The man who had attended Evan's funeral.
Jonathan Mercer.
He called again.
"You finally found the key."
Mark whispered:
"How did he know?"
Sarah looked at the hidden compartment.
Then at the photograph.
And understood.
The key had never been hidden from Mercer.
It had been hidden for him to find.
A trap.
The lights went out.
Lily screamed.
A red laser appeared on the wall.
Then another.
Then another.
Snipers.
Sarah pulled Lily down.
Gunfire shattered the windows.
Glass exploded across the hallway.
Mark tackled Sarah behind the staircase.
Thomas dragged Reeves toward cover.
Someone shouted from downstairs.
"Don't kill the child!"
Sarah looked at Lily.
Her daughter was trembling.
Then Lily whispered something.
"Mommy."
"What?"
"The man downstairs."
Sarah looked at her.
"What about him?"
Lily stared toward the darkness.
"He was in the red room."
Sarah's blood ran cold.
"Mercer?"
Lily shook her head.
"No."
"Who?"
Lily whispered:
"He was holding Uncle Evan."
Sarah stared.
"Was he hurting him?"
Lily shook her head.
"He was crying."
Sarah's heart stopped.
"Why?"
Lily looked at her mother.
"Because he said he was sorry."
A shadow appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
Sarah raised her head.
A man stepped into the red emergency light.
It wasn't Jonathan Mercer.
It wasn't Reeves.
It wasn't anyone Sarah expected.
It was a man she had never seen before.
He looked directly at Lily.
And smiled.
Sarah pulled her daughter closer.
The stranger whispered:
"Hello, Subject Seven."
Lily stared at him.
Then she said something that made every person in the room freeze.
"You're Subject Six."
The man's smile disappeared.
Sarah stared at him.
Mark slowly raised his weapon.
Thomas whispered:
"Impossible."
The stranger looked at Lily.
For the first time, fear appeared in his eyes.
And Sarah realized the truth.
Lily had just identified the missing twin.
But the man standing before them wasn't a stranger.
May you like
He was Lily's brother.
And he had been working for Black Winter all along.
