Zurich – East Wing Observation Suite, 03:19 A.M.Eva Malik stood barefoot at the window, breath fogging the glass Beyond the courtyard, she could still see herself. The other Eva stood across the way in the far wing frozen in place, wearing the same hospital gown, eyes vacant.No movement. No blinking. Just watching. Voss stirred behind her. “Eva?” She didn’t answer. Not yet. She was still deciding if he’d believe what she saw.“SUBJECT DUPLICATION CONFIRMED.”The feed from East Wing-42 displayed Eva’s doppelgänger standing inside a locked chamber yet no guards had been assigned. No staff had logged a patient transfer.Commander Rhea leaned in, expression unreadable. “Did we fail to purge the drift layer?”Her assistant hesitated. “We never confirmed her exit.”“Only that she merged. Temporarily.”Rhea stared at the screen. “Then this might be the one who didn’t let go.”Eva Makes a Move She turned to Voss. “There’s someone in the other wing.”“She looks like me.”His face went blank,

Zurich – Corridor Outside Containment, 04:02 A.M. Damien Voss stared at her, At Eva Malik. Blood on her palm. Glass in her hand. A thin smile across her lips familiar, and wrong in some unplaceable way.“It’s me,” she had said.But she hadn’t said his name, She’d always said his name.He Swallowed Hard “Eva.” She looked at him, Tilted her head, Something flickered in her eyes. Recognition?Regret? Or was he just desperate to see it?Behind the thick glass wall, the chamber had gone dark, No sign of the other Eva. No body. No blood. No proof. Only the broken chalk line on the far wall half-erased, unreadable. The logs registered a single exit. Only one. Voss tried not to shake.Commander Rhea strode into the hallway, flanked by two armed Archive agents, Her gaze locked on Eva. “I need her cleared. Full neuro resync. Now.”Voss stepped between them. “Give her space.”“She just survived a reintegration anomaly.”Rhea’s voice was colder than steel. “You don’t know which one she is.”Eva f

Red lights swam through the corridors. Alarms pulsed like mechanical heartbeats. The floor vibrated beneath every step. Archive personnel scattered. Eva Malik remained seated. Calm. Still. Unbothered. The real key sat in her palm, The fake one, the one Voss had given her, rested on the desk, cool and silent.She knew what this meant. He doesn’t trust me anymore. Good. He shouldn’t. Damien Voss pushed through a back corridor, bypassing the central lockdown grid. His pulse raced.The Archive’s override announcement echoed behind him: “Containment breach identified in Neural Thread 09-B (Malik).”“All personnel clear Level 3. Lockdown commencing.”He didn’t slow, He knew exactly where she was going. Or Where one of her was going. A long, sealed hallway. No windows. Motion-triggered lighting. At the far end: the backup safehouse hatch. Only two people in the world knew the code to open it. One was Voss. The other, He wasn’t sure anymore.Eva’s voice whispered in his mind: “If they ever cr