Chapter 22 - Archive ZeroThey escaped through an underground drainage tunnel minutes before the facility erupted behind them.
The explosion lit the night sky.
But Marin never looked back.
She was staring at the key.
“Archive Zero,” Elias said.
“It's not a room.”
“What is it?”
“A person.”
He looked at her.
“Who?”
Marin remembered the old files.
“There was one subject before me.”
“The first?”
She nodded.
“Subject Zero.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Marin answered.
A man's voice whispered:
“You found the key.”
She froze.
“Who are you?”
“The person who remembers what Lucian erased.”
“Where are you?”
“Ferrante estate.”
Marin's blood ran cold.
She turned to Elias.
“We have a problem.”
They raced home.
The security system was still active.
Every guard was at his station.
Nothing appeared wrong.
Then Adelaide called.
“Marin?”
They ran upstairs.
Adelaide was sitting in her chair.
Beside her stood a stranger.
A man in his late forties.
Gray eyes.
Scar across his cheek.
Elias raised his weapon.
The stranger lifted both hands.
“I didn't hurt her.”
Adelaide spoke calmly.
“He's been waiting for you.”
Marin stared.
“Who are you?”
The man looked at her.
“My name is Gabriel.”
He placed the Archive Zero key on the table.
“I was the first.”
Marin's breathing stopped.
Gabriel continued.
“Lucian created the program. I survived it. Evelyn helped me escape.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because Lucian isn't the final enemy.”
Elias's eyes narrowed.
“Then who is?”
Gabriel looked toward the ocean.
“The people who funded him.”
He explained that Lucian had once worked for a private network of wealthy industrialists, corrupt officials, and international financiers who wanted deniable operatives.
The Raven had been one branch.
Lucian had been another.
Marin's entire life had been one experiment.
But there was one final truth.
The organization had been dismantled years ago.
Almost.
One member remained.
Gabriel gave Marin a name.
“Helena Voss.”
Marin knew it.
Everyone in the old program knew it.
Helena had been the person who signed the orders.
The woman responsible for sending Marin into the mission that nearly killed her.
Elias looked at his wife.
“We end this.”
Marin shook her head.
“No.”
She closed her fingers around the key.
“We don't end it.”
She looked toward the ocean.
“We expose it.”
May you like
For the first time, Gabriel smiled.
“Now you sound like someone who finally understands why you survived.”
