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Chapter 24: The Voice Inside the Shed
“Don’t answer her.”The whisper came from behind the workbench.Ethan spun around, raising his pistol. Victor stepped in front of him, while the woman with the scar reached for something beneath her coat.The shed was small. There was nowhere for another person to hide.Yet someone had spoken.Outside, the knocking came again.“Ethan?” the driver's voice called. “Please open the door.”The voice sounded exactly as it had before. Soft. Familiar. Almost painfully familiar.Ethan swallowed. “Who’s inside?”No answer.The stranger with the silver ring stared at the floor near the workbench. His expression had changed.“You knew,” Ethan said.“I suspected.”“Who is it?”“Not now.”The woman with the scar moved toward the workbench and pulled aside a hanging canvas sheet. Behind it was a narrow maintenance hatch, barely wide enough for one person.A hand appeared from the darkness.Ethan aimed at it.“Easy,” a woman's voice whispered. “I’m not here to hurt you.”“Show yourself.”Slowly, a w
Chapter 23: The Child in the Photograph
Ethan stared at the hospital band until the letters blurred.ETHAN CARTER.The date beneath it was October 15, 1996—nearly twenty years before his first life had begun, and long before he could have been born.“That’s impossible,” Victor said.The woman took the photograph from the crate, but Ethan caught her wrist.“Don’t.”She paused. “I’m not trying to take it.”“Then tell me why my name is on a newborn’s band.”“I can’t.”“Everyone keeps saying that.”“Because the record is incomplete,” she replied. “The photograph could be real. The band could be real. The name could have been added later.”Ethan released her wrist. He knew she was right. He also knew the System had warned him about memory fragments, and the image itself had been damaged. Still, the sight of his name on that band had made the past feel less like a mystery and more like a trap closing around him.The truck lurched again.Victor braced himself against the wall. “We’re being followed.”The woman leaned toward the re
Chapter 22: The Name Beneath the Signature
The service passage smelled of damp concrete and old paint.Ethan kept the folded paper in one hand and the pistol in the other. Victor led them down the narrow stairs, moving fast but quietly. Behind them, the apartment door remained shut. No footsteps followed.That worried Ethan more than a chase would have.“Stop,” he whispered.Victor halted on the landing. The stranger turned, his silver ring catching the weak emergency light.“Who is Sophia Vale?” Ethan demanded.The man glanced at the paper. “A name on a form.”“She was at the door.”“I heard her.”“And my father was inside.”The stranger said nothing.Ethan stepped closer. “You knew they’d come.”“I knew someone would.”“That isn’t an answer.”“It’s the only one I can give you here.”Victor pointed down the stairs. “Then we keep moving. If Richard’s inside that apartment, we don’t know how many people are outside it.”Ethan hated that Victor was right. He folded the paper carefully and tucked it into his jacket. The name Soph
Chapter 21: The Man at the Door
The man stood in the doorway as if he had been expected.Ethan’s first instinct was to reach for the cassette. His second was to put himself between the stranger and Victor.The man wore a dark coat and gloves. A silver ring glinted on his right hand—the same ring Ethan had seen in the warehouse footage, and on the figure Martin had called the second Richard Carter.“Don’t move,” Ethan said.The stranger glanced at the pistol in Ethan’s hand. “You’re holding it wrong.”“Then you won’t mind if I keep holding it.”Victor shifted beside the table, blocking the narrow path to the hall. His eyes stayed on the stranger’s hands. “Who are you?”The man closed the door behind him. “Someone who came to stop you from making a mistake.”“People keep saying that,” Ethan replied. “They never explain what the mistake is.”The man’s gaze moved to the cassette recorder. “You played it.”“I did.”“Then you heard a woman refuse the second authorization.”Ethan felt his grip tighten. “Was that Elena Vale
Chapter 20: The Voice That Wasn't Elena's
The message remained on Ethan's screen.DON'T LISTEN TO ELENA'S RECORDING.SHE WASN'T THE ONE WHO MADE IT.He read it again, then checked the number. It was hidden behind an unknown caller ID, just like the messages that had led him toward Blackridge.The sender knew about the cassette.That meant someone had followed him from the storage facility—or Martin had told someone what he was carrying.Ethan slipped the cassette into his jacket and left the narrow corridor. He didn't call Victor. Not yet. He needed to know whether the address Martin had given him was safe, and whether the recording could be played without connecting to a network.The address led to a small apartment above a closed medical supply shop.Ethan stopped across the street and studied the building. The curtains were drawn. A dim light glowed behind one of the windows.He checked the paper again.The name beneath the address was still there.SOPHIA.He felt an old anger rise, but forced it down. This Sophia was not
Chapter 19: The Man Who Came Before Richard
The room went dark.Ethan heard Martin shout his name, followed by the sound of something heavy striking the floor. A second later, the emergency lights flickered, casting brief red shadows across the walls."Stay behind me!" Martin shouted.Ethan couldn't see the man in the doorway anymore.But he could hear him."Still protecting other people's secrets, Martin?"The voice was calm. Almost amused.Ethan moved toward the table, searching for the metal device Martin had used to interrupt the memory purge.His System activated.[Memory purge resumed.][Warning: Unauthorized access detected.][Primary connection unstable.][Secondary system connection active.]"System, shut down the purge!"[Request denied.]"Then disconnect the secondary system!"[Insufficient authority.]Ethan clenched his jaw.The stranger stepped farther into the room."You're wasting your time, Ethan. That interface doesn't belong to you.""Then who does it belong to?"The stranger laughed softly."That's the questi
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