Chapter 4: Subject Zero
The motorcycle tore through the rain-soaked streets at nearly ninety miles an hour.
Emma wrapped her arms around Jacob, still unable to believe he was alive.
Twelve years ago, the military had delivered a folded American flag to their mother.
A closed casket.
A death certificate.
Official confirmation that Sergeant Jacob Carter had been killed in Afghanistan.
Emma had cried over that coffin.
Now she was riding behind the man who had supposedly been inside it.
Nothing made sense anymore.
Jacob didn't stop until they reached an abandoned lighthouse overlooking the ocean.
The building was old, forgotten, and hidden by cliffs.
Inside, dusty generators hummed quietly.
Satellite monitors covered one wall.
Maps.
Weapons.
Stacks of files.
Someone had been preparing for war.
Jacob locked the steel door behind them.
"No phones."
Emma pulled hers from her pocket.
The screen was black.
"It died."
Jacob took it anyway.
"It didn't die."
He smashed it with a hammer.
Pieces scattered across the floor.
Emma stared at him.
"What are you doing?"
"They can track a powered-off phone."
Her stomach tightened.
"Who are 'they'?"
Jacob looked directly into her eyes.
"The people who created you."
Silence.
Emma laughed nervously.
"Created me?"
"You make it sound like I'm some kind of experiment."
Jacob didn't answer.
Instead, he slid the red Project Lazarus folder across the table.
"Open page seventeen."
Emma flipped through hundreds of classified documents.
Every page contained photographs.
Medical reports.
DNA charts.
Government seals.
On page seventeen...
She stopped breathing.
A newborn baby lay inside a hospital incubator.
A tiny bracelet around her wrist read:
BABY GIRL – SUBJECT ZERO
Date of Birth.
Her birthday.
Emma whispered,
"That's... me."
Jacob nodded.
"You weren't chosen after you were born."
"You were chosen before."
Emma's hands shook as she continued reading.
The next page listed several names.
Most had one word stamped across them in red:
TERMINATED
Others read:
FAILED
Only one file remained active.
SUBJECT ZERO – ACTIVE
"What does that mean?" Emma asked.
Jacob took a deep breath.
"Project Lazarus wasn't just about fake deaths."
"It began as a genetics program."
Emma frowned.
"A genetics program?"
"They were searching for families with an extremely rare genetic mutation."
"What mutation?"
Jacob hesitated.
"They called it the Phoenix Gene."
Emma almost laughed.
"This is insane."
"I wish it were."
Jacob pulled another file from a safe.
Inside was a newspaper clipping from twenty-five years earlier.
A terrible highway accident.
Three people dead.
One survivor.
Emma recognized the photograph instantly.
Her mother.
"Mom told me Dad died that day."
Jacob slowly shook his head.
"No."
"Our father survived."
Emma's heart pounded.
"They took him."
"Why?"
"Because he carried the original Phoenix Gene."
Jacob walked toward one of the computer monitors.
He typed several passwords.
A hidden surveillance file appeared.
Emma gasped.
The screen displayed hundreds of videos.
Every birthday.
Every school graduation.
Every first date.
Every apartment she had ever lived in.
Someone had watched her entire life.
She clicked another folder.
Hospital.
College.
Wedding.
Vacation.
Even private moments inside her own home.
The oldest recording had been made when she was only three years old.
Tears rolled down her face.
"They've been watching me forever..."
Jacob answered quietly.
"No."
"They've been protecting you."
Emma turned sharply.
"What?"
"They needed you alive."
"Why?"
Before Jacob could answer...
A voice echoed from the speaker system.
Cold.
Calm.
Almost friendly.
"Because without Subject Zero..."
"...Project Lazarus dies."
Both of them looked toward the security monitor.
A man stepped into view.
Gray suit.
White gloves.
Silver hair.
He stood inside the warehouse they had escaped only an hour earlier.
As if he knew they were watching.
He smiled directly into the camera.
"Hello, Emma."
Her blood froze.
"I've waited twenty-eight years to finally meet you."
Jacob immediately reached for his rifle.
"He's found us."
"Who is he?"
Jacob whispered only one name.
"Director Ashcroft."
The founder of Project Lazarus.
The man everyone believed had died fifteen years ago.
Ashcroft continued speaking.
"I imagine your brother has filled your head with lies."
"He always was emotional."
Emma stared.
"You know Jacob?"
Ashcroft chuckled.
"I raised him."
Emma slowly looked at her brother.
Jacob lowered his eyes.
Ashcroft smiled wider.
"Yes, Emma."
"Your beloved brother worked for me."
Emma stepped backward.
"No..."
Jacob immediately shook his head.
"I had no choice."
"You lied to me!"
"I was trying to save you!"
Ashcroft interrupted them.
"Tell her the truth, Jacob."
Jacob's face turned pale.
"Don't."
"Tell her."
The room became silent.
Finally...
Jacob whispered,
"I was the one..."
"...who introduced Daniel to Project Lazarus."
Emma's entire world collapsed.
"What?"
"I recruited him."
"You destroyed my life."
"I thought I was protecting both of you."
Emma couldn't breathe.
Every person she had trusted...
Had been hiding something.
Ashcroft applauded slowly.
"Excellent."
"Now we're finally being honest."
He leaned toward the camera.
"But there's still one secret neither of you knows."
Emma wiped away her tears.
"What secret?"
Ashcroft smiled.
"The man you call Daniel..."
"...isn't your husband."
Jacob's eyes widened.
"No..."
Ashcroft nodded.
"The real Daniel Carter died years before Emma ever met him."
Emma felt her knees weaken.
"You're lying."
"Am I?"
Ashcroft pressed a button.
Another video began playing.
It showed a laboratory.
A younger version of Daniel standing beside Ashcroft.
He wasn't a prisoner.
He wasn't afraid.
He was smiling.
Then the younger Daniel looked directly into the camera and said:
"My name is Michael Reeves."
"If you're seeing this..."
"...it means I finally fell in love with the woman I was only supposed to observe."
Emma dropped to the floor.
Her marriage...
Her memories...
The man she loved...
Had all begun as part of a mission.
Ashcroft's smile disappeared.
"But unfortunately for Michael..."
"...he forgot one rule."
"Agents are never allowed to love their targets."
The screen suddenly filled with static.
Then one final message appeared in red letters.
RECOVERY TEAM ARRIVING: 02:59
Jacob looked toward the window.
Black helicopters emerged through the storm.
Searchlights swept across the lighthouse.
Dozens of armed soldiers descended on ropes.
Jacob loaded his rifle.
"They're here."
Emma stared at the countdown.
Three minutes.
No escape.
No backup.
No place left to run.
Then, from beneath the table, an old emergency radio crackled to life.
A weak but unmistakable voice came through the static.
"Emma..."
She froze.
The voice continued.
"Don't trust Jacob."
It was Michael.
It was Daniel.
May you like
And he sounded terrified.
END OF CHAPTER 4...
