CHAPTER 7 — THE FACE THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST
The explosion ripped through the mansion.
Concrete crashed from the ceiling as steel beams groaned under the pressure.
"Move!" Richard shouted.
He threw himself over Emily just as a massive chunk of concrete smashed into the laboratory floor, sending dust and shattered glass flying in every direction.
Another explosion.
The lights flickered wildly before dying again.
Smoke quickly filled the room.
"We have to get out!" Sarah yelled.
"The staircase is collapsing!"
One of the guards sprinted toward the exit.
He had barely reached the first step when a gunshot echoed from above.
Bang!
The guard fell backward, tumbling down the stairs.
Dead before he hit the floor.
Everyone froze.
A slow pair of footsteps echoed from the smoke.
Tap...
Tap...
Tap...
Someone was walking down the staircase.
Completely unafraid.
Richard raised his pistol.
"Show yourself!"
The figure emerged through the drifting dust.
A woman.
White nurse's uniform.
Dark raincoat.
Blonde hair tied neatly behind her head.
Richard's eyes widened.
Sarah stopped breathing.
The woman standing before them...
was Sarah Bennett.
Exactly.
Every detail was identical.
Even the tiny birthmark beneath her right ear.
"No..." Sarah whispered.
The woman smiled.
"You always were dramatic."
Richard looked back and forth between them.
They were impossible to tell apart.
The same height.
The same voice.
The same face.
Emily suddenly screamed.
"That's her!"
"She poisoned me!"
The fake Sarah looked at Emily and laughed softly.
"No."
"I saved you."
Emily stared at her in disbelief.
"What?"
"You weren't supposed to die."
"You were supposed to disappear."
Richard shouted,
"Who are you?"
The woman ignored him.
Instead, she looked directly at Sarah.
"It's been a long time..."
"...Sister."
Silence.
Sarah blinked.
"I don't have a sister."
The woman tilted her head.
"That's what they told you."
Richard lowered his gun.
"What is she talking about?"
The woman slowly removed a silver pendant from beneath her uniform.
A tiny black raven.
Exactly like the one found on the assassin.
"I remember everything."
She smiled sadly.
"The fire."
"The laboratory."
"The children."
Sarah felt a sharp pain explode inside her head.
Flashes.
Bright lights.
Doctors.
Children crying.
A little girl holding her hand.
Then...
Nothing.
She stumbled backward.
"I..."
"I remember..."
The fake Sarah nodded.
"You remember me."
"My name isn't Sarah."
She took another step forward.
"My name is Sophia."
"And we were never strangers."
"We're twins."
The room fell silent.
Richard stared at Sarah.
Sarah looked completely lost.
"No..."
"My parents..."
"Were murdered," Sophia interrupted.
"When we were five."
"The Director took us."
"You escaped."
"I didn't."
Sarah's breathing became erratic.
Images flooded her mind.
Cold hospital rooms.
Needles.
Children lined up in identical white uniforms.
Doctors comparing their faces.
Voices repeating the same words.
Perfect genetic match.
She grabbed her head.
"No..."
Sophia smiled gently.
"They erased your memories."
"They couldn't erase mine."
Emily looked horrified.
"So all these years..."
Sophia nodded.
"I worked for him."
"Because I had no choice."
Richard narrowed his eyes.
"If you're his prisoner..."
"Why are you here?"
Sophia's smile disappeared.
"Because he betrayed me."
She reached into her pocket and tossed a small flash drive onto the floor.
Sarah picked it up.
"What's this?"
"Everything."
"Financial records."
"Human experiments."
"Every murder."
"Every name."
"The Director's entire organization."
Richard's heart pounded.
"This could destroy him."
Sophia nodded.
"That's why he's coming."
As if on cue—
A deafening siren echoed throughout the underground laboratory.
Every monitor came back to life.
A countdown appeared.
05:00
04:59
04:58
Sarah looked around in panic.
"What is that?"
Sophia answered quietly.
"The self-destruct system."
Richard stared at the screen.
"You're blowing up the laboratory?"
Sophia shook her head.
"No."
"He is."
"He'd rather bury every secret than let you escape with that drive."
The countdown continued.
04:31
04:30
Emily struggled to sit up.
"We have to leave."
Richard helped her to her feet.
"What about another exit?"
Sophia pointed toward the far end of the laboratory.
"Behind the cold storage room."
"There is an emergency tunnel."
One of the guards ran toward it.
Seconds later, he shouted back—
"It's blocked!"
Sophia's expression changed instantly.
"No..."
"He sealed it."
A loud metallic noise echoed behind them.
CLANG.
The enormous steel entrance they had come through slowly began sliding shut.
Automatically.
Locking forever.
Richard ran toward it.
"Push!"
The guards strained against the several-ton door.
It didn't move an inch.
The countdown continued.
03:42
Smoke began pouring from the ventilation system.
Emily coughed violently.
Sophia looked toward the ceiling.
Her face turned pale.
"That's not smoke."
Sarah looked up.
"What?"
Sophia whispered the words that made everyone's blood run cold.
"It's sleeping gas."
The Director didn't plan to kill them in the explosion.
May you like
He wanted them alive.
END OF CHAPTER 7
