Chapter 8 - THE VIDEO
The laboratory stretched beneath the entire building.
Glass rooms.
Medical equipment.
Servers.
Walls covered in photographs.
Executives.
Police commanders.
Criminals.
Politicians.
Subjects.
At the end of the corridor, Emma stopped.
A man sat behind reinforced glass.
Older.
Bearded.
Thin.
“Dad?”
Thomas Carter looked up.
His face crumpled.
“Emma?”
She ran to him.
Whatever else was a lie, that reunion wasn’t.
Whitmore turned on a screen.
Video filled the wall.
There I was.
Ten years younger.
Standing inside the same laboratory.
Not restrained.
Not drugged.
Smiling.
Sarah Carter—Emma’s mother—stood beside me.
Whitmore’s younger voice came through the recording.
“Once this begins, there’s no guarantee your memory will return correctly.”
My recorded self nodded.
“That’s the point.”
Emma looked at me.
“What did you do?”
“I don’t know.”
Onscreen, Whitmore asked:
“And if you discover the project?”
My younger self answered:
“I’ll try to destroy it.”
“And if you fail?”
“Then make sure I distrust everyone who can expose it.”
The video ended.
My stomach turned.
Whitmore folded his hands.
“You were becoming one of the most powerful criminal figures in Chicago.”
My father’s voice came from behind us.
“And one of the worst.”
Daniel had entered.
I stared at him.
“You knew?”
“You ordered people hurt. You bribed officials. You were convinced nobody could stop you.”
“I don’t remember.”
“That was part of the experiment.”
Whitmore smiled.
“You discovered Meridian while investigating a judge we had recruited. Instead of exposing us, you made an offer.”
“What offer?”
“To become our first high-risk voluntary subject.”
Emma shook her head.
“Why would he do that?”
Thomas answered from behind the glass.
“Because Danny wanted access.”
I turned.
Thomas continued.
“He planned to get inside the project, copy everything, then bring Meridian down.”
“So I volunteered?”
“Yes.”
Whitmore laughed softly.
“And then you discovered something inconvenient.”
“What?”
“You were good at it.”
The memories came suddenly.
Meetings.
Files.
Money.
Luke arguing with me.
Thomas warning me.
Sarah begging Whitmore to shut the project down.
And one final memory.
Me telling Luke:
“If I forget who I am, don’t tell me too early.”
I closed my eyes.
I had built the trap.
Then I had stepped inside it.
May you like
And somehow…
I had forgotten where the exit was.
