Chapter 11 - behind the red door)
The corridor smelled of bleach and damp concrete.
Daniel immediately felt nauseated.
Not from the smell.
From recognition.
His body remembered the place even when his conscious mind did not.
Every few steps triggered fragments.
A cart rolling.
Shoes squeaking.
Someone crying behind a wall.
Peter breathing quickly beside him.
Their concealed transmitters sent audio to Torres’s team.
At least Daniel hoped they did.
Voss had designed the facility.
He would expect surveillance.
The red door stood at the end of the corridor.
Peter reached for the handle.
Daniel stopped him.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Peter glanced at him.
Daniel shrugged.
“You said fear means they didn’t change everything.”
Peter almost smiled.
Then he opened the door.
Beyond it was a large clinical chamber.
Most equipment had been removed.
One chair remained bolted to the center of the floor.
Adrian sat in it.
His shirt was stained dark with blood.
A bandage covered his chest.
His head hung forward.
Daniel rushed toward him.
Speakers clicked on.
“Do not touch him.”
Daniel stopped.
A man stepped from behind a glass partition.
Dr. Elias Voss was in his seventies.
Tall.
Thin.
Silver hair carefully combed.
He wore a dark suit rather than a medical coat.
He looked more like a retired professor than a man who had dismantled hundreds of lives.
Peter’s entire body became rigid.
Voss smiled.
“Peter.”
Peter said nothing.
“You aged better than I expected.”
“Disappointed?”
“Surprised.”
Daniel looked at Adrian.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Release him.”
Voss smiled.
“You still speak like Charles.”
“Do not compare me to him.”
“You have his certainty.”
“I have nothing from him that I want.”
Voss’s gaze shifted between the brothers.
“That is not true.”
He tapped his temple.
“You carry his final achievement.”
Peter asked, “The registry.”
“Yes.”
Daniel said, “You’re not getting it.”
Voss looked almost amused.
“You came here voluntarily.”
“With police outside.”
Voss smiled wider.
“Did you truly think I would leave this facility connected to the outside world?”
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
Peter touched the transmitter beneath his shirt.
Dead.
Voss continued.
“The moment you entered, your signal was isolated.”
Daniel looked toward Adrian.
“What do you want?”
“Completion.”
“Of what?”
“The work your father interrupted.”
Peter’s voice was cold.
“Charles wanted your work destroyed.”
“Eventually.”
Voss walked around the glass partition.
“In the beginning he believed more deeply than anyone.”
“You tortured his sons.”
“I treated damaged minds.”
“You created the damage.”
Voss ignored him.
“Memory is not sacred, Peter. It is unreliable chemistry wearing the costume of truth.”
Daniel said, “You ruined people.”
“I freed people from suffering.”
“And sold the method to whoever paid you.”
Voss’s expression changed slightly.
“Your father did that.”
Daniel froze.
Voss continued.
“Charles was the businessman. I was the scientist.”
“Convenient.”
“True.”
Peter asked, “Why do you need the registry?”
“Because Charles stole what belonged to me.”
“People do not belong to you.”
“Data does.”
Voss approached the center of the room.
“The registry is more than names. It contains response patterns, treatment sequences, neurological profiles and client records. Thirty years of work.”
Daniel understood.
Voss was not trying merely to avoid prison.
He wanted his research restored.
Voss pointed toward the chair beside Adrian.
“Sit.”
Daniel did not move.
“No.”
Voss removed a small remote.
Adrian’s chair jerked.
Electric current ran through it.
Adrian screamed.
Daniel lunged.
Peter grabbed him.
“Stop.”
Voss released the button.
“Sit.”
Daniel sat in the second chair.
Peter whispered, “Daniel.”
Voss smiled.
“Good.”
Metal restraints locked automatically around Daniel’s wrists.
Peter turned toward Voss.
“You need both of us.”
“Eventually.”
“Then you cannot kill him.”
Voss nodded.
“Correct.”
Peter stepped toward Adrian.
Voss raised the remote.
Peter stopped.
Daniel looked at Adrian.
His eyes opened.
Barely.
“Danny.”
“I’m here.”
Adrian coughed.
“Sorry.”
“Save your energy.”
“I tried.”
“I know.”
Adrian looked toward Peter.
“Pancakes.”
Peter’s face changed.
Adrian smiled weakly.
“Still remember.”
Peter’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
Voss appeared irritated.
“Sentiment is the most stubborn neurological contamination.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You never understood it.”
“On the contrary. I understood it perfectly. That is why your father chose family anchors.”
Voss attached electrodes near Daniel’s temples.
Daniel fought the restraints.
“What are you doing?”
“Opening a door.”
“Which one?”
“The one Charles locked.”
A monitor activated.
Light pulsed.
Voss began speaking.
“Daniel, I want you to remember the lake.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Water.
Rain.
Peter.
“Remember the dock.”
Charles.
An umbrella.
A black car.
“Remember the night your brother died.”
“He didn’t die.”
“Remember what you were told.”
The boat.
Blood.
A jacket.
“Now remember what came before.”
Daniel’s head exploded with pain.
He screamed.
Images struck faster.
Mercer.
The red door.
Charles dragging him through a hallway.
Peter strapped down.
Ruth crying.
Voss younger.
Adrian seventeen.
Then another room.
A screen filled with names.
Charles speaking to Daniel.
You may never remember this, son.
But one day Peter will find you.
Daniel gasped.
Voss leaned closer.
“What do you see?”
Daniel saw his father typing numbers.
Names.
Codes.
Then Charles looked directly at him.
Never give him both halves.
Daniel opened his eyes.
Voss smiled.
“You found it.”
Daniel breathed heavily.
“No.”
Voss looked toward Peter.
“Your turn.”
Peter stepped backward.
Then every light in the room went out.
Gunshots sounded in the corridor.
Voss turned.
Emergency lights flashed.
Adrian laughed weakly.
Voss stared at him.
“What did you do?”
Adrian whispered.
“Pancakes.”
May you like
The glass wall exploded inward.
Torres entered with the tactical team.
