CHAPTER 14 THE MEMORY VAULT
The floor beneath Ava’s chair unlocked.
Metal tracks pulled her toward the center of the laboratory.
Ethan grabbed the chair.
The mechanism dragged him with it.
“Harris!”
“I am trying.”
Harris slammed his hands across the auxiliary controls.
Nothing responded.
A-01 stood motionless as Team Alpha surrounded her.
They were not guarding Nathan anymore.
They were guarding her.
Marcus fired at the track controls.
Sparks exploded from the floor.
The chair stopped.
Ethan tore the tubes from Ava’s arm.
Black liquid sprayed across the tiles.
Ava screamed.
A-01 collapsed to one knee.
The same wound appeared along her arm.
Not an illusion.
A thin line of blood formed where Ava’s tube had been removed.
Harris stared.
“That is not possible.”
Charles looked terrified.
“It is not just sensory duplication.”
Ava clutched Ethan’s hand.
“What is happening to me?”
Charles stepped closer.
“The black compound contains programmable nanocarriers.”
Marcus looked at him.
“You created it?”
“I created the foundation.”
“Nathan weaponized it.”
A-01 touched the blood on her arm.
Her fingers trembled.
“Our bodies are connected.”
Harris shook his head.
“No.”
“The carriers cannot transmit physical trauma.”
Nathan’s voice came from the upper speakers.
“They can when both subjects share the same genetic origin.”
Ethan looked toward the glass control chamber.
“You said one of them was stolen.”
Nathan smiled.
“One was.”
“From whom?”
Nathan’s eyes moved toward Charles.
Charles turned pale.
“No.”
Ava noticed.
“You know.”
Charles looked at her.
“I suspected.”
“Tell me.”
His voice broke.
“Eleanor gave birth to twin daughters.”
Silence filled the room.
Ethan looked toward the corridor.
Eleanor was still above Level F with the police medical team.
Ava stared at Charles.
“I am Eleanor’s daughter?”
Charles shook his head slowly.
“One of you is.”
A-01 stood.
“And the other?”
Nathan answered.
“The other belongs to Margaret.”
Marcus lowered his gun.
His face became empty.
“My mother had another child?”
Nathan looked at him.
“Your twin sister.”
Marcus stared at Ava.
Then at A-01.
“No.”
Ava’s breathing quickened.
Ethan held her shoulders.
“Do not listen to him.”
Nathan continued.
“Margaret gave birth to twins.”
“A son and a daughter.”
“Marcus was removed from the program.”
“The girl remained.”
Marcus stepped toward the glass wall.
“You are lying.”
Nathan’s expression did not change.
“Margaret believed daughters were more neurologically adaptable.”
“She chose the girl.”
“Discarded the boy.”
Marcus fired.
The bullet struck the reinforced glass.
Nathan did not flinch.
Ava looked at A-01.
“One of us is his sister.”
A-01 nodded.
“And one of us is Eleanor’s daughter.”
Charles closed his eyes.
“There were two infant transfers on the same night.”
“Nathan erased the identification records.”
Harris looked toward the central database.
“The original blood profiles should still exist.”
Nathan’s soldiers turned their weapons toward him.
Harris raised his hands.
“I can access the archive.”
Nathan’s voice became cold.
“You will not.”
For the first time, Harris smiled.
“You still need me.”
Nathan looked at Ava.
“No.”
“I need what is inside her.”
The phoenix symbol expanded across every monitor.
Hundreds of names appeared.
Politicians.
Judges.
Military officers.
Corporate leaders.
Each name carried a status code.
ACTIVE.
INCOMPLETE.
REPLACED.
Ethan stared at the list.
“What is this?”
Charles approached the screen.
His face filled with horror.
“Phoenix subjects.”
Harris nodded.
“Memory-transfer candidates.”
Marcus scanned the names.
“These people are alive.”
“Most of them,” Harris said.
Ava looked at the status marked REPLACED.
“What does replaced mean?”
Nobody answered.
A-01 walked toward the monitor.
She touched one name.
STEPHEN VALE.
STATUS: REPLACED.
Ethan’s blood turned cold.
“My father is alive.”
Nathan’s voice came through the speakers.
“Biologically.”
Ethan looked up.
“What did you do to him?”
Nathan stepped closer to the glass.
“Stephen betrayed Phoenix.”
“So I removed the part of him capable of betrayal.”
A side door opened.
A man walked into the control chamber.
He had gray hair.
A thin scar across his forehead.
Ethan had seen his face only in photographs.
Stephen Vale looked down through the glass.
His expression showed no recognition.
Ethan stepped forward.
“Father?”
Stephen remained silent.
Nathan placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Lieutenant Vale.”
Stephen straightened.
“Yes, General.”
Ethan’s eyes filled with fury.
Nathan pointed toward him.
“Identify the threat.”
Stephen looked directly at his son.
Then he raised a pistol.
May you like
“Ethan Caldwell.”
“Priority target.”
