Adrian held the phone against his ear and said nothing.Three years of memory told him the outbreak began on October 13. A woman who should have been dead was telling him he'd gotten the date wrong."What do you mean, already begun?" he asked."Not the public version," Dr. Evelyn Cross said. Her voice was low and frayed, a voice that hadn't slept. "The incident at the facility this morning wasn't an accident. It was the first one they couldn't hide."He crossed to the window. Halcyon City glittered below in the Sunday light. Delivery drones threaded between the towers in neat lanes, and commuters queued at automated transit gates. The city looked immortal. Adrian knew the exact week its locks would begin to close."Tell me what happened.""Three night-shift employees ran high fevers. By morning, two were convulsing. One bit through his own lip while they restrained him, and he didn't flinch." She paused. "Security sealed the building. Someone ordered the incident reports destroyed.""

Adrian reached the Meridian Corridor shortly before noon, and the first thing he noticed was how normal it looked.The glass laboratories rose along the waterfront as they always had, wrapped in banners promising a healthier tomorrow. Joggers circled the plaza. A food truck sold cold brew to technicians in lanyards. Only the north gate was wrong. Two guards stood behind a newly installed steel barrier, checking badges with the stiff politeness of men who had been told to answer nothing.In his first life, he had never seen this place before it burned. Now it stood under a cloudless sky, windows shining, as though nothing had happened.He kept walking. Evelyn had said she lived on the east side, in the residential blocks behind the labs. If she had escaped, that was where she would have gone first. If she hadn't, her apartment might tell him who had taken her.At the corner pharmacy, a line had formed. It wasn't long, but people were buying fever reducers by the box, and the cashier ha

Adrian stared at the screen until the numbers blurred.$212,400. The account sat beneath his name as though he had opened it himself and forgotten. He had never taken part in a medical trial. He had never heard of Meridian Biosciences until an hour ago.Beneath the deposit, the pending line hadn't changed.Scheduled transfer: tomorrow, 9:00 a.m. Authorized by: R. Sullivan.He called the bank. After three security questions, a representative confirmed the account existed and said she could file a dispute. "But the transfer is pending, sir. I can't guarantee it stops before processing.""Who set it up?""An approved linked-party instruction. I can't share details by phone."Adrian hung up. He could freeze the account, but that might destroy the only trail to whoever had built it. He needed to know why the money existed first.On the company's website, smiling researchers posed in clean white labs. Among the partner institutions was the Meridian Corridor Research Facility.Evelyn had tol

The red lights painted Marcus Hale's face the color of blood.For one suspended second, neither man moved. The mechanical voice repeated its warning, and somewhere beyond the door, magnetic locks clanked into place. Adrian kept the knife raised."What system?" he demanded."Put the knife down.""Answer me.""The lockdown isn't routine." Hale kept his hands visible. "It means the facility has detected a contradiction in its records.""Which contradiction?"Hale looked at him. "You."Footsteps pounded down the corridor. The pulse behind Adrian's eyes had sharpened into a steady hammer, and the metallic taste in his mouth was growing. Whatever he'd glimpsed in that red-lit room had cost him. He wiped his lip with his sleeve and came away smeared.Hale turned to the monitor. A new window had opened beneath Adrian's name, red and pulsing.SUBJECT STATUS: DECEASED.BIOLOGICAL PRESENCE: CONFIRMED.Below it, a third line.SEQUENCE INTEGRITY COMPROMISED.Adrian stared at the three lines. Two o

“Don’t run. Not yet. I need you to look at me first.”Adrian kept the knife between them.Evelyn Cross stood three steps below him on the garage staircase, dark hair pulled back, face pale under the fluorescent lights. She looked exhausted, but her eyes held his with an intensity that made his grip tighten.“You have five seconds to explain why I shouldn’t assume you’re part of this.”“If I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t have made it out of Meridian.”“That’s exactly what someone from Meridian would say.”Her expression barely changed. “You found the file.”“I found two versions of myself. One terminated, one active. Care to explain?”Her gaze dropped to the silver drive in his hand. Something crossed her face and disappeared before he could name it.“Where did you get that?”“Hale.”“Then he made a mistake.”Adrian leaned forward and reached for her thoughts, pushing against the ache behind his eyes. Nothing. The same flat silence, accompanied by a metallic taste on his tongue. Everyo